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Here are a couple of boxes made from a very old table top I managed to salvage. I suspect it may be some sort of mahogany. The banding and corner highlights are all made from rock maple. I have used a simple wooden hinge that I have been working on and one box uses the Rock Maple as the hinge material. I was interested to see how this contrast would work. Either way, I think the rear view of the hinge has nice clean crisp lines.
The geometry of the hinge is important so the lid only opens to about 95 degrees. Here are a couple of pictures of the hinge detail.






The grooves were cut using a 16 mm dia ball nose cutter and the cutter was taken to a depth just short of 8 mm to ensure that the lid and base did not bind. The centreline of the cutter was offset 5 mm from the rear face of the box which then gives the correct opening angle of about 95 degrees
The centre piece of the hinge is glued and screwed into the base and the screws cannot be seen.The two short hinge pieces are then trimmed to the exact length required.The brass pins are from 3/16"rod and the real advantage of this hinge design is that absolute alignment accuracy is guaranteed between lid and base.
I originally planned on fitting brass locks with keys but thought better of it and took the easy route just fitting some polished stone discs into the lid. One box has a hardwood burl as the lid medallion insert and the other has an Art Deco pattern insert I made from mulga and beefwood.
The boxes have been finished with a burnishing oil being applied with a 1200 grit wet and dry finish.The close grain of the suspect mahogany polishes to a beautiful silky finish.
The boxes are lined with a pigskin suede leather.
The boxes measure 250 mm x 155 mm x 80 mm high.

regards

Gallery

Comments

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1,558 Posts
Most excellent Ruddy…so beautiful that timber…well done
 

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370 Posts
That's a nice pair of boxes. The "mahogany" looks more like rosewood with those markings running through it. The hinges look substantial.
Jim
 

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Awesome boxes! Those spline-dovel corners are pretty unique and very interesting,also good looking. Not to mention this hinge system,I see this first time. It's realy worth of trying sometime in some future project.
 

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I really like the hinge. I'm encouraged to try the same. Thanks for the detail.
 

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Really nice Ruddy.
Lots of interesting details. I like the treatment at the ends of the corner splines, the stone handles, and I am a big fan of nice wooden hinges. I also like / use pig suede so these boxes tick a lot of boxes for me.
Did you get your suede from The Hide House?
 

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211 Posts
Very cool and definitely unique. Lovely wood and design, especially the corner splines. Thanks for sharing this one.
 

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7,502 Posts
A super nice pair w/gr8 wood combos and details. Really like the hinge also.
 

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Ruddy,
Very nice boxes, Really like the polished stones, the top inlays are superb, and the hinge is nicely done. Congratulations on boxes very nicely done. Also a big fan of pig suede. Keep up the great work !
 

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Spectacular Ian! You keep raising the bar.Absolutely superb craftsmanship.
 

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Beautiful work! Thanks for the detail on your hinge assembly.
 

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7,192 Posts
Ruddy, those boxes are fabulous. That hinge is a stroke of genius and the contrasting wood are wonderful.
 

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Hinge: Ingenious, in its simplicity. So simple, my simple brain never thought of it. A very pretty pair of boxes, indeed.
 

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Awesome to sat the least!
A nice design, carefully crafted.
 

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Very nice par of boxes with the one with the blue pigskin suede being my favorite and also the hinge looks better with the wood matching .Love the stones .

Klaus
 

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Great boxes, that's a new hinge to me.
 

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Really good looking boxes. I agree with Jim above - definitely looks like a rosewood, maybe Honduran Rosewood with the coloring it has.
Love the stones as the focal point on the front of boxes.
Great work.
 

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Thanks, for the positive comments.
I source the pigskin from a very good leather merchant here in Sydney. I believe the leather may have been imported from suppliers in Italy.
 

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Ahh, yes. I momentarily forgot your location. :)
 
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