| Project by SM | posted 1223 days ago | 1522 views | 5 times favorited | 12 comments |  |
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The first set is made of 90 year old Nara (from my father’s basement), and the lids are spalted birch from the wood pile. The Jewelry box is cherry. The small “pocket box” I made for my father’s birthday, and is also Nara. I’ll explain the spalted birch in the next project. The third, rather hunky/funky, was my attempt to salvage a brown maple, kidney shaped bandsaw box, in which the lid warped, twisted and bowed; really a mess. So I took the remaining center and made a removalbe tray. It works as a “bedside box” in which to put your watch, glasses, cell phone, pocket change, etc., when you go to bed.
The Nara is interesting in that it was a 2 inch thick, 12 inch by 8 foot slab of wood, black with dirt, shoved under my Dad’s work bench. I ask him about it and he said, “Oh, that’s some wood your Uncle Jack gave me fifty odd years ago; I think he said it was, ‘Nara’.”
I had not heard of “Nara”, but as a kid, I was told, “Uncle Jack works in the Orient”, and I remember there was all sorts of very exotic stuff around their house, including furniture.
Consequently, every now and then I call up my dad and ask him to send me another hunk.
I could not find much information on this wood, so I would be interested in what anyone can tell me.
-- SM
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12 comments so far
GMman
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3884 posts in 1868 days
#1 posted 1223 days ago
Great job on those beautiful boxes, I will have to try my luck at making some boxes.
I have lots of birds eye maple, short pieces 16 to 18 inches long.
Dusty56
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10515 posts in 1858 days
#2 posted 1223 days ago
http://www.curiouswoods.com/wood--Narra--N
Very nice boxes !
-- When did quiet and quite become the same word ? I'm guessing about the same time as your and you're did.
scrappy
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3474 posts in 1601 days
#3 posted 1223 days ago
Fantastic gruop of boxes. Really like the cherry jewelry box. Great design and figure in the wood. Well done!
Keep up the great work.
Scrappy
-- Scrap Wood's the best...the projects are smaller, and so is the mess!
OutPutter
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1194 posts in 2161 days
#4 posted 1223 days ago
Nice bunch of boxes. The only problem I see is your dad cutting up the Nara to send it to you. lol
-- Jim
Loucarb
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#5 posted 1223 days ago
Very nice boxes. Well done.
richgreer
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#6 posted 1223 days ago
Very nice boxes. As an FYI – You may have heard of wood called “amboyna burl”. Amboyna burl is the burl wood from the narra tree. It would be logical to call it “narra burl” but we do not do that. The narra trees on Amboyna Island were noted for their burls and people started calling that burl wood “amboyna burl”. Now burl from any narra tree is called amboyna burl. Narra grows primarily in SE Asia.
-- Rich, Cedar Rapids, IA - I'm a woodworker. I don't create beauty, I reveal it.
Monty Queen
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#7 posted 1223 days ago
Looks nice, well done.
-- Monty Q, Columbia, South Carolina.
bigike
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#8 posted 1223 days ago
saweeeeeeeet boxes, great work on all of them. i like the one with the little draw and rounded top.
-- Ike, Big Daddies Woodshop, http://www.icombadaniels@yahoo.com
Douglas Bordner
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#9 posted 1223 days ago
Excellent!
-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.
a1Jim
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#10 posted 1223 days ago
wow super bunch of boxes all look great.
-- W James Brokenbourgh Custom furniture maker http://artisticwoodstudio.com/
degoose
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#11 posted 1222 days ago
These boxes are all so different…nicely designed and well crafted…
FWIW from the link that Dusty56 posted the botanical name is pteracarpus indicus.. and that being so… I know this as New Guinea Rosewood. This is a wonderful timber to work with… I only have access to boards… largest being 5’’ by 2’’ ....this timber is available all over Australia… for quite a reasonable price…Used a lot in Kitchens… drawers and doors… as such the cabinet makers charge a fortune for it…
-- Drink twice... and don't bother to cut... @ larrysworkshop.wordpress.com For lovers of all things timber...
SM
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77 posts in 1866 days
#12 posted 1222 days ago
Thanks for the information on the Nara and associated names. I had read that it was in the same category as Paduak, but was not sure since it does look very different. “Rose” does not describe the colour of this peice either but the grain looks right.
I too felt a reticent to cut it up, but Dad and I are on opposite sides of the continent. Also, by the time I got it dressed, I would loose a lot. This way, there is very little waste; and I can make a lot of boxes and still have a sizable chunk left over until I figure a way to get it home. That is my rational for now.
When I get the system sorted out, for posting pictures to a blog, I’ll post some pictures of Dad’s circle jig.
Cheers and thanks.
-- SM
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