Lever-Action Boxes

Very pretty, Dekker! Don’t feel bad about the miter. Part of being a Lumberjock is learning how to photograph your project from the most complimentary angle. ;-)

I’m glad I live down south. It’s actually more comfortable in my shop in the winter.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

I wonder which is quicker… Re-shooting, or just re-touching the photo? :P

-- Dekker - http://www.WoodworkDetails.com/Blog/MNagy/

That’s beautiful variety of wood Dekker. In picture #2 is looks to have a ‘bobbly’ surface. I like the lid idea; something I’ve never done – but I’m sure I will. For the last few days, I’ve had around 4kW of heating on in my little ‘shop plus four layers of clothing!

-- Res severa verum gaudium - True pleasure is a serious business. http://www.folksy.com/shops/TreeGems

Actually, that “bobbly” surface is what lacewood naturally looks like. It even has a bit of chatoyance when you look at it from different angles, kinda like a 3-d effect.

-- Dekker - http://www.WoodworkDetails.com/Blog/MNagy/

WOW very nice looking wood. I have never worked with any lacewood. Did you have any problem planing or sanding it? Nice job!!

-- Mike www.flickr.com/photos/paturner

Great Box! I especially like the lid release you described.

-- Chris

Interesting method for opening the box! Nice looking wood and blog of the construction.

Wow, there are some terrific pieces posted on the site this eve and this is certainly one of them. Beautiful work and good blog Dek. Thanks so much for posting all of this.

-- Better to say nothing and be thought the fool... then to speak and erase all doubt.

Did anyone besides me see the wooden box with the combination lock in the movie “davinci code”? Not sure if it was real…but it was cool!

-- miles125, Alabama.."Architecture is frozen music""

Like the box, like the wood, like the lid and like the splines – great project.

-- Bill - "Suit yourself and let the rest be pleased." http://www.cajunpen.com/

If we never made mistakes we would never learn anything. That’s why I make sure each project I do has at least one mistake in it. (Ha Ha)

The box looks great. I enjoyed following the process.

-- Check out my new website! http://www.blakeweberwoodworking.com

Your boxes are beautiful.

-- Jiri

Dekker, this is a beautiful box. I have some lacewood veneer that I’m trying to figure out what I want to do with, but I think I’m going to have to look for a board of this. I don’t know what your fix was going to be for your corners, but for gaps that small you can sand the piece with wet/dry sandpaper and an oil finish and it will fill in those little gaps.

-- Tim -- http://tmuli.com

Would you mind posting what finish you used? It really brings out the color. Nice work.

The finish on these boxes was 100% pure tung oil (from Lee Valley I believe). Wipe on, wipe off, repeat 3-4 times on a daily schedule. Let sit for about a month for the Tung to “cure” and the smell to fade. I love the feel and effect of tung oil, but it does have its detractors (smell, primarily). If you intend on giving it away soon, consider a different finish…

-- Dekker - http://www.WoodworkDetails.com/Blog/MNagy/

I appreciate your response. I’ve tried a few other oils on some scraps (BLO and Danish) but both are really obscuring the pattern that I spent so long picking through boards to find. I’ll try swinging by woodcraft to see about getting some pure tung oil. It looks like your figure is really popping and I’d love to get that same effect. Thanks again!