small box, bloodwood, maple, leopardwood

Some amazing timbers there, CC. I don’t know either bloodwood or leopard wood. There are some delightful Christmas gifts being produced by Lumberjocks and this is one of them. Lovely crisp joinery too! I wonder how many LJ’s receive lovingly handmade gifts as well as give them? I live in hope!

-- Res severa verum gaudium - True pleasure is a serious business.

Wow – I would not have thought of that combination of woods——but you pulled it off. All your boxes look great. There are going to be some ohs and ahs on Christmas morning in your house!

-- Betsy - GO BUCKS!

another fine piece of work climber great job

Love it. Nice touch with the spline contrasts. Someone will have a keepsake for Christmas.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

Really nice. I like the contrast between the maple and the other two woods. The bloodwood complements the leapardwood nicely. The more things I see on this site the more I’m amazed at what nature creates and artisans such as yourself do with it.

-- Owen Johnson - aka IowaWoodcrafter

Sweet little box! Great combination of woods.

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

Another great box. The colors just pop out at you and the blending of the top is great.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

Cool box. Very unique combination of woods and the splines really add to the look.

Very sleek design…great job

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

Very nice work. Good use of contrasting wood colours.

-- Grumpy - "Always look on the bright side of life"- Monty Python

Nice box, Colo! What type of finish do you plan to use on the mixture of woods?

God Bless,
Hawg

Colorado born and bred, but transplanted….

-- Saving barnwood from the scrapyards

That is a spectacular little box. Nice combination fo woods.

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

Wow, it looks elegant. I hope to someday be able to just give something that nice a try. I am not sure if it is my fear of failure or my busy schedule that keeps me out of the shop these past two month :)

Nice job.

-- "so much to learn and so little time"..

Thanks all for the positive comments.

I think Bloodwood and Maple are my favorite woods to put next to each other. I would definitely recommend trying it. The bloodwood really stands out against the maple.

As for finishing it, that’s a bit of a problem. Bloodwood has a very bright red color when freshly cut. Next to the maple it really looks good.

I like to use a couple coats of pure tung oil. Once it is oiled the bloodwood takes on a much deeper, richer color, BUT the new color is quite a bit darker, it gets an almost brownish red, kinda like, well, the color of blood :). It looks great but doesn’t have the same glaring red, if that’s what you’re going for. I like the oiled finish, it is definitely much richer, but it does change the color.

Right now the oil is drying and I’ll probably end up with a coat or two of wax. I generally prefer the feel and look of wood with an oil finish instead of a poly finish. I understand using poly for high wear low maintenance surfaces. For decorative pieces I like the smell that tung oil leaves behind. I like feeling the wood texture. And I don’t end up with the “plasticy” look and feel of poly. The oil finish don’t end up as shiny and polished as poly but they look more like wood to my eye. So probably just oil and wax.

thanks again all

Very nice work.

-- Krisztian (from Hungary) VA