fraternal twin boxes

As Christmas presents for my recently born twin niece and nephew, I decided to make a couple of similar, but not the same keepsake boxes. I obtained a bunch of 12×12 pieces of 3/4” maple-veneered ply from a friend at work who was going to throw them out (he works with them) and these were used as the sides and the base. Keyed miter joints were used for the corners. The keys on one are ebony and padauk – cocobolo on the other. The larger portion of the top is cherry on both with the smaller part walnut on one and hickory on the other. The edge-banding is yellow-heart veneer that was also going to be thrown out by my coworker. The molding is store-bought poplar. The finish is six coats of Zinsser shellac.

In a recent issue of Fine Woodworking, there was a short article on taking better pictures of your work. I employed some of the techniques discussed in that article and I think that the photos turned out quite well – better than some of my previous photographic efforts of my work.

-- A bad craftsmen blames his cheap #$%ing tools