'Circa 1936'

Wow! A second place in the contest. Thanks everyone for the support.
http://lumberjocks.com/awards/winter_2011/results/14

A box to hold greeting cards.

This is something I started working on over three years ago. We moved and it got shelved. To be honest, I really didnt want to finish it, all those small pieces to fit was intimidating, and once I set it aside I lost my enthusiasm. It seemed more like a debt. But this contest was the nudge I needed since this has various types of joinery and I had already invested a lot of time in it.

Specs:Body= Peruvian Walnut
Top= Figured Hard Maple
Left inset panel= Leopard Wood was used because it resembles old speaker cloth.
Right inset panel= Figured Hard Maple
Left fins= Wenge
Right fins, handle, knobs, clock trim ring= Bloodwood
Bottom accent strip= Wenge
Interior card dividers= Cherry and Maple with various bandings
Knobs= Bloodwood with brass, aluminum and copper tubes inserted and set in epoxy I mixed with India Ink.
Hinges= Soss 10mm brass barrel style
Finish= Deft brand semi-gloss spray lacquer

The idea:This project was borne from a love of old clocks and radios from the Art Deco and Machine Age eras, of the 1930s. This is my interpretation using several elements I like, though I wasnt trying to copy a specific radio, just the feel of that style. I spent considerable time designing and scaling it to suit my taste and it would have been easier to copy one, but thats not what I was after. I get more enjoyment out of letting things influence me than telling me what to do.

How I did it: The first challenge was the inset Maple and Leopard panels.
I took the walnut for the body , one long piece about 42’’ long, and laid out the design for the inset panels and made a female pattern for the router. I routed out each section to a depth of about 3/8 and cut the panels a little over 1/4 thick and test fitted them. I then took these and routed out 1/4 wide x 1/8 deep grooves on the router table to recieve the fins. I used an Incra Jig for its micro adjustable fence. Then I glued the panels in place. The left panel is Leopardwood which is supposed to look like speaker cloth. Then I layed out for the fit-up (clock insert) and bored the hole with a forstner bit.
I set up the router with a 3/8 straight bit to cut out for the Wenge strip at the bottom.
After the panels were glued in I cut the box sides to length at a 45 miter and joined them together with verticle corner splines since I didnt want them to show. ( picture 4)

I then routed a 3/8 rabbet on the top of the box opening for the lid to set down into and then carefully cut away the back lip so I could use the Soss hinges. ( picture 4 )I didnt want the lid to swing down into the box cavity as many of my other boxes do because of the design I was after and this box will hold cards and envelopes, etc, and they would get crushed. Next came the lid. I fitted the lid blank to fit the body and bored for the hinges. Then came routing out for the medallion using a jig. I cut away to a depth of about 3/8 and inserted the maple medallion which was 3/4 thick and it was then shaped off the body so I wouldnt accidently damage the box.

The fins were a real pain to do, many small pieces and each required fitting perfectly at the mitered ends. A lot of trial and error and sanding. Wenge is a difficult wood to work with, it chips and slivers easily, making it hard to get nice edges on the fins. I prefit all the fins in the slots and taped them in place to keep their orientation correct and one by one glued them in using CA.

The knobs were an idea I came up with using something I saw elsewhere, that is fitting tubes of various shapes and progressing in diameter. The idea of inserting these tubes, one into the other is not my own, but the knob design is. I used a 5/8 plug cutter and stopped about 1/8 shy of all the way through. Then I inserted a 3/8 forstner bit and making sure it was exactly over center of the plug, I bored to the previous depth. Now I had a wooden tube still attached to the board. I inserted the tubes and cut to length on the bandsaw, then sliced the knobs free of the board. I added a few drops of india ink to 15 min epoxy and forced it into the tubes and let it harden up for a few hours. The ink slows it down. I shaped the knobs on the sander by glueing them to a dop stick with super glue and turning by eye.
Thanks for looking and all your comments are appreciated,
Andy

Note: I added a few more photos below in the comments section, including one illustrating the knobs.

-- If I can do it, so can you. www.artboxesbyandy.com