Small Box WIP

I like the contrast and the look of the bamboo nails with the common box joint. I can’t wait to see it when it’s finished.

-- Jesus is Lord!

Don, I like your box. Very interesting wood. I like the grain and detail from the pitch streaks. Wedging the bottom is a very interesting and unique approach. This will be a treasure for your friend!

-- http://foldingrule.blogspot.com

I like your box more than everybody else. I’m without words. It’s beautiful. I like the bamboo nails, and the vein that runs through the front panel, and the box joints. I can’t wait to see the hinges. I’m tearing …

Yeah, what a lucky friend you have.

May the blessings of the Most High Consume you.

-- http://ye-olde-cabinet-shoppe.com/

Thanks for the feedback – still wondering about those bottom panel wedges, though.

Also, you may be wondering about the thickness of the sides of the box. Normally, I like to make my boxes with wood that is about 12mm thick. This one is 15, but because I’m shipping this overseas, I wanted it to be strong to stand up to the rigors of shipping.

More to come in a few days.

-- CanuckDon "I just love small wooden boxes!" http://www.hilsbiblechurch.org/

Iron bark … so how hard is that? And to be able to withstand 40 years as a fence post, that should make it pretty well “seasoned”.

I just ran a search … some type of eucalyptus so that makes it harder than hickory… should be able to handle the trip

-- http://ye-olde-cabinet-shoppe.com/

I think the contrasting panels and box joints look wonderful. Were those cut on the table saw as well?

Great job Don.

-- Bill, Turlock California, http://www.brookswoodworks.com

No , Bill, I did the box joints on an Incra Jig. I do all of my box joints on this jig. I do my dovetail joint on this jig and by hand. I find that I can do them by hand as fast as using this jig, but only do so when I want a dovetail joint that looks different than I can do on a jig.

-- CanuckDon "I just love small wooden boxes!" http://www.hilsbiblechurch.org/

Quote Obi: “ron bark … so how hard is that?”

Here’s what I found on Iron Bark.

One of the most widely planted eucalypts, this has moderately hard and heavy wood (sp. grav. 0.51) which is strong but brittle and stiff, elastic, coarse-textured, and fairly straight-grained but with some interlocking. Difficult to season and split, it works well and takes a good polish, and is durable in contact with the ground. The wood is employed in general construction, for underground piling, utility poles, fence posts, and firewood. An attractive ornamental honey-producing tree, it is also planted as a windbreak. The plant is used as an insecticide in China.

And in folk medicine: Reported to be preventative, swamp mahogany is a folk remedy for abscesses, boils, cellulites, colds, dysentery, encephalitis, enteritis, erysipelas, flu, gangrene, mastitis, and sores

-- CanuckDon "I just love small wooden boxes!" http://www.hilsbiblechurch.org/

A plant that is its own insecticide… that’s great. I also love how the Eucalyptus is poisonous, yet the Koala has built up an immunity to it, thereby not having competition for food, or bugs in their fur. But I digress…

I think the wedges on the bottom is a very clever solution. should work (and hold up) nicely. The Bamboo nails are great too (speaking of sturdy) this box is nearly bomb (and termite) proof! Can’t wait to see the final result.

-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso -- http://blanchardcreative.etsy.com -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/

Scott, neither can I. I sure envy that friend of yours.

-- http://ye-olde-cabinet-shoppe.com/

Quote Obi: I sure envy that friend of yours.

Michael, I wouldn’t want to be the originator of envy. Perhaps I will keep it for myself.

-- CanuckDon "I just love small wooden boxes!" http://www.hilsbiblechurch.org/

too late, you’ve already promised it:P

-- http://ye-olde-cabinet-shoppe.com/

I’ve been known to change my mind. LOL.

-- CanuckDon "I just love small wooden boxes!" http://www.hilsbiblechurch.org/

Don, very nice. I like the weges holding the bottom. It’s a detail that I would use selectively but it fits very well with this piece. If you want the detail at the bottom to be more like a cloud lift, radius the sharp transition to the “foot” (from the “vertical” part of the cloud lift to the lower horizontal part).

-- David, Central Ohio

Will do. I know my California friend will like that too.

-- CanuckDon "I just love small wooden boxes!" http://www.hilsbiblechurch.org/

Don,
You’ve made two different types of wooden hinges, do you have an idea of which type are going on this box? I’m thinking about trying to make the square ones for my next breadbox

-- http://ye-olde-cabinet-shoppe.com/

The round ones – already made – just refining them to fit.

-- CanuckDon "I just love small wooden boxes!" http://www.hilsbiblechurch.org/

Don:
your box making skills are wonderful. I have looked at each of your boxes with awe. Not only are they beautiful in proportion, but have complicated joinery, and striking use of contrasting woods and veneers, and look wonderfully smooth.

Great work

-- Mark DeCou - American Contemporary Craft Artisan - www.decoustudio.com

Mark, coming from you that is a tribute that I will cherish. You just made my day – no my week – well, perhaps my month.

If you have read some of my more philosophical blogs and comments, you will realize that your kind of response is what keeps me going.

Thank you.

-- CanuckDon "I just love small wooden boxes!" http://www.hilsbiblechurch.org/

Here’s the box with the panel installed in the lid. The veneer is Ash burl vacuum laminated to both sides of a 3mm MDF panel. The two remaining step are installing the wooden hinges and finishing.

-- CanuckDon "I just love small wooden boxes!" http://www.hilsbiblechurch.org/

Beautiful.

-- http://ye-olde-cabinet-shoppe.com/

And about Mark’s responses to others. It’s a blessing when a Master tells another that their work is nice. You’re right, a word of encouragement can help one on a journey, push on a little longer, work a little longer, perservere a little longer.

You both have inspired me, to “Up the notch”

-- http://ye-olde-cabinet-shoppe.com/

After many false starts, I finally finished this box. It was some kind of mental block that I was determined to overcome. It turned out quite nice, but I’m happy to see the last of it. It’s heading for a friend in Victoria, B.C., Canada.

-- CanuckDon "I just love small wooden boxes!" http://www.hilsbiblechurch.org/

Wow, this is great, I love the hinges so much and everything about it.

Diane

-- http://s205.photobucket.com/albums/bb276/DMarcella/

Really a great piece. I have an inkling to do some boxes. I wanted to have a good idea of how I was going to hinge them before I build one. That’s a pretty bloody nice way to do it. Great box, Don!

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

Don nice box and the pegged joints would fit in with the Summer Challenge of glue free joints.

Attaching the hinges would be a little more work.

-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

Beautiful Box, Don. I know your friend will love it.

-- http://ye-olde-cabinet-shoppe.com/