LumberJocks Woodworking Forum banner

Project Information

Hey all, its been a while since I've posted any of my projects (currently 700 posts/projects behind in my LJ Google Reader feed). Now that a couple weddings are out of the way, I have the time and can safely post pictures of them.

These boxes were for my brother-in-law and his new wife. Time to complete was 4 days of on and off work.. The first box is made from spalted maple. At this point in the boards, the spalting was very light, but it had a nice cinnamon and sugar look to it. The other box is mahogany, but instead of constructing it from cutoffs (like the maple box) I have quite a few 12/4 chunks of the mahogany and chopped it apart with my band saw. First, the sides came off, then the top, then the front and back, lastly the bottom. I decided to not get rid of the band saw marks on the inside- they looked interesting and uniform, so they stayed. I then glued the box back up, and had a very quick, efficient box in a matter of minutes.

I sanded the boxes down to 220 grit and put on a couple coats of clear shellac. I sanded to 400 and then put on a little wax. Sanding down the shellac gave it a nice look, but the wax gave it a nice smooth, cool feeling.

The hardware isn't state of the art-tiny brass hinges from HD, but I chiseled out recesses in the back of the lids and the back of the box to accept them.

All in all, I was pretty impressed.. I don't do well with small scale projects and these were my first boxes. They were out of line/square in a couple places, but nothing a clamp or sanding couldn't resolve.

Related- I need some place better to take pictures..

Gallery

Comments

· Registered
Joined
·
100 Posts
A couple of nice little boxes, very kind gesture for You to make, I am sure they will treasure them as part of a special day, thanks for sharing
 

· Registered
Joined
·
1,249 Posts
Thanks for the comment. That side of the family really treasures hand-made/self-made gifts. Many are musically inclined and often write/sing/play/record albums for special occasions. Just glad I can be a part of it :)
 

· Registered
Joined
·
100 Posts
That's cool Dan, You keep at it, I find the gifts I have given to people give me a great satisfaction and contentment, and of course they all just love the stuff, looking forward to seeing more of Your work
 

· Registered
Joined
·
2,242 Posts
Nice gifts, you lucky to have such a diverse family
 

· Registered
Joined
·
0 Posts
Hello,
Very nice work and a very thoughtful gift.
I wanted to see about purchasing one or two of these. I have a couple of fellow Marines retiring. Wanted to give them a box to hold some Marine Corps memories.
Looking for a darker wood to put their rank on it was well. (I have the rank, I will center it on top.)
Thank you for your consideration.
V/r
 
Top