Chinese style jewelry box - walnut and mara

What a beautiful box with the Mara draw fronts. Is that a commonly available wood? The design on the front looks very intricate. Can you tell us more about it?
Jim

-- It always looks better when it's finished!

Mara is South American as I recall. It should be reasonably available if you can ask your local shop owner if his supplier can get it. The local wood shop here in Columbia SC generally has a couple of planks. It runs about $13 a bd-ft, so it’s not cheap, but not outrageous either. Mara starts off as a medium brown, and quickly ages to a beautiful chocolate, which is why I love using it as an accent piece. BTW, for the picture, I pulled each drawer out slightly to show that these are drawers. They all recess to make a flat front when closed. What I did for the front was take a 7” wide plank I had and make the box width slightly less. I had picked three 1” drawers, two 2” drawers, and one 3” drawer. I lined up the board putting the one knot hole in the middle of the second drawer. I then cut the drawer fronts making each one about 1/8” taller than I needed. This allowed me to trim them down after the box was assembled to minimize the gap between each drawer. As usual, after I’d assembled the box with tape, and got all the drawers to fit right, I glued it up. Instantly, all the drawers were too tight. So I had to put each one on the belt sander to shave off about 1/32” on each side to get them to fit again. The drawers are made using a rabbetted joint, with a rabbetted recess for the bottom. I generally try to cut the bottom as close as possible ot the opening size as this helps keep the drawer square during glue up. I generally take the approach of oversizing critical parts, like the drawer fronts, and then after assembly, sand or carefully use the tablesaw to cut to the final fit. I’m not much of a paper plan person, as the plan is generally in my head. Some of my best results of course come from foul ups and I have to figure out how to fix it. I hope this answers at least a few questions.

-- Have saw, Will travel

love it vary good work

-- Nimkee** Joe

Wow! It’s beautiful.

helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com

-- If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. Henry David Thoreau

That looks terrific, the grain pattern down the font is really cool

-- Don, Royersford, PA

Hi Kirk, great job on a beautiful box.

Chinesse doors is also very nice.

I made some adjustments to the published back lighted picture, so it can be better appreciated. I think.

Splendid gift

-- Back home. Fernando

Beautifully executed!

-- "They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night." ~ Edgar Allan Poe

Beautiful design.

Really neat, great design!

-- list your handcrafted treasures @ www.generationwoodworks.com for free!

That is one of the nicest jewelry cabs I have ever seen. You did a super job on the build as everythig looks like a perfect fit. I had never seen mara before but will start hunting some. That stuff is beautiful and the way you matched the drawer fronts up really showcased it. Someone will be very happy to receive this! Fernando, Great job fixing that pic!

-- " I'll try to be nicer, if you'll try to be smarter" gfadvm

First off, Fernando, thanks for fixing the picture. It looks much better. Dang, I didn’t realize that a lot of people have never seen mara wood. I’ve got a castle box I did a while back that I’ll put on the projects folder. It has a very windswept look. For an exciting grain pattern, mara is tough to beat.
You guys realize I’m going to have a hard time getting thru the door with my swelled head from the compliments.
I forgot to mention earlier, the Chinese front is from ChineseBrassHardware.com. (I need to double check that .com). They have a nice selection of box hardware that is all fairly reasonable priced.

-- Have saw, Will travel

beautiful design, and a great gift. This looks awesome.

-- Martin ....always count the number of fingers you have before, and after using the saw.

For anyone interested in another project made with Mara, seach for “Castle Box”. I put it on the projects page a while back. It’s also made of Mara and is another good example of the incredible grain this wood has.

-- Have saw, Will travel