| Project by Reddial | posted 309 days ago | 1785 views | 10 times favorited | 25 comments |  |
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About a year ago, I became facinated by Steve Latta’s replica of the 18th century Spice Box with Line and Berry inlay. But it really just wasn’t my style. So I made quite a few modifications but kept my main focus of integrating some line and berry inlay.
The line and berry tools that Steve Latta uses in his video are, as he says, relatively easy to make yourself. However I took the easy road and baought the entire set from Lie-Nielson who now is making Steve’s line and berry tools. The tools I got costs about $400.
This spice box is made of all solid woods, no ply or mdf. The outside is all mesquite except for the quilted cherry door panels and ebony pins. All the interior is soft maple with quilted maple drawer fronts with ebony pulls. The center drawer front is quilted cherry. The overall demensions are 22H X 17W X 11D.
The ‘V joinery’ for the interior box liner was a little tricky, but was worth the time to provide smooth transition for the half rounded edges of the drawer separators.
The cherry was used on the doors and center drawer front to accommdate the inlay. There is absolutley no way that I could plow the grooves for the inlay into mesuite!
The drawer fronts are hand cut dovetails. The ebony pulls are secured with 1/8” dowell.
The back of the cabinet is ship-lapped mesquite.
The drawer bottoms are lined with very soft leather.
I finished it with 3 coats of clear satin poly, 320 between coats.
Lessons learned:
1. Not at the level I want to be with the stringing, line and berry but was happy as my first attempt
2. Poly on the outside of the drawer sides made them a little sticky when pulling open. Had to remove most.
3. There is no substitute for the quality of Brusso hinges. Expensive but worth it. Tried several other before returning and going back to the Brusso.
-- Darrel..."The biggest threat to 'good' is 'better'.
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25 comments so far
Dusty56
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10511 posts in 1856 days
#1 posted 309 days ago
Very nice work !
Is it normal to line the drawers in a Spice box with leather and what purpose does it serve ?
Thanks : )
-- When did quiet and quite become the same word ? I'm guessing about the same time as your and you're did.
489tad
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992 posts in 1179 days
#2 posted 309 days ago
Thats fantastic. Well done. The wood selection is very nice and I like the round over on the drawer dividers.
-- Dan I.G.N.
MichaelAgate
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397 posts in 491 days
#3 posted 309 days ago
Greene and Greene spice box :)
-- Michael and Matthew
MarkTheFiddler
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684 posts in 356 days
#4 posted 309 days ago
Incredible workmanship. I can only dream of making that fantastic.
-- Learning is like a door. Open it and there are hundreds more on the other side. Thanks for all the lessons!
Reddial
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29 posts in 444 days
#5 posted 309 days ago
Dusty56,
No. Spice boxes had no drawer linings. They were used as a secure storage for ‘spices’ which only the rich could afford. Also, they normally had secret spaces in them where they would hide valuables and important papers. I put the leather in to accommodate possible storage of jewerly or collectables.
-- Darrel..."The biggest threat to 'good' is 'better'.
shipwright
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3384 posts in 966 days
#6 posted 309 days ago
Really a nice piece Darrel.
The inlays work very nicely and your attention to detail is just sweet.
I also like the “v” joinery.
Well done.
-- Paul M ..............If God wanted us to have fiberglass boats he would have given us fiberglass trees. http://prmdesigns.com/
DYankee
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2779 posts in 730 days
#7 posted 309 days ago
Beautiful work. Really like the wood/grain selection.
-- Shameless - Winner of two Stumpy Nubs Awards
TomTinkerSum
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218 posts in 2003 days
#8 posted 309 days ago
WOW!! Great work all the way around.
-- If a woodchuck could chuck wood, he's probably not a Lumberjock --
ruddy
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309 posts in 1107 days
#9 posted 309 days ago
Lovely joinery, great combination of some lovely wood. I am inspired by your inlay work.
Thanks for posting this piece.
-- And my head I'd be a scratchin'
CJay
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104 posts in 1399 days
#10 posted 309 days ago
Stunning. Love the Greene and Greene style.
How did you attach the frame and panel back? It’s a matter of embarrassment to me that i still don’t know how to do them.
-- Chris Boreham, Oxfordshire, UK - http://www.chrisboreham.co.uk - http://throughwoodeneyes.tumblr.com/
Ken Fitzpatrick
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365 posts in 2192 days
#11 posted 309 days ago
Absolutely beautiful!!!! Hope you are keeping it. Approximately how many hours do you have into it. Thanks so much for sharing.
Ken
-- • "I have noticed that nothing I have never said ever did me any harm."....... Calvin Coolidge
jaykaypur
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2497 posts in 576 days
#12 posted 309 days ago
Beautiful job all the way around. That quilted cherry looks great where you used it and your inlay work is spot on. This, in my opinion, is a fine piece of woodworking and craftsmanship. You should be proud of this one!!
-- Use it up, Wear it out --------------- Make it do, Or do without!
RKaste
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144 posts in 324 days
#13 posted 309 days ago
Thanks for the inspiration, have always wanted to try and make a spice box and this beautiful piece of craftmanship just pushed me over the edge. It off to the work.
-- --May you have fair winds and following seas--
SPHinTampa
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507 posts in 1853 days
#14 posted 309 days ago
Looks amazing, I really like the redesign into a G&G style piece.
-- Shawn, I ask in order to learn
DaddyZ
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2004 posts in 1209 days
#15 posted 309 days ago
Very Nice !!!
-- Pat - Worker of Wood, Collector of Tools, Father of one
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