Mystery

This is my entry in the wooden jewelry contest. Its a brooch that is also a magnetic key to open the box. The box is locked when the brooch is in the face of the box.Turn the brooch and it releases the magnet from the spring loaded catch and allows you to pop it off and wear it.

How it works:
The brooch has a 1/4” super magnet on the back and is covered by thin maple veneer. The edge of the lid has a steel pin that pops into a recess in the body when the brooch is in place and turned to the proper location, the tip of the pointer aimed at about 4 o’clock. Turn to 5 o’clock and the magnet slides past the recess in the body thus losing its attraction to the pin which is inside a spring that retracts it. This also raises the wide part of the bloodwood arrow above the body allowing it to be removed easily. Once its unlocked you simply press on the back of the lid and the front edge pivots upwards. The second picture shows the brooch after removal and also the backer which has a concealed magnet which goes inside the coat, the two super magnets easily support weight, and no pins to contend with. The first picture shows it attached to my wife’s coat using the magnetic backer.She declined to be included in the picture. She didn’t want her beauty to sway any votes.

How I did it:
I made a mock up box the exact size to practice on.
I made the steel pin using a small bolt with the head ground down and the spring from a ball point pin. I played with several version until I got the action working consitantly. I slid this into an aluminum tube about 5/16” diameter and super glued the pin to the bolt at one end and the spring to the tube at the other and then glued the unit into a proper sized hole making sure that the face of the bolt was flush with the edge of the lid. The tube ensures that the spring slides smoothly in and out. This was slow and tedious! This hole was bored through the body at the same time with the lid closed and taped in place.
I then bored the larger recess for the brooch using a 1 3/4” forstener bit and went almost all the way through the body leaving about 1/8’’. These magnets are strong but I still needed to cover the recess with veneer and also the back of the brooch with the same to hide everything, and needed to be certain that the magnet would overpower the spring._
I next made the round part of the jewelry by cutting the paduak base using a hole saw that was a little too big and ran a bolt through it and chucked it in the drill press and got it down to size slowly with a sanding block. The arrow would be in the way of turning so I then glued on the palmwood and strips of maple and wenge, carefully spacing it all with the arrow covered in tape. I then spun that all together by glueing it to another block with the bolt attached to it so I could cut it apart on the bandsaw and not trap the bolt.
I then shaped and fitted the arrow and glued it in. Simple :-)
Now you all know that I dont own a lathe.

I used:
Body-Maple

Lid panel- figured myrtlewood, black palm edge grain, bloodwood, wenge and maple stripes, brass,copper,aluminum tubing inserts.

Corner splines- cherry, bloodwood, walnut

Brooch- black palm end grain, bloodwood arrow bordered with maple and wenge,
Mounted on a base of paduak

I painted the recess for the brooch black because I couldnt clean up the cut without getting it out of round.

Finish-Deft lacquer

I am adding additional photos to clarify some details.

Lid with pin

Recess in body to receive pin. The lid with the spring and pin is in the foreground.

This shows how the pin is pulled out of the lid by the brooch, you can see the spring.

The back of the brooch, the magnet is covered by maple veneer.

This is the backer for the brooch to be worn on a sweater, coat, etc. This goes on the inside and sticks to the back of the brooch. This bloodwood is a very thin slice to hide the magnet.

Locked

Unlocked

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

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