Pam's "waterfall accent" box with Clippinger's Apple resawn flitches

Doug,

I just got up from taking a nap (your couch is a much better sleeper than ours) and this was the first thing I found on LJ!

Wow! Great design! I love your design sense and vision for materials.

I will have to dig out some more veneer for you!

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

Another great project Doug. I just might have to copy it!

-- Betsy - GO BUCKS!

The color and pattern in the apple is gorgeous. The fluid lines and light color play as a nice contrast to the darker walnut and the somewhat lineal pattern that the white oak offers.

The waterfall effect is a great idea. The box has some delicate curves that make it very attractive.

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

Very classy box Doug. Beautiful design.

Hinges, no matter how simple, always go “wonky” for me. It’s like I have hinge dyslexia or something. So, I understand what you mean. As long as the end result satisfies, life is good.

-- http://dustynewt.webs.com/

Betsy let the circle of copying freely continue!

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

Just beautiful!!

-- http://www.woodsongsfurniture.com

thats really nice! thanks for the post.

Great design, Douglas. The detail on the sides and the brass pin for a hinge is great!
Excellent choice of materials.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

It’s really beautiful, Douglas. A very nice piece!

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

Purty!

Love the oak and the design.

-- -John "Do I have to keep typing a smiley? Just assume it's a joke." www.flickr.com/photos/gizmodyne

well done and great posting … fun read

-- ..... art for lifes sake

Great looking design and box. You did a beautiful job on it. Thanks for posting.

God Bless
tom

-- Mc Bridge Cabinets, Iowa

Douglas: A great design and beautiful construction.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

Beautiful box. Thanks for the tutorial.

-- Depend on the rabbit's foot if you will, but remember it didn't work for the rabbit.

Well, this is just a seriously gorgeous box, Doug! The design and engineering elements are top-notch, as is the execution. I’ll give you a mulligan on that little gap, because sometimes those things just happen with no logical explanation. (Been there, done that, got the t-shirt). :-)

I wondered why I haven’t seen you posting much lately. Now I see why. You’ve been actually woodworking instead of just talking about it. <g>

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

wow…i really love the first…and third pictures which show the details from an angle…very nice…i love pieces like this—they show this is art…not just construction!!!

-- Matt, Napa, CA...142 days to sanity...

I showed Rita your project.

The “WOW” meter pegged out when she saw it. She commented you have a lot of creative talent.

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

Thank you all for your kind words.

I’m particularly thankful for your comments, Todd. It was my hope that you thought well of the use I put that resawn wood to. I see what you have done with projects a 100 times the scale of my work and I’m consistently amazed. I have wanted for some time to incorporate more curves in my work, and all though the showy Incra pattern joint have serious mojo, I just wanted to try out some more liberating joinery. Perhaps the ever-so-scary miter will be next, as soon as I build a shooting board.
Charlie, a mulligan from you is indeed a kindness.

Scott, it would appear that your hinge impediment didn’t catch up to you on the ring boxes.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

the woods certainly compliment this box and each other : ) great job !!!

-- Dusty56@comcast.net

You sure have put a lot of thought & a lot of work into this project Douglas. Beautiful job.

-- Grumpy - "Always look on the bright side of life"- Monty Python

Thats a great looking box. Love the wood combinations!

-- miles125, Alabama.."Architecture is frozen music""

Great job Doug. I really like this project. I have made a couple of them using the Woodsmith plan a base design. Its very easy to modify to fit your own design elements. I really like the contrasting woods and great use of the apple wood. excellent outcome.

-- Greg - Charles Town, WV

Hi Doug….... the shadow lines, curved lines machined, shaped and overlayed, banding…alot of technique.
Nice…....Neil

Very cool. Nice looking box.

I’m a little late getting at my comments and everyone else has pretty much said it all – so many variables the blend into a very appealing box – nicely done

-- Phil in British Columbia

It’s really beautiful,

-- jeanmarc manosque france

I like this a lot. Like Stanley2, I’m late in catching it; can I blame the time difference? What’s the home-brew wipe-on Doug? I’m sure it’ll be somewhere on Lumberjocks, but it’ll save me an hour of searching.

That combination of timbers is a delight and what an interesting touch those appliqués are. By the way, what’s a Mulligan?

-- Res severa verum gaudium - True pleasure is a serious business.

Nice work Doug. Really pretty. mike

-- Mike. Profisher50@yahoo.com

Doug,

Don’t confuse scale with artistry.

I also have a piece of “humble pie” built into most of my projects. It keeps me grounded.

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

Wonky, schmonky…. I like that. Good job sir.

-- Stevethepeeve -- I'm no rocket surgeon

Stewart,
My specific homebrew recipe is generally 1 part Boiled Linseed Oil / 1 part Mineral Spirits / 1 part Pratt & Lambert #38 interior alkyd varnish. I wanted more build on this one so I doubled the varnish component. After waiting a bit more for a cure than I like, I think I will add an 60mL/liter of VM&P (varnish maker’s and painter’s) Naptha to the mix to speed drying.

Another jock, Don Kondra has his own similar brew.
He uses Tung/exterior spar varnish/Mineral spirits and a dollop of japan drier.

Either of these are similar to a Danish Oil type finish with the exception that the resin content can be tailored with the varnish titration, which adds a bit to the water resistance. Don’s mix would be more appropriate for lighter woods, as Tung OIl is not yellowing and doesn’t darken woods as much as the BLO. Adding the exterior varnish would add some UV protection, but the film build would not be quite as hard as with the interior varnish.

I initially thought to myself that the Spar varnish’s additional UV protection might obscure grain effects like chatoyance, but since the whole mess is wet-sanded in, including sanding dust and silicon carbide swarf from the paper I doubt there is much difference in the long haul. This wet-sanding application does a good job of filling open pores in walnut and oak, BTW. But make no mistake, this is more of an “in-the-wood-” finish than a true film-building clear coat.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

Thanks Doug for that full and clear description. I’m not sure about P & L products over here, but I’ll do a search on similar.

-- Res severa verum gaudium - True pleasure is a serious business.

Stewart, any interior alkyd will work. I dislike most polyurethane resin varnishes, due to the plastic-y appearance, but some prefer it, so essentially any oil based varnish product you wish to experiment with should fill the bill.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

Douglas – You make one mean box! I like the spalted apple a lot – those shapes give it a real art deco feel…

What’s ‘waterfall style” by the way?

How did you shape the sides of the box?

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

Oh, Stewart, I forgot about mulligan. It’s a gimme, a freebie, one get-out-of-jail card. It’s origins are from golf – an allowed re-shot.

Neil – Your comments are most welcome. Thank you. I actually had to show the wife…

And it was good to see Mot :^D

Okay, Dorje – you asked for it!!!

Thess examples of waterfall furniture are from http://www.jitterbuzz.com/indfur.html

A quote from the website: ”Waterfall furniture is a catchall term for molded plywood furniture that employs curved or rounded horizontal edges; hence, the term “waterfall”. The furniture uses unusual veneer designs and often has clever Bakelite handles.
This was inexpensive furniture in its time. Generally, there is no “frame”—the molded plywood sides and tops are supported by edge moldings. Often, there are no drawer glides. Finish is uniformly mahogany stain and spray shellac.”

“Using more mundane materials, this style of furniture was mass-produced from the 1920s through the 1940s. Some is absolutely terrible, and a small amount is breathtaking. The style is most frequently seen in Bedroom Suites, although dining sets and even billiard tables were produced. The intended market was newlyweds—- during the depression, most new couples could not afford their own house; the best they could do was a room in their parents’ house. Hence, the “Bedroom Suite” was probably the only thing that they owned, resulting in inordinate sentimental attachment to the furniture and a reluctance to change even tough finances improved. Many couples have kept and preserved their waterfall sets until the very end.”

Pam acquired a chest of drawers and dressing table before I met her (from one of the original honeymooners, who did indeed preserve and keep her set “until the end” – another story I’m afraid). I like the look of it immensely, and have borrowed several ideas over the years.

As to the shaping, I cut the inside mortises in 5/8” walnut, cut a kerf of about 1/8 depth on the saw down about 3/4 from the top edge on the outside. Then I wasted the rest of the side down to the bottom, leaving the last saw width so there was a foot and the stock wouldn’t tip. You could use a dado blade or a router set-up. I cleaned this all flush with a shoulder and block plane and glued on the profiled apple, leaving it just a bit proud on the bottom and the back edge.

Then I rounded over the outer top edge with a 1/2˝ round-over. I decided to under-cut that profile with a 1/2˝ core box bit, but needed to tape the offcuts from the apple back on the side assemblies so there would be no fore to aft tipping as the wood was shown the cutter. All this was done with a router table and the Incra fence. I had to do a little clean up with sandpaper wrapped around a short length of 1/2 copper supply pipe I had laying around (which I use when I can’t find the length of 1/2˝ cherry dowel, which is laying around somewhere else just this moment).

Trim all the over-hanging stuff flush with a plane, sand and assemble. I drilled the pins through the assembly with the lid taped in place and clamped with a big handscrew on the drill press. Next time I think I’ll drill the holes in the sidewalls with a drill press set-up before assembly and then drill into the lid through those holes. The brass pins are epoxied into the lid on one side and allowed to set, then the bottom of the opposite hole is charged with a bare smidgeon of epoxy, and the lid is put in place with the fixed pin in it’s hole before lining up and driving home the opposing pin. I lift the lid and look to make sure no squeeze-out occurs before allowing the epoxy to cure.

Et voilà…instant box.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

Good stuff. Your up awfully early/late…

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

Late… I’ll pay tomorrow with eye bags, but I was kidnapped by the keyboard.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

Ouch. Only 5:30 PM here (Singapore). I’m on a business trip.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

Thanks for the info Douglas!

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

Doug, I missed this the first time. This looks great! Glad to see another box from your shop. I like the sloped pieces on the sides. Very nice as usual. Keep em coming.

-- Check out my new website! http://www.theeasellife.com

Thanks, Blake. I had a certain special assignment in mind for this one, but the Missus sees it fitting in with her furniture, so with out a doubt, I will “keep ‘em coming”!

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

Doug – The hinges on my ring boxes are pretty much idiot proof. 5mm holes pre-bored while the bottom was still off made them line up perfectly. Then it was just a matter of chamfer.

-- http://dustynewt.webs.com/

They are also Bordnerizing-proof, Scott. I used them a fair amount on pen boxes etc. May end up using them on the next one of this series.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

Hi Doug, I’ve not been on LJ much the last week or so, but just saw this. Wow, You did a fantastic job with this plan. I love this box!. The contrasting woods, the variations from the original plan, the appliques, everything. It all goes together very well. I found your home brew finish interesting too…I might have to try that sometime.

I’m anxious to see your other boxes in this series. Thanks for posting this one…and keep them coming!

-- Martin, Kansas

Doug,

Sorry about taking so long to get around to reviewing this post but I am glad I finally worked through the backlog to get to this one. This is a gorgeous box. The applique and brass pin hinge are nice details that make this box unique.

This is a very nice post. Thanks for sharing.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

Thanks again, fellas. It was particularly nice to see you visited the post, Martin, Thanks for you help on the Woodsmith article – I never did get a copy but your boxes from that article have certainly been an inspiration.

I have several prototype ends that I have milled, and as Greg3G noted the plan lends itself to variation. Too many ideas and not enough time.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

Hey Douglas;

Great job!

The design is very creative, and the workmanship is great.

Very nice project.

Lee

-- by Lee A. Jesberger http://www.prowoodworkingtips.com http://www.ezee-feed.com

I love the design.

-- Michael A. Brailsford

Thanks, Michael. It’s setting atop the wife’s waterfall dressing table, like it was born to be there.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.