| Blog series by wdkits1 | updated 1002 days ago | 3 parts | 3525 reads | 15 comments total |
Part 1: The fun begins
I’ve been commissioned to create a custom keepsake box to be used as part of a wedding ceremony which has to incorporate a piece of green Irish Connemara marble. The client sent me a 12”x 12” piece of marble floor tile which I had to have cut into the appropriate sizes to be used for the sides and top of the box.Photo of 12” x 12” Connemara Marble tile (color is greener than this pic) I sent the client some pics of different woods and he decided to go with F...
Part 2: The Dry Fit
In order to get the inside pieces of the box to be flush with the frame sections I cut the pieces of fishtail oak the same size as the pieces of marble ,routed a rabbet that when glued to the marble would end up flush with the frame sections plus give me some glue area for when the pieces are assembled. I used 2 -part epoxy to adhere the wood to the marble. The base of the box is made from 4 pieces of stock that are 3/4” thick and 1 1/2” wide, mitered on the corners , route...
Part 3: Finished
One of the biggest challenges in the construction of this box was figuring out how to make the intersecting sections of the double miters strong enough . Normal end grain miter joints are pretty weak without using some sort of dowel of biscuit to reinforce them and in this case a double miter was even more challenging to strengthen. After playing with different options I decided to go with drilling multiple holes in the ends of the miters which will greatly add to the glue surfaces. I also de...
