LumberJocks Woodworking Forum banner
34K views 41 replies 24 participants last post by  cowboyup3371 
#1 ·
Project Planning

I have never written a blog before so if this is incorrect please tell me what I should do instead; however, my intent is to document the build of my most ambitious project ever.

After building the two music boxes for my daughters, I asked the wife about making one for her sister, my sister-in-law. She replied it would be a good idea but that the sister-in-law really wants a jewelry box and that it might be nicer to incorporate the two. That conversation than began an effort by the wife to design her idea for which she copied a couple of ideas she found online. Once she finished her part, I then began some editing changing her original wall mounted idea to a floor standing one since the sister-in-law rents a home that we'd prefer she wouldn't need to mess up the walls.

The design calls for a mirror on the outside and necklace hooks on the inside of the door. The inside of the cabinet itself will have bracelet and hanging ear ring hooks as well as two drawers for loose items. Another drawer space will have a lower section as well as a pull out tray for rings. Next to that will be a section for a music box that will play once the lid covering the rings is opened. The wind up mechanism will be covered up by a door. The entire box will sit on two legs and will need to be locked using a tambour door style lock instead of the more decorative jewelry box ones. This is needed because my mother-in-law has the initial on-set of dementia and has been stealing stuff lately.

The jewelry box with door will measure 7" long x 15" wide x 36" high and will sit on 42" legs. I am thinking of building the carcass out of some curly red Oak I have, the drawers out of the Birdseye Maple, and the base for the music box/ring drawer out of Walnut. The hinges, lock, and jewelry pieces as well as the music box movement have been purchased and are waiting on the start of the project. It will involve techniques I have not done yet as the hinge for the inside ring/music box lid will use the quadrant hinge and will require a mortising I have not done yet but have the jig so some practicing will be needed.

The best part of this project is that my eldest daughter will be helping me. She used to help me all the time a few years ago but hasn't in awhile. I'll be giving her the task to build the small drawers as well as a molding that she is designing. You see, my sister-in-law is into skulls and such so we are going to incorporate that into the molding.

The biggest challenge to this entire project is the calendar however. I couldn't get anything even started in time for Christmas so we have pushed back delivery to my sister-in-law's birthday - Feb 16th - where I'll drive down to Texas over the long weekend to deliver it (I won't trust shipping it).

My phone isn't cooperating at the moment so I'll upload pictures of my plans a bit later
 
See less See more
#2 ·
Beginning Work

Despite the weather remaining way below freezing since Christmas, I decided we needed to get into the shop and start on the project. So last night I finished planing the boards for the ring case and my eldest, Charmayne, started on learning how to make the drawers she'll be responsible for. With temperatures remaining in the teens this morning she and I made our way back over to make some more progress. I worked on making the half blind box joints on the ring case but will need to decide if I'm going to redo them since I did mess up two fingers (they'll be hid so I'm tempted to not worry right now). It's what I get for trying to cut the through ones free hand with my plunge router instead of using the table saw.

Pictures are going to be a little slow coming right now as we don't have much to show off just yet.
 
#4 ·
Ring and Music Box

Spent time out in the shop tonight getting the ring and music box cleaned up. As I said yesterday, I really don't like my box joints but the nice thing is they'll be hid by the casing on the sides and the front board up front. It's not fully complete as I have the base to build as well as the inside tray for the ring side. I also want set up the knob to shut off the music box which is not something I have done in the past so there will be some more stuff to figure out before I can move to the next piece of this project.

Wood Rectangle Wood stain Composite material Hardwood


Wood Road surface Plant Rectangle Asphalt


Rectangle Wood Hardwood Wood stain Building material


Wood Composite material Gas Rectangle Hardwood
 

Attachments

#5 ·
Ring Box Base

After last night's heavy snow storm where I spent about an hour at the shop, my eldest and I went back over this afternoon to finally spend several hours. I finished the basic build of the base to include drilling the holes I'll need for the music box that is a part of this. Fortunately that included a longer section of brass rod my buddy had to extend the music stopper. This piece will be placed into the main carcass using a stopped mortise and tenon joint once I build it out.

While I spent the time on that part, my eldest was working on making her boxes. She has worked with me in the shop since the age of 10 helping with my various projects and even took shop class a couple of years ago. However, she hasn't built her own box without help yet so I've tasked her with doing two of the boxes on this project. As she's not ready to work the maple we will build them from, she is using what scrap is around the shop and actually built a decent one today. She learned a good lesson about making sure her measurements match though as it's not entirely square but it still looks good.

The base of the ring and music box; the ends will slide into the carcass sides

Wood Flooring Floor Rectangle Wood stain


The music box area

Wood Rectangle Wood stain Hardwood Pet supply


It's not fully assembled yet as there's still a lot of work left but it's coming.

Table Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor


For myself, although I remember to take shallower cuts with my forstner bits and hole saws, I need to remember to do the same when using my drill.
 

Attachments

#6 ·
Interior Pieces

Took off work today and managed to finish the ring/music box lid, necklace and ear ring holders then began work on the removable ring tray. I hope to start on the carcass tomorrow evening after I spend the day with my eldest working on her drawers (took off work until Tuesday morning).
 
#7 ·
Interior pieces designers apply innovative and specialized arrangements inside a structure that is useful, alluring and gainful to the tenant's personal satisfaction and culture. Plans react to and facilitate with the building shell and recognize the physical area and social setting of the task. Best Interior designer additionally do these things, yet their work regularly goes more remote into minor migrating outlets or roof lights. essay writing service
 
#9 ·
Ring Tray and Smaller boxes

I have repeatedly said one of the best things of this project is that my eldest daughter and I are spending time together working on it. Unfortunately the extreme cold weather we are having has done a number on her health causing pain in her chest and overall discomfort. As such, she is unable to work in our shop for very long which has created a major damper on that time. So today, I took her out to Wright Patterson Air Force Base's wood shop so we could build her portion of the project - the lower free standing drawers. With my assistance, she was able to joint, plane, and cut the two boxes leaving them ready for the plywood bottoms that we'll cut on Sunday.

Wood Rectangle Chair Hardwood Wood stain


Once we finished them, I used the scroll saw for the first time to cut out the slots in the sides of the ring tray. The first set was cut too closely to the edges to be useful so once we got home I grabbed some of what was left of my walnut to cut new pieces. I hurried back out to the base making it to the shop in enough time before they closed. It still needs some clean up and the plywood bottom but here's the ring tray

Rectangle Wood Automotive tire Asphalt Wood stain


Grille Wood Rectangle Automotive tire Automotive exterior


And the tray fits in the box fairly well but obviously everything is not glued up yet

Wood Flooring Floor Wood stain Hardwood
 

Attachments

#10 ·
Ring Tray and Smaller boxes

I have repeatedly said one of the best things of this project is that my eldest daughter and I are spending time together working on it. Unfortunately the extreme cold weather we are having has done a number on her health causing pain in her chest and overall discomfort. As such, she is unable to work in our shop for very long which has created a major damper on that time. So today, I took her out to Wright Patterson Air Force Base's wood shop so we could build her portion of the project - the lower free standing drawers. With my assistance, she was able to joint, plane, and cut the two boxes leaving them ready for the plywood bottoms that we'll cut on Sunday.

Wood Rectangle Chair Hardwood Wood stain


Once we finished them, I used the scroll saw for the first time to cut out the slots in the sides of the ring tray. The first set was cut too closely to the edges to be useful so once we got home I grabbed some of what was left of my walnut to cut new pieces. I hurried back out to the base making it to the shop in enough time before they closed. It still needs some clean up and the plywood bottom but here's the ring tray

Rectangle Wood Automotive tire Asphalt Wood stain


Grille Wood Rectangle Automotive tire Automotive exterior


And the tray fits in the box fairly well but obviously everything is not glued up yet

Wood Flooring Floor Wood stain Hardwood
Great start and take care there's way to much sickness going around these day's.
 

Attachments

#12 ·
More small work

I haven't had a lot to really post lately but by the end of today we have made some decent progress on the internal pieces and should be able to start finishing them tomorrow night finally. The ring/music box lid frame is glued up and ready for its glass though I had some fun with that part earlier today. The glass shop I bought the glass from didn't cut one edge very straight and while trying to shave off a small sliver of it, I ended up breaking a larger chunk than I wanted. So off to Lowes I went and got a replacement piece. I also glued up the ring tray, add some tray supports, and helped my eldest glue up her drawers. I realized I didn't cut my supports long enough so I'll have to add in a couple of extra to keep it from rocking when pushed.

I'm really hoping to start the carcass work tomorrow morning as I had other personal stuff to take care of today.

Wood Rectangle Hardwood Shipping box Triangle


Brown Wood Fixture Rectangle Composite material


Rectangle Wood Wooden block Art Packaging and labeling
 

Attachments

#13 ·
More small work

I haven't had a lot to really post lately but by the end of today we have made some decent progress on the internal pieces and should be able to start finishing them tomorrow night finally. The ring/music box lid frame is glued up and ready for its glass though I had some fun with that part earlier today. The glass shop I bought the glass from didn't cut one edge very straight and while trying to shave off a small sliver of it, I ended up breaking a larger chunk than I wanted. So off to Lowes I went and got a replacement piece. I also glued up the ring tray, add some tray supports, and helped my eldest glue up her drawers. I realized I didn't cut my supports long enough so I'll have to add in a couple of extra to keep it from rocking when pushed.

I'm really hoping to start the carcass work tomorrow morning as I had other personal stuff to take care of today.

Wood Rectangle Hardwood Shipping box Triangle


Brown Wood Fixture Rectangle Composite material


Rectangle Wood Wooden block Art Packaging and labeling
Cool looking box Cowboy.
I've flagged all the spammers/losers here.
You have any pics of the finished project?
Jon

I've also blocked the spammers.
 

Attachments

#14 ·
Carcass work finally started

I started in on the carcass work today finally getting the basic shell ready. As long as I can get the wood furnace running well tomorrow night to cut out the cold weather we are getting, I'll cut the various mortises tomorrow after work then start finishing the interior pieces.

I'll say today started off fun though and I will need to send out a thank you to everyone here. My friend, whose garage I share, and I recently bought a Rigid 4512 table saw from Home Depot. Although I have enjoyed using it for its quietness and larger top than I'm used to, I hadn't been able to use the dado stack. When I walked in to the shop this morning, I noticed he had his stack set up but had not put the new insert in for it. So I started the morning's tasks by trying to cut the slot in the new insert and practice using the stack. Unfortunately, I received a good scare a few minutes later when the blades would not turn at all. The normal first reaction of breaking the saw jumped into my mind but after some basic troubleshooting, I found the belt had come loose. A quick search online, and especially here on this site, found the cause. The first couple of attempts at re-tightening the pulleys did not last very long but my friend finally spotted the problem and kept pressure on the pulley as we tightened the screw. The picture in owner's manual is not very clear though the procedure makes sense.

More to come later this week
 
#15 ·
Mirror Frame

This has definitely been a fun and challenging week for me. After changing out all of our smoke detectors on Monday, I started to walk the dog when I slipped walking out our back ramp severely spraining my ankle. Any work I could do was thus restricted for a few days (I'm still having some significant pain though I am finally able to walk on it.

However, I was able to cut the front and back carcasses as well as the mortises for the ring box, ear ring, and necklace holders. I also had to remake the necklace and ear ring holders as I realized I somehow miswrote my cut list and made them too short originally. But after two 12-hour days in the garage I'm a lot closer to being done with just two weeks to go for my original deadline.

I do want to find a mortiser for my garage some day. Although making the ones for the holders wasn't all that difficult, I actually physically tired myself out after making the mirror frame that sits on top of the outer carcass. It's not perfect but works and my plan is to nail it to the carcass once I get the mirror and the plywood backing in.

Wood Boats and boating--Equipment and supplies Hardwood Table Plank
 

Attachments

#16 ·
Mirror Frame

This has definitely been a fun and challenging week for me. After changing out all of our smoke detectors on Monday, I started to walk the dog when I slipped walking out our back ramp severely spraining my ankle. Any work I could do was thus restricted for a few days (I'm still having some significant pain though I am finally able to walk on it.

However, I was able to cut the front and back carcasses as well as the mortises for the ring box, ear ring, and necklace holders. I also had to remake the necklace and ear ring holders as I realized I somehow miswrote my cut list and made them too short originally. But after two 12-hour days in the garage I'm a lot closer to being done with just two weeks to go for my original deadline.

I do want to find a mortiser for my garage some day. Although making the ones for the holders wasn't all that difficult, I actually physically tired myself out after making the mirror frame that sits on top of the outer carcass. It's not perfect but works and my plan is to nail it to the carcass once I get the mirror and the plywood backing in.

Wood Boats and boating--Equipment and supplies Hardwood Table Plank
Me very glad to scrutinize the thing and having the alternative to share my own stand-out contemplations on it. I have to use this opportunity to express that I absolutely love this blog. It is a wonderful resource of information for the working. Thankful to you to such a degree. I ought to thank you for the undertakings you've put recorded as a hard copy this site. I'm needing to see a comparative high-grade blog sections from you later on too. Believe it or not, your exploratory composing limits has breathed life into me to get my own site now
Get redirected here
 

Attachments

#18 ·
Beginning to Finish and a Step Backwards

The main carcass is sanded and ready to start finishing as of this morning but sadly we had to stop on it to step back and make some repairs. While I was at our garage sanding them down, my eldest daughter went to our friend's shop to put the lacquer on the small internal pieces. About the time I was on the way to pick her up, she sent me this picture after accidentally dropping one of the ring box sides.

Hand Wood Tree Gesture Artifact


She was understandably very apologetic and upset with herself but I tried to reassure her that everyone does it and in fact it gave me just that much more of a reason to fix one of my own earlier mistakes. So, a few hours with what spare Maple is left and I'm almost ready again to finish it. I am very happy that I did better on the box joints this time around :)

Now, I'll just need to set my screw holes for the bottom, hinges, and the two holes I'll need for the music box.

Tire Wheel Wood Rectangle Automotive exterior


On a separate note, a recent major repair to my truck has now caused me to push the delivery back a few weeks to early March. This is not big news for us though as I began to suspect we wouldn't finish some of the carcass work by next weekend and with this setback today, that suspicion was proven correct. However, since we do have to move the date, I chose to adjust the design slightly as I'm unsure of the viability of my original leg design. I will show more later but a recent review of other items on Google will provide more storage space for my sister-in-law and a better leg design. I think she'll be happy and this delay is working out for us in the end.
 

Attachments

#19 ·
Beginning to Finish and a Step Backwards

The main carcass is sanded and ready to start finishing as of this morning but sadly we had to stop on it to step back and make some repairs. While I was at our garage sanding them down, my eldest daughter went to our friend's shop to put the lacquer on the small internal pieces. About the time I was on the way to pick her up, she sent me this picture after accidentally dropping one of the ring box sides.

Hand Wood Tree Gesture Artifact


She was understandably very apologetic and upset with herself but I tried to reassure her that everyone does it and in fact it gave me just that much more of a reason to fix one of my own earlier mistakes. So, a few hours with what spare Maple is left and I'm almost ready again to finish it. I am very happy that I did better on the box joints this time around :)

Now, I'll just need to set my screw holes for the bottom, hinges, and the two holes I'll need for the music box.

Tire Wheel Wood Rectangle Automotive exterior


On a separate note, a recent major repair to my truck has now caused me to push the delivery back a few weeks to early March. This is not big news for us though as I began to suspect we wouldn't finish some of the carcass work by next weekend and with this setback today, that suspicion was proven correct. However, since we do have to move the date, I chose to adjust the design slightly as I'm unsure of the viability of my original leg design. I will show more later but a recent review of other items on Google will provide more storage space for my sister-in-law and a better leg design. I think she'll be happy and this delay is working out for us in the end.
Whats this catrichedalgo and mariajohn? Standby M200 loading!
 

Attachments

#20 ·
Carcass is stained

Spent some time yesterday finally staining the carcass for the case. The mirror frame and door were done last night and I'll get the main carcass stained this morning shortly. Temperatures are finally rising slowly so I hope to get the lacquer on the carcass by midweek and then begin assembly. I decided to stain before assembly as I think it's much easier to get a cleaner look this way than had I tried to maneuver around the pieces going inside.

I haven't set a new delivery date yet as I'm still working out the logistics but I'm hoping for the middle of March

Wood Rectangle Wood stain Plank Hardwood
 

Attachments

#21 ·
Starting Assembly

After my eldest put the handles on her drawers a couple of days ago and I stained the casing over the weekend, I was finally able to start assembling pieces before I bring the case over to assemble it. Here's the ring box put together with the music movement in the bottom. I didn't get a good picture of that but you can see the rod sticking out of the box that allows the lid to turn it on and back off when properly wound.

Bottom Ring tray
Wood Automotive exterior Gas Flooring Engineering


Removable Ring Tray
Wood Automotive exterior Bumper Automotive tire Gas


Ring box open; shelf sits above the music movement
Automotive exterior Office equipment Wood Engineering Bumper


Full Ring box from outside
Wood Rectangle Metal Art Artifact


I should have used polished brass instead of antique brass with the coloring but in my head I liked the antique look. Next time
 

Attachments

#22 ·
Lessons Learned Already

This weekend was one of lessons learned the hard way. After two months of working on this armoire and running three weeks behind my original goal, I was finally ready to assemble everything and plan for the trip to Texas. And at first glance Friday night I was pretty proud of myself:

Wood Flooring Floor Hardwood Door


But, ignorance was bliss until I function checked the ring box to ensure the lid opened smoothly without hitting the sides and found this:

Brown Wood Flooring Hardwood Tints and shades


Yep, that's right, I cannot attach the back to the case because the lid sticks out too far.

Now, keep in mind this is my first project that has a box within a box so my thought process when I drew this up did not account for the way everything works. First, I originally decided to use a quadrant hinge on the ring box but did not read the installation instructions well enough when I wrote my cut list. So I swapped over to standard box hinges. With that change, I also did not take into account the amount of space required behind the box to properly open.

After balling my eyes out of about 30 seconds (not really but you get the feeling I had), I realized I should have added about an inch and a half to the overall depth of the case to fit the ring box properly. Although I spent Saturday working on mine and my eldest daughter's motorcycles and then most of Sunday to family needs, I was able to get a successful test fit of the ring box in the new carcass last night. And once I can finish setting up a couple of other areas, I'll begin the assembly process again.
 

Attachments

#23 ·
Lessons Learned Already

This weekend was one of lessons learned the hard way. After two months of working on this armoire and running three weeks behind my original goal, I was finally ready to assemble everything and plan for the trip to Texas. And at first glance Friday night I was pretty proud of myself:

Wood Flooring Floor Hardwood Door


But, ignorance was bliss until I function checked the ring box to ensure the lid opened smoothly without hitting the sides and found this:

Brown Wood Flooring Hardwood Tints and shades


Yep, that's right, I cannot attach the back to the case because the lid sticks out too far.

Now, keep in mind this is my first project that has a box within a box so my thought process when I drew this up did not account for the way everything works. First, I originally decided to use a quadrant hinge on the ring box but did not read the installation instructions well enough when I wrote my cut list. So I swapped over to standard box hinges. With that change, I also did not take into account the amount of space required behind the box to properly open.

After balling my eyes out of about 30 seconds (not really but you get the feeling I had), I realized I should have added about an inch and a half to the overall depth of the case to fit the ring box properly. Although I spent Saturday working on mine and my eldest daughter's motorcycles and then most of Sunday to family needs, I was able to get a successful test fit of the ring box in the new carcass last night. And once I can finish setting up a couple of other areas, I'll begin the assembly process again.
This is an awesome design idea for a stand up jewelry box made for a home. The college paper writing service also mentioned some of them as the best ideas to use at home for ladies. Thanks a lot for sharing this idea with others at this place. People will be interested in it a lot.
 

Attachments

#41 ·
Legs and internal assembly

I need a bigger workbench after events of this week - one of the main carcass boards fell and broke while I was trying to size and fit the legs before assembly. I chose not to use clamps as I needed full access to the sides and wasn't ready to assemble it as it was still too cold. However, I did not lose as much time as I feared and am now set to finish this project up by the middle of next week with delivery scheduled for the end of the month. I still need to make a door to hide the music box wind-up but that is fairly easy depending on the type of hinge I will use. The only question I'll have for it is the length of screws as I don't need a door thicker than about a 1/4" but finding the right length screws is challenging.

But at least this much is done:

Bracelet holder made out of walnut and maple - the base is dyed to match the rest of the walnut and I'll put lacquer on the rest before wrapping the larger dowel with felt

Wood Bumper Flooring Rectangle Hardwood


The legs are now stained and lacquer will be put on by Saturday.

Wood Shelving Gas Hardwood Room


And the necklace holders; she won't have a legitimate reason to say she doesn't have enough spots for them

Fence Line Composite material Rectangle Pattern
 

Attachments

#42 ·
Almost Done

I still need to attach the legs and connect the two halves but I'm finally at the end of this project. Although it's not perfect I am sure my sister-in-law is going to like it.

Inside of the main carcass. The two drawers the eldest made are on the bottom left and center with the bottom right door hiding the windup key for the music box. The ring box above it contains two levels for rings as well as a 18-note music movement. A bracelet holder and earring bracket round up the rest of this piece.

Wood Door Wood stain Hardwood Gas


This is the door with a mirror covering two rows of necklace holders - she cannot say she doesn't have enough space for her jewelry

Wood Fixture Gas Hardwood Metal


Wood Rectangle Composite material Wood stain Hardwood
 

Attachments

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top