Project Information
The first woodworking project I ever made was a heart-shaped bandsaw box. This was at my local Woodcraft store on Valentine's weekend 2010. It was a basic design as it was only a one day project, but it started my passion for woodworking. As Valentine's day 2016 approaches, I found myself thinking about that first project and thought it would be fun to make a new heart shaped box. The results are these locking heart boxes that were featured in the April 2014 edition of Scrollsaw Woodworking Magazine by John Rhyne.
The first box (one on the lower right picture #1) used the wooden locking mechanism described in the plans. I tried several diff species of wood and even used a piece of acrylic (seen in picture #3) but none worked very well. They either broke or bent making the lock useless. I went back to the drawing board and reconfigured the plans using a small brass lock. This worked much better (see picture #4). I also upgraded the design of the face (picture #2 and #5). The box is made of Walnut with a Birdseye Maple veneer. The outline segment is Purpleheart and the central heart is Padauk. I did like the idea of a wooden key so I cut the shank off the brass key and epoxied into the end of the wooden key (picture #2). It came out really nice, works great and it gets me off the hook this year for chocolate and flowers!
Thanks for looking.
The first box (one on the lower right picture #1) used the wooden locking mechanism described in the plans. I tried several diff species of wood and even used a piece of acrylic (seen in picture #3) but none worked very well. They either broke or bent making the lock useless. I went back to the drawing board and reconfigured the plans using a small brass lock. This worked much better (see picture #4). I also upgraded the design of the face (picture #2 and #5). The box is made of Walnut with a Birdseye Maple veneer. The outline segment is Purpleheart and the central heart is Padauk. I did like the idea of a wooden key so I cut the shank off the brass key and epoxied into the end of the wooden key (picture #2). It came out really nice, works great and it gets me off the hook this year for chocolate and flowers!
Thanks for looking.