Mixed Trash Tree Boxes

These boxes are made of wood from trees most folks call trash trees. They may look like trash on the outside, have rough bark, long thorns, liter your yard after a storm and don’t live long, but they can have some of the most beautiful color and grain on the inside. After making my first box out of Mesquite Burl for my wife I started investigating wood from other types of native (trash) trees. A friend of mine gave me some pieces of Bodark (Bois d’Arc or Osage Orange). Another gave me some pieces of Spalted Hackberry.

With these pieces, along with some Mesquite Burl I already had, I continued practicing making boxes. They are all small boxes. I experimented with different shapes, joints, hinged, lift-lid and accents. I also experimented with mixing different types of wood and live edges for accent The dark wood is Mesquite Burl. The yellow/orange wood is Bodark and the light brown with the cracked looking grain is the Hackberry. I finished each of these boxes with Shellac using the French Polishing technique because I needed a lot of practice on that too. These boxes are some of my earliest and they have a lot of flaws, but they represent a lot of lessons learned along with helping find my own style. I have a lot more to learn and I’ve found Lumber Jocks to be a treasure-trove of ideas and information.

-- Brent, Johnson County Texas......Resawing is like a box of chocolates, ya never know what you're gonna get.