Lichtenberg Pattern Jewelery Box

After playing with the wood burning technique introduced to me by Jim Jakosh I decided to put the results into a project.

The overall outside box dimensions are 11.5” x 7.5”. The top overhangs about an additional inch on each side. The top is 7/8” thick, but the steep taper makes it look a lot lighter (the rim is 3/8” wide).

The first thing most people see when viewing the results of 12,000 Volts is a tree, a sad, dead tree 8^)

Maybe the name of this box should be “Trees in Winter”, or “Ode to Smokey Bear”.

Back to reality,

I bought some Brusso hinges a few months back when they were on sale for 50% off. Of course even at a 50% discount, they are very expensive, so I needed a project with enough extra ‘fluff’ to justify their use.

This box is made with Walnut, Jatoba, and Apricot for the panels from the neighbors dead tree (how appropriate!). I used M&T construction with basic frame/panel design. You can see the exposed tenons on the box corners.

The panels are only glued in the top/bottom centers to allow for lateral expansion.

The finish is natural Danish oil (squeezed a bunch of sticky buns in a juicer 8^), topped by Formby’s Satin Tung Oil Finish for protection and to cover the smell of the Danish oil. I like this stuff, wipes on with a cloth and dries fairly fast. It also does a nice job of bringing out the wood colors without overly adding a yellow tint.

I usually give the dried finish a “de-glossing” with #0000 steel wool, followed by a buffing with a cloth. This leaves a smooth, matte finish. Everything is topped with paste wax afterwards.

For the interior, I created a lattice of unfinished Apricot, drum sanded to 1/4” thick. With the aid of my 1/4” finger joint blade set I got perfectly sized dados with smooth bottoms. The felt was glued to the box bottom and is contained as a panel trapped in a groove running the perimeter of the box.

A second full size tray was added, topped by two smaller trays, all made from unfinished Apricot. 27 compartments in total.

The center panels are from a small section of Jatoba I had found. I was looking for a nice accent wood and this piece displayed a touch of curly grain that I thought would look nice. The curl all but disappeared and the wood ended up looking darker than I had wanted, but not too bad. I had also used the Jatoba for the tops miter splines.

Initially they were going to only be 1/4” thick and be offset toward the top (centered on the top rim).

Being offset and a momentary lack of attention with my splining jig led to the jumbo oversized splines you see in the photo. I almost decided to scrap the top and rebuild, but learning recovery techniques can save a lot of grief!

Overall A fun project. Next time I have a few refinements I’ll do but otherwise I think the proportions on this box are about right.