Cherry Lion Box with Wood Hinges

Terrific work Ted. Did you make the hinges? Beautiful piece of craftsmanship.

-- Better to say nothing and be thought the fool... then to speak and erase all doubt!

Of course the customer was happy ,this is fantastic,a great work of art.

-- https://www.artisticwoodstudio.com/videos

That is really beautiful.
The lion turned out great and I love the wooden hinges, they always add something extra to a box,.
Well done.
Soooo do we see more of these in the future????

-- Theresa, https://www.facebook.com/derrymore/

Beautiful work! Thanks so much for sharing. How did you make your hinges?

-- Dale, Oregon

Well Done, Ted!!
Outstanding work on the Lion in-lay, and an interesting approach to hinging…

-- Mike in Concord, NH---Unpleasant tasks are simply worthy challenges to improve skills.

Beautiful box. Very nicely done. Thanks for posting.

God Bless
tom

-- Mc Bridge Cabinets, Iowa

TedAGTG,
Very nice job on the box! I really like the scrolled Lion Head. How many different type woods were involved? The contrasts are excellent. I can’t tell for sure from the pics, because of these old tired eyes, is the Lions Head fully inlaid into the Cherry top or is it more like an intarsia work? Congratulations again on a beautiful piece of work. Keep on keeping on.

Sincerely,
Ken McGinnis

-- woodbutcher north carolina

Great job. The lion is very realistic.

-- Abbas, Castro Valley, CA

I love the Lion and the box Ted. Your wooden hinges EW also very nice. Anyone would be happy with this box.

-- Mike, an American living in Norway.

Nice box. I really like the Lion.

-- Tim, Missouri ....Inside every older person is a younger person wondering what the heck happened

Beautiful Lion’s box!!! Super job.

-- Dennis Zongker

Beautiful work! Are my eyes deceiving me or is that top all made from the same piece of wood, just dyed different shades?

-- Paul--- Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. — Scott Adams

That is awesome. That scroll work on the lid is beautiful. Do you have a pattern that you worked from to do the inlay on the top? If so, is it available for purchase somewhere? Very cool.

Doc

-- Hey, woodworking ain't brain surgery. Just do something and keep trying till you get it. Doc

Nice job the Lion rocks!

-- Ken, "Everyday above ground is a good day!"

Thanks to all for your encouraging comments. To answer a couple questions, the top of the box is all one piece of 1/4” cherry. I cut the lion with my saw from a pattern in a most excellent book titled: Animal Portraits In Wood by Neal Moore (FOX CHAPEL). These patterns are easy to work with and always produce a striking finished product. Neal recommends a hot glue gun to reattach the stained pieces but I prefer gluing them with Gorilla Wood Glue one piece at a time. The Gorilla glue produces a stroger permanent bond and the back is cleaner looking. I actually cut a couple “practice” lions of this size before doing the actual lid. I have never attempted to replace the portrait back into the piece of wood it was removed from before and there were several challenges related to the material removed during cutting which very slightly “shrunk” the portrait. I used a Puzzle blade which is extremely fine – thinner than a 2/0 blade. This removed the least amount of material and allows for really tight turns. I have to say without my new saw, this would not have been possible because any vibration or inaccuracy would have been hard to overcome. The wood hinges are also cherry and the pattern for those is in a box making book titled Box-Making Projects for the Scroll Saw by Gary MacKay (FOX CHAPEL). Thanks again for all your questions and input – Merry Christmas to all!!

-- [email protected] WoodCraft