Cocobolo Hearing Aid Case

Hey all, here’s another little project I’ve just completed. My son was diagnosed with mild to moderate bilateral permanent hearing impairment at the age of 22 months. He got his first pair of hearing aids at that time and wears them everyday all day and will for the rest of his life.

He and I built this box mostly together. He choose the wood, a piece of cocobolo from my stock. He says he likes it because it looks like lava. He is six years old so I guess that’s what’s important about wood selection at his age. He helped me cut the wood on the compount miter saw, helped me joint and plane it, and helped me router out the recesses on the router table. I used a template I created to ensure the top and bottom recesses lined up perfectly.

I learned while working on this that I have develeoped a bad reaction to cocobolo dust. I have to wear a mask and be very careful not to breath in any of the dust or I start coughing non stop. Of course safety equipment for my son was top priority as well.

To ensure that he would not have any reaction to the wood via his hearing aids, which will be stored in this box over night (he doesn’t sleep with his aids in); I coated the box inside and out with about 5 coats of spray on shellac, then paste wax over that. So the wood is very well sealed.
The small 5mm pin hinges are glued in with CA glue.

My son is very happy with his new hearing aid case! As always, comments and critiques welcome.

-- I restore the finest vintage tools! If you need a nice plane, saw, marking tool or brace, please let me know!