Project by KnickKnack | posted 09-06-2013 06:11 PM | 2936 views | 9 times favorited | 24 comments | ![]() |
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For reasons I won’t go into, I decided it was about time I tried to make some of the “staple” items in woodworking – those items you might consider “rights of passage”.
When I was young I learned the clarinet, and had, of course, to learn all 36 scales, arpeggios etc. I didn’t really appreciate the merit of this until later, when I suddenly find myself transposing at sight.
If more proof were needed of the validity of a firm grounding in the basics, one has only to watch the end of the 1996 film “Crossroads” (the last 4 minutes of which you can watch here)
Anyway – I decided to try my hand at “wrap around box”, and here’s the result.
Of course we’ve all seen a lot of these, but it always struck me as most uncommon strange that one would put all that work into making a box that hasno start or finish, and then proceed to give the thing a “back” and a “front” by putting hinges and a handle on it.
So that was out, and I came up with this. It’s part of a stave of an ancient calvados barrel – the oak jet black from a hundred years of drinking brandy. It was a fat piece, so I could cut the contours to make it top, and handle at the same time. Ah, very satisfying solution.
The rest of the box is ash. And it looked a bit too paleface against the oak, so I fumed it in ammonia (which adds the “touch of death”, which I quite like, to the colour). The splines are oak which got fumed at the same time. The grain, I enhanced by filling with rottenstone.
Vintage oak and ash. Finished with Danish and a glass of wine.
-- "Do not speak – unless it improves on silence." --- "Following the rules and protecting the regulations is binding oneself without rope."
24 comments so far
Gary
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#1 posted 09-06-2013 06:34 PM
I like it! Really came out nice. Got a question, tho ….. what kind of wine?
-- Gary, DeKalb Texas only 4 miles from the mill
KnickKnack
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#2 posted 09-06-2013 06:44 PM
what kind of wine
Happened to be this.
But hell no, I didn’t pay that much.
-- "Do not speak – unless it improves on silence." --- "Following the rules and protecting the regulations is binding oneself without rope."
longgone
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#3 posted 09-06-2013 06:48 PM
what a really good looking box KnickKnack…you also found a really great looking piece of oak to use in its construction…wrapping the grain doesn’t require any more work than piecing one together from scraps but it does give it a much nicer appearance. don’t find it uncommonly stranger but I am still working on trying to make a box with no start and no finish and thus far have only been able to wrap my boxes on three sides.
Joe Lyddon
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#4 posted 09-06-2013 06:55 PM
You wrapped up that box very nicely!
COOL…
David, Patron, is a Master at the Wrap-around technique.
-- Have Fun! Joe Lyddon - Alta Loma, CA USA - Home: http://www.WoodworkStuff.net ... My Small Gallery: https://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/index.php?media/albums/users/joe-lyddon.1389/
HillbillyShooter
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#5 posted 09-06-2013 07:15 PM
Nice box with beautiful wood contrasts!
-- John C. -- "Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the peoples' liberty's teeth." George Washington
BTimmons
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#6 posted 09-06-2013 07:29 PM
Sorry to nitpick, but it’s “rite” of passage. That said, it’s a beautiful box and I normally don’t go for oak! I like how you highlighted the contrasting grain.
-- Brian Timmons - http://www.BigTWoodworks.com
KnickKnack
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#7 posted 09-06-2013 07:39 PM
Sorry to nitpick, but it’s “rite” of passage
I’m indebted to the gentleman from Arlington for his correction, my mistake to be forever carved into the LumberTrunk. sob sob.
-- "Do not speak – unless it improves on silence." --- "Following the rules and protecting the regulations is binding oneself without rope."
WoodenFrog
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2737 posts in 3885 days
#8 posted 09-06-2013 07:43 PM
Beautiful box! Very nice craftsmanship,nice choice on woods too…
-- Robert B. Sabina, Ohio..... http://www.etsy.com/shop/WoodenfrogWoodenProd
Gary
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9416 posts in 4405 days
#9 posted 09-06-2013 07:47 PM
Well, really it depends on how you are using the term “rite” or “right” Either can be ri…. correct
-- Gary, DeKalb Texas only 4 miles from the mill
Karson
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#10 posted 09-06-2013 08:29 PM
“Rites of Passage”, You and I can look at it and know what it takes to do that beautiful wrap and 99.4 percent of the people will never know what makes it so beautiful but the will like the way that it’s put together.
That’s whats so great about wrapping it all up. it’s “You Know” and they don’t but they think its great.
I also like the rottonstone effect, I’ve done it a few times myself and it’s very dramatic when done with Oak.
-- I've been blessed with a father who liked to tinker in wood, and a wife who lets me tinker in wood. Appomattox Virginia [email protected] †
balidoug
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#11 posted 09-06-2013 10:51 PM
Elegant work. And there’s a certain truth to “Rights of passage”, too.
-- From such crooked wood as that which man is made of, nothing straight can be fashioned. Immanuel Kant
aussiedave
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#12 posted 09-06-2013 11:36 PM
Beautiful box, beautiful wood…Really like the way you did the lid…very very nice, well done.
-- Dave.......If at first you don’t succeed redefine success....
Randy_ATX
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#13 posted 09-06-2013 11:38 PM
not only is your box amazing but equally is your write-up and your photography.
-- Randy -- Austin, TX by way of Northwest (Woodville), OH
DocSavage45
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#14 posted 09-07-2013 02:30 AM
If there were no grain patterns you would have a box with no start or finish. Speaking of that your put a nice one on this “you got it right of passage” I’m still trying to figure out how small is good. LOL!
with the great boxmakers here I am learning “Slowly” LOL!
-- Cau Haus Designs, Thomas J. Tieffenbacher
489tad
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3968 posts in 3984 days
#15 posted 09-07-2013 02:36 AM
That is a wonderful box. The fuming and rottenstone is a technique I will have to try someday. I first thought you used zebra wood.
Thanks for the video clip. I havent seen that movie in years.
-- Dan, Naperville IL, I.G.N.
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