Project Information
Decided to foray into the boxmakers' territory a while ago after seeing projects by Alan, Bob and Blake (and also test the table saw adjustment, the sharpness of the restored hand planes, and use up some nice cut-off pieces).
The sides of the box are figured maple. The top and bottom are floating: the top-laminated bubinga and cherry separated by thin strips of maple; the bottom-laminated birch and cherry. The dimensions are: 11-1/2" × 8-1/2" × 4-1/2". All wood is 3/4" hardwood, sanded to grit 320 before finish. The finish is: shellac sealer, waterlox and wipe-on poly, a few coats each, with a lot of sanding and cleaning in between coats. I used 600 grit wet/dry SP lubricated with mineral spirits. The hinges are from Brusso. The dividers are of Honduran mahogany; the miter keys are satine wood.
The back panel has a red knot in it. Interesting that the figure of the knot is continuous with the figure of the surrounding wood. How can this be? Does it say anything about how the figure forms?
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The finger lift was free-handed on a drill press with a sanding drum.
Cherry and bubinga are great woods to work with, they are somewhat softer than the maple, which makes them easier to hand plane etc.
What I learned: Waterlox gives much more chatoyance and the grain depth to the figured maple than Watco Danish oil; cherry looks much more better under Waterlox when first sealed with a few layers of shellac; brass screws are very soft; steel hinge screws break too when forced into maple without wax.
Also, if you push the box too hard against the fence when cutting the lid off, you get burn marks. The burn marks were pretty hard to get rid off, considering you have to keep the lid square and flush with the rest of the box.
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I found the Fine Woodworking article from Sept/Oct 2008 very useful for a first time box project.
The sides of the box are figured maple. The top and bottom are floating: the top-laminated bubinga and cherry separated by thin strips of maple; the bottom-laminated birch and cherry. The dimensions are: 11-1/2" × 8-1/2" × 4-1/2". All wood is 3/4" hardwood, sanded to grit 320 before finish. The finish is: shellac sealer, waterlox and wipe-on poly, a few coats each, with a lot of sanding and cleaning in between coats. I used 600 grit wet/dry SP lubricated with mineral spirits. The hinges are from Brusso. The dividers are of Honduran mahogany; the miter keys are satine wood.
The back panel has a red knot in it. Interesting that the figure of the knot is continuous with the figure of the surrounding wood. How can this be? Does it say anything about how the figure forms?
The finger lift was free-handed on a drill press with a sanding drum.
Cherry and bubinga are great woods to work with, they are somewhat softer than the maple, which makes them easier to hand plane etc.
What I learned: Waterlox gives much more chatoyance and the grain depth to the figured maple than Watco Danish oil; cherry looks much more better under Waterlox when first sealed with a few layers of shellac; brass screws are very soft; steel hinge screws break too when forced into maple without wax.
Also, if you push the box too hard against the fence when cutting the lid off, you get burn marks. The burn marks were pretty hard to get rid off, considering you have to keep the lid square and flush with the rest of the box.
I found the Fine Woodworking article from Sept/Oct 2008 very useful for a first time box project.
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