Graduation Jewellery Box - WIP

[jkljosh]

For the biggest tray I had decided to divide it up into 12 small compartments for earrings or other small items. This required a slightly different approach to the others to avoid an overly complex glue up, so I decided to make the dividers floating, rather than mortised into the tray sides.

More messing around ensued with my "finger jointing" set up on the small router table - to make the required nearly halving joints:

All of which left me with a set of tray components ready for sanding and assembly

I don't know about the rest of you, but I find this bit of a project, particularly with so many components, something of a faff - a necessary evil I know as corner cutting at this stage just leads to a disappointing need for reworking when the finish doesn't come up to standard. I get a bit anal about keeping everything in order at this stage, as once the sanding removes the corner notations it is really easy to loose track of which sides go with which sides (even though I accept that for a couple of the trays it is self evident because of the divider joints). As I was sanding, I thought I would do the whole box at the same time - particularly as I was planning on finishing the lid and insides of the box before glue up.

A word to the wise - pay attention when sanding otherwise incidents can occur..........The eagle eyed amongst you will have spotted the surface I have used for planning thin components - just 20mm chip board with some blind slats pinned to it's surface as stops that lie beneath the edge of the thin stock. I use the same set up for sanding.

The really eagle eyed will have spotted the oval pins that I used to hold the slats in place (you can see one of them close to the walnut shaving in the second image above). Carelessly I missed that one of them was slightly proud of the slat, and so when I slid the lid across the slat to put it in place to sand, you guessed it..........

#-o To say I was cross is a master piece of an understatement!! Rarely knowingly defeated by set backs, I decided to try something I had heard about - steaming scratches out - after all what was there to loose!!! One hot iron, a damp cloth and a very rapidly beating heart later.....

For those who have not tried this it is worth knowing how to do, and can remove some quite deep marks - scratches or dings due to dropping something on a work piece. Hot iron - need not be a steam one even - and a wetted t towel (I soak it and wring it out). Place wet towel over the ding/scratch - apply iron and generate steam cloud, remove and peer. Try not to be horrified by any raised grain (it wills sand out). Repeat as required until blemish appears to disappear so to speak. Not wishing to teach all you grannies how to suck eggs, but it works by the steam driving into the pores of the wood and causing them to swell as the timber takes on water (which evaporates due to the heat). Not 100 percent on really deep wounds, but certainly worth having in your arsenal, just don't leave the iron on too long, otherwise you'll be developing another technique close to pyrotechnic burning/ebonising! Why not try it on a piece of scrap, it might come in handy when you need to save something in anger?

 

[Paul200]

=D> And breathe!! Thanks for that Superbly detailed sequence - can't wait to see the end result now. Great tip on steaming too!

Cheers, Paul

 

[jkljosh]

Thanks Paul, glad that I have managed to reduce your stress levels with the update. Now, where was I? Ah yes sanding and getting ready to glue up and finish. Although the mother of the lucky girl who was graduating hadn't decided what finish she wanted, I knew that it would be easier to achieve a good standard by finishing the lid and the insides before glue up. In order to help the decision process, I decided to run up some test pieces that would give her an idea of what the different options would look like. Shellac or wax were the obvious finishes of choice for something like this, so a couple of small sections of scrap got cleaned up and dealt with.

This sort of thing takes time, but I do find it useful. I was disappointed that the shellac seemed to mask the heartwood and sapwood contrast I was so taken with at the design stage. I am also not a great fan of putting something overtly shiny between me and the wood - I'm a bit arts and crafts for that, and therefore rather prefer wax or oil finishes for most of the pieces I make. The wax gave a nice soft sheen, but seemed a bit insipid. Gladly the lady who was to choose did not like either option, and so that forced me down the path of finding an alternative. I decided to give Danish oil a go, to see if I could achieve the best of both worlds. Not quite sure why I didn't take any photos at this stage, but as you will see oil became the choice.
This did however present a problem as it meant I couldn't pre finish the inside of the box before gluing up as the oil could not be stopped from soaking in and compromising the gluing surfaces. I could still do the lid of course, but the insides would have to be done carefully after assembly. I managed to capture one image of the magical moment when oil is first applied to sanded bare wood.

 

[marcros]

I would be hesitant to oil the inside of boxes- the air doesn't circulate and they can retain the smell.

 

[Paul200]

I rarely use anything other than Danish Oil on my boxes and finish up with a light beeswax polish - really like the finish it gives. Not sure about the smell thing marcros - I quite like it so it doesn't bother me

Paul

 

[jkljosh]

Good point well made Marcros, I was aware of the problem and decided that sparing use of oil inside would suffice - with adequate curing/drying time between coats I've not encountered too much of a problem, particularly with a cedar base which I don't finish, in order to take advantage of the glorious aroma that the cedar generates in boxes and drawers. Time constraints (graduation day looming) meant that I did not have the luxury of serial activity, so while the lid oil was curing I got on and glued up the trays.

I had made the short sides of the trays marginally longer than the inside of the box (and made the pins longer than the thickness of the sides to allow for this) so that I would have a trimable dovetail surface that when removed would leave the 3 trays "piston fitted" inside the length of the box. Careful work with a low angle block plane required!

I then sanded up all the trays ready for finishing - once again calling my "sanding/planning station" into action, along with Mirka's vacuum hand sanding block.

I also got on and made the tray liners - haven't the foggiest what the cloth is called but it's got that "fuzzy" surface a bit like spikey velvet, glued onto card liners.

I also made up some "swiss rolls" of the cloth and lined one of the trays directly with the cloth to hold rings or earrings

Multiple coats of oil, knocking back with ever finer abrasives between coats and overnight curing eventually gave me the finish I wanted on the lid so it was on to the stressful job of gluing up the main box. Not overly complicated in reality, just a bit of a fiddle to get the hinges aligned as the dovetails pulled up.

Once the box was out of the clamps and thus at it's final internal dimensions could fine tune the depth of the trays to get them to fit perfectly - the finest of shavings off the short sides, being careful not to run over the ends and spilt the dovetails as well as being really careful not to distort the tray by indelicate clamping while using the low angle jack plane set fine.

 

[jkljosh]

There was also a small amount of tidying up to do on one corner of the box, where I had got the dovetails slightly wrong straight off the woodrat - more studious planning required.

And so to the final throes. I didn't want the oil bleeding into the cedar base, (as already mentioned, I wanted to leave that unfinished so that it would scent the box as it released its own oil) and so I carefully cut some blue masking tape to protect it's surface from errant oily cloths.

Opps, just spotted the photo of ring tray glue up, apologies for out of sequence shot showing the liner that I glued directly to the drawer.

Back to the finishing and oil bleeding into the base. My masking efforts weren't entirely successful at stopping bleed across from the insides to the base, but fortunately, the slips would cover the small amount that occurred.

The oiling process I followed was relatively straight forward - flooding the surfaces with oil using a brush, leaving it for 15-20 minutes, wiping off excess, leaving to cure for a couple of hours and repeat. I don't worry about sanding between coats until a build has started to be achieved - usually after 3 or so coats depending on the absorbency of the wood. I did this over 4 days - 2 applications of oil each day, which allowed a good overnight curing between coats 2 and 3, 4 and 5, 6 and 7. The sanding gets lighter and lighter as the required sheen is reached and lifting grain becomes a reducing problem. A final buffing with a soft lint free cloth and thence a couple of coats of Liberon neutral fine paste wax black bison. Lots of space required for all the components!
Slips

Trays and dividers

And of course the box itself shown here pre-oiling

and here partway through the process

 

[jkljosh]

And now the moment you have all perhaps been waiting for - the finished product......
Apologies, I have no idea why these are all at 90 degrees to normal and all my efforts to get them upright have failed.
In accordance with the brief - a jewellery box with simple lines and with trays for lots of pretty baubles!

Small nick nacks tray on top

Ring tray in the centre and vertical/horizontally divided trays to the sides

The void beneath the trays exposed

Detail of the hinge and slips

"arty shots of the trays"!

I hope that you have all enjoyed my rambling verbosity, and that some of the imagery has given an insight into what happened. Overall I am really pleased with the results although there are inevitably things I look at and wish I had got better, the hinge drilling mistake still rankles. It has been a couple of years (while I've been renovating my cottage here in N Wales) since I have done any proper woodwork, so to get away with only one howler I guess isn't too bad. I finished the box with about 4 days to spare, which meant that overall I thoroughly enjoyed the process and didn't feel under undue pressure as I drew it to a conclusion. The young lady who received it for her graduation was delighted and hopefully it will grace her dressing table for many years to come, although I pity her parents/boyfriend who will I am sure be encouraged to fill it with precious items.
Now that I am on the flip side of it I can get back to the renovations including commencing work on the barn that has served as a very draughty workshop for this project, but will ultimately be a warm and snug well lit arena for future creations. Wish me luck!

Toodle pip
John

 

[Bm101]

Thanks John. Thoroughly enjoyed the entire thread.

 

[Paul200]

Great work John - enjoyed that a lot. An heirloom box if ever I saw one! I'm particularly taken with the swiss roll idea - I've always faffed around with thin timber spines covered with foam. Might use your method when I get to making boxes again. I think I was concerned that a roll of material wouldn't be very substantial but I suppose it depends on how tight you roll it.

Cheers, Paul

 

[Halo Jones]

I've only just spotted this thread and wanted to say thanks for documenting everything. A lot of work goes into producing something with such "simple" lines! Very nicely executed.

 

[jkljosh]

Thanks chaps for the feedback, I think the WIP took almost as long as the box making itself, so it is nice to get a little positive feedback on what I have done. Suspect the WIP was too detailed and thus bored most readers so will perhaps limit my future postings to pictures of the end product rather than waste everyones time. Glad you liked the end result nonetheless. Now then, what is next on my to do list......?

 

[marcros]

Thanks chaps for the feedback, I think the WIP took almost as long as the box making itself, so it is nice to get a little positive feedback on what I have done. Suspect the WIP was too detailed and thus bored most readers so will perhaps limit my future postings to pictures of the end product rather than waste everyones time. Glad you liked the end result nonetheless. Now then, what is next on my to do list......?

noooo

it was good (and very interesting) to see the steps to the project as you went along.

 

[Paul200]

Absolutely not bored!! I really enjoyed following the various stages and checking out your methods. I know from previous and current experience that it can be disheartening when you only receive a few comments on WIP's but, whatever the reasons for that, I feel that I have to keep plugging on if only to complete the sequence for my own satisfaction. A lot of people possibly feel that they have nothing useful to add so stay quiet. Others may spot all kinds of mistakes/bad practice but prefer to keep out of it for fear of sounding like know it alls. Personally, I try my best to comment on WIP's either with an honest admission of zero knowledge but respect for the workmanship displayed or with helpful and encouraging comments if I'm genuinely interested - which I was in your posting John, very much.

It's a difficult one. I was particularly miffed recently by a negative comment on another forum about my current WIP on here! The cheek of it!! Aren't forums a discussion tool? Tell me what you think - I'm always open to suggestions. That's partly why I post in the first place.

We could theorise about the lack of feedback and negativity that surrounds it but at the end of the day it won't alter the fact that some of us genuinely like to see good work in it's various stages and get involved and others, well, just look.

Keep showing the pictures John - your public awaits - all three of us :wink: :roll:

Paul

 

[Adam9453]

Just found this thread and read it all in one sitting.
Thoroughly interesting, well written, great amount of photos and beautiful end result.
I for one, wouldn't change the level of detail or description at all, it's engaging and not just someone showing off an end result.
It's great to see you encountering and overcoming problems, such as using steaming.
I look forward to your next thread with great anticipation

Adam

 

[jkljosh]

Thanks chaps - I appreciate the comments and sentiments. I didn't mean to come across as grumpy at the lack of feedback. I enjoyed putting the WIP together - useful to reflect on what I had done and what lessons there were to be learned. I am genuinely glad that several of you have found it informative and interesting. I will make sure that I catalogue the next "proper" woodwork project in similar fashion.

 

[woodworm2017]

excellent work looks well planed and full of information that you have put up.

ahmed