condeesteso
Established Member
Well on the way with this now, but it has raised several challenges which I am happy to share :shock:
It's a commission for a nicely demanding client - we agree quickly on aesthetics and I have had space to select and recommend materials.
I knew I was in for a challenge when the word heirloom came up (I may even have been the first to mention it).
I know we all do at least one box, but as I come from benches and big solid brick-like stuff generally... this really is a challenge: of scale, techniques, tools, patience.
It looks roughly like this:
Walnut (English, a bit wild), ebony profiled edges, pippy maple internal tray with leather insets to bottom (loose) - Connolly donkey brown, 1mm, very nice indeed.
From the outset the choice of materials was critical and many miles were burned looking, indeed some stock is now just that (stock) because we decided it wasn't right (some steamed pear for internals springs to mind).
It is solid stock throughout, and to make it more fun, every opposite face is bookmatched.
I used a Tuffsaws 3/4 x 4tpi for the deep ripping (11" walnut, and I get one go at it)... that blade is recommended without any qualification at all.
The corners are hand-cut dovetails, and the internal tray will be also (4.6mm stock, 3.4mm base, bookmatched halves again).
At one stage the top and base were to have a box string between the walnut and the ebony, but client and I agreed it was not needed and a little over-dressed.
The ebony (Madagascar, old, from Timberline) was jointed to the walnut using a continuous double tenon - 2 grooves, a beech insert, grain running into the joint, Titebond 3).
The top and base are the same, but making the grooves was a real challenge. I bust a 2mm router bit very quickly (nowhere for the swarf to go I suspect) and resorted to a scratch-stock and a shop-made gauge used as a cutter to define the walls.
Hinges from Ian Hawthorne, who was brilliantly helpful. We spent a while talking about locks, and he sent me a custom one. The hinges are excellent.
Here's the start of the internal tray. Dovetails using my Two Lawyers Gents saw, my shop-made marking/cutting gauge, which I made so I could really see where the cutting tip was; my Moxon vice to get the work up close, and a few other tricks (which I may share :lol: )
And finally for now, here's the walnut top and bottom - the grain is wonderful but there is no safe direction to approach it with an edge tool. That's why it is so good... 'cos it's a sod.
It's a commission for a nicely demanding client - we agree quickly on aesthetics and I have had space to select and recommend materials.
I knew I was in for a challenge when the word heirloom came up (I may even have been the first to mention it).
I know we all do at least one box, but as I come from benches and big solid brick-like stuff generally... this really is a challenge: of scale, techniques, tools, patience.
It looks roughly like this:
Walnut (English, a bit wild), ebony profiled edges, pippy maple internal tray with leather insets to bottom (loose) - Connolly donkey brown, 1mm, very nice indeed.
From the outset the choice of materials was critical and many miles were burned looking, indeed some stock is now just that (stock) because we decided it wasn't right (some steamed pear for internals springs to mind).
It is solid stock throughout, and to make it more fun, every opposite face is bookmatched.
I used a Tuffsaws 3/4 x 4tpi for the deep ripping (11" walnut, and I get one go at it)... that blade is recommended without any qualification at all.
The corners are hand-cut dovetails, and the internal tray will be also (4.6mm stock, 3.4mm base, bookmatched halves again).
At one stage the top and base were to have a box string between the walnut and the ebony, but client and I agreed it was not needed and a little over-dressed.
The ebony (Madagascar, old, from Timberline) was jointed to the walnut using a continuous double tenon - 2 grooves, a beech insert, grain running into the joint, Titebond 3).
The top and base are the same, but making the grooves was a real challenge. I bust a 2mm router bit very quickly (nowhere for the swarf to go I suspect) and resorted to a scratch-stock and a shop-made gauge used as a cutter to define the walls.
Hinges from Ian Hawthorne, who was brilliantly helpful. We spent a while talking about locks, and he sent me a custom one. The hinges are excellent.
Here's the start of the internal tray. Dovetails using my Two Lawyers Gents saw, my shop-made marking/cutting gauge, which I made so I could really see where the cutting tip was; my Moxon vice to get the work up close, and a few other tricks (which I may share :lol: )
And finally for now, here's the walnut top and bottom - the grain is wonderful but there is no safe direction to approach it with an edge tool. That's why it is so good... 'cos it's a sod.
