StevieB
Established Member
OK, this is my entry into the competition. Since I have not published any articles, nor won anything (I havent even entered anything before) I have put this in the beginner category. If you could see it in the flesh you might appreciate why!
The initial idea was obviously to include man made material into the project. Since MDF is a little dull I decided to use birch ply, and since it is going to be the aim of the project to include it I decided to make a feature of it. This meant showing the edge to give a stripe effect. Since I dont have much experience, I decided to make a box - 4 sides, a base and a top, what could be simpler?! I also wanted to include some proper timber, so I decided to frame the ply, and got some American black walnut for the purpose. Thus to summarise, a box with edge ply showing, framed in walnut. Since I wanted to be a little ambitious I decided to use mitred top and bottom rectangles of walnut for the lid and base.
The first photo is the in preperation photo, showing the box sides clamped up for gluing. The base and top mitered squares are in the foreground and in the background is , erm, well it should be a tidy work environment but ho hum
After final glue up and assembly of the base and top it was time to finish the piece with Danish oil. Or so I thought, but my Danish oil seemed to have mysteriously disappeared (possibly via SWMBO lending it to a friend for their wooden worksurface but that has yet to be proved!) so as time was tight and I had no opportunity to get any more I had to use whatever varnish was in the cupboard. Thus the box is finished in a mix of walnut varnish (for the black walnut obviously) and clear varnish for the ply. The inside of the box is lined with ply to give a smooth surface, and the lid is a piece of ply with ply on edge to form a decorative banding round the inside of the walnut frame.
While I was quite pleased with the contrast between the two stains, it does rather take away from the fact that its black walnut underneath the darker stain. THe undersie of the lid is trimmed in walnut again, and the top hinged on two decorative butterfly hinges in brass. The top surface of the birch ply edge is also stained in walnut to match the lid when opened. Box size is approx 9" x 5" x 6", with no purpose other than to look decorative. However SWMBO now wants to use it as a jewellery box so I need to make a tray to go inside at some point too.
Cheers,
Steve.
The initial idea was obviously to include man made material into the project. Since MDF is a little dull I decided to use birch ply, and since it is going to be the aim of the project to include it I decided to make a feature of it. This meant showing the edge to give a stripe effect. Since I dont have much experience, I decided to make a box - 4 sides, a base and a top, what could be simpler?! I also wanted to include some proper timber, so I decided to frame the ply, and got some American black walnut for the purpose. Thus to summarise, a box with edge ply showing, framed in walnut. Since I wanted to be a little ambitious I decided to use mitred top and bottom rectangles of walnut for the lid and base.
The first photo is the in preperation photo, showing the box sides clamped up for gluing. The base and top mitered squares are in the foreground and in the background is , erm, well it should be a tidy work environment but ho hum
After final glue up and assembly of the base and top it was time to finish the piece with Danish oil. Or so I thought, but my Danish oil seemed to have mysteriously disappeared (possibly via SWMBO lending it to a friend for their wooden worksurface but that has yet to be proved!) so as time was tight and I had no opportunity to get any more I had to use whatever varnish was in the cupboard. Thus the box is finished in a mix of walnut varnish (for the black walnut obviously) and clear varnish for the ply. The inside of the box is lined with ply to give a smooth surface, and the lid is a piece of ply with ply on edge to form a decorative banding round the inside of the walnut frame.
While I was quite pleased with the contrast between the two stains, it does rather take away from the fact that its black walnut underneath the darker stain. THe undersie of the lid is trimmed in walnut again, and the top hinged on two decorative butterfly hinges in brass. The top surface of the birch ply edge is also stained in walnut to match the lid when opened. Box size is approx 9" x 5" x 6", with no purpose other than to look decorative. However SWMBO now wants to use it as a jewellery box so I need to make a tray to go inside at some point too.
Cheers,
Steve.