Grandfather Xmas Walnut & Spalted Maple Box

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ByronBlack

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This is a relatively quick box I made for a xmas present for my grandad this year. I attempted a different box a few weeks ago and made quite a few mistakes on it so I needed to start another. I didn't start this one until this weekend just gone. I was still working on it in the morning of xmas day so that I could give it to him later that day during dinner.

This picture is just before I finished the lid hence why it looks a little rough - my camera had developed a fault and I lost the final pictures.

Its made from Walnut with beech 'splines'. The panel is made from a section of spalted maple that I had, it's quite difficult to work due to all the crumbly area's and checks that had developed along the black lines of the spalt, but I eventually managed (after three attempts) to get a nice solid piece.

It was made mostly using a router-table setup I have in my outfeed table. In truth it's just a hole in the table with the router clamped to the underside. My fence is just a lump of flat timber that is clamped into position.

I used a very simple 45 degree jig to hold the box whilest I ran it over a 3mm cutter to produce the slots for the splines. The mitres were cut by passing them across a 45 chamfer bit - this worked particularly well. I normally do these kind of mitres by hand using a shooting board, but this was much more accurate and quicker albeit noisier and dustier, but speed was of the essence of this project.

The finish like all my projects was simple. A shellac sealer coat with a single coat of beeswax.

The box will be used to store his lighters, papers and tobacco.

2138212027_1bcf33e502.jpg
 
Very nice piece, BB..

lovely contrast in the wood, and I`m glad to see your still around the forum.

belated Christmas wishes to you and your family, and wishing you all the best for the New Year..
 
Lovely job byron - I made a Walnut box recently with Zebrano top, and the woods work so well together
 
Cheers for the kind words fella's.

Now that I have some jigs made and my router table setup fully functional, making these boxes has become a lot easier! However I still need to create either a sled or a mitre groove for when i'm doing the mitre joints over the chamfer bit. The corner closest to you in the picture has a slight gap where I didn't hold the workpiece perfectly square to the bit, but other than that it's quite a nice way of doing mitres on the small pieces.

I used cedar for the bottom, although was undecided whether this would affect the tobacco - i'm sure it will be fine though.
 
DW - I thought about doing them on the TS, but without making a sled (which seems quite difficult to get accurate?) I couldn't see a way of handing the short pieces of stock - how do you do them?
 
ByronBlack":2po1dfrh said:
DW - I thought about doing them on the TS, but without making a sled (which seems quite difficult to get accurate?) I couldn't see a way of handing the short pieces of stock - how do you do them?

Byron, I will dig out my wip and post you the link.

I'm cutting 75mm ends with my jig on the tablesaw.

Give me 24 hours, I have just got some new software updates in (8 cds)
so my head is one track at the moment.
 
Lovely box, Byron. I have to say that I really enjoy pieces made with contrasting woods. That looks great.

Bob
 
Very nice BB. Love the timbers. I'm really getting into box making now.
 
Slim":1t699yxh said:
Very nice BB. Love the timbers. I'm really getting into box making now.

It is good fun isn't it! Its a very quick form of woody satisfaction, which is nice to get some mojo flowing and the confidence up for the next project. :)
 
woodbloke":s8757hgg said:
ByronB wrote:
nice to get some mojo flowing
...glad it's starting to flow again :) - Rob

Aye, that it is, especially now I have my guitar projects moving along nicely which is greatly satisfying, guitar making was the kickstart for me to get into woodworking so it's nice to get back to that.
 

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