stvrowe
Member
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2007
- Messages
- 834
This jewelry box is for my 6 year old grandaughter and is made of cherry, cocobola, and purpleheart. I referenced the plan in Woodsmith issue 112 but pretty much changed everything (including dimensions and construction) except for the 3 way miter details. I made these changes primarily to lighten the box and make it less bulky looking as well as match my preferred construction methods. I used cutoffs and leftover materials from other projects that were too small to be useful in other larger furniture projects. The hinges are Brusso JB-102. The interior finish is a wipe on gel varnish, the exterior is garnet shellac and paste wax (more on that later [crying])
Festools used during the construction are: Domino with 4mm dominos, ETS-150/3, and RO-90
I am happy with the results and did learn a few lessons. This was my first use of cocobola and I knew enough to wipe the cocobola with laquer thinner to remove oils for gluing. I was not aware that these oils would also inhibit the curing of oil based finishes. After several days, the finish was still tacky around the edges so, I then referred to Bob Flexner's book Understanding Wood Finishing (an excellent resource by the way, but only if you read it first :
). Based on the recommendations in the book, I tried warming with a heat gun which was an excercise in futility so, I built a small box out of styrofoam insulation and placed the box with a drop light in it for about 8 hours. The temperature stabilized at around 120F and I honestly think the finish felt even more tacky when warm. I then decided to strip the finish and sand it again. This time, I would follow the books recommendation and wipe the box with laquer thinner (did it twice for good measure) and then re-apply the finish. This seemed to improve the situation but still after 3 days of curing (or not curing), the cocobola still felt tacky. [crying] [crying] So - strip and sand again. Now, I really like Festool sanders but, not this much [big grin]. It was then off to the shellac route which worked extremely well. ;D ;D ;D
Now to the second lesson learned. Last step is installing the brass hardware with, you guessed it - brass screws. I did not have a steel screw the same size so took extreme caution and pre-lubed the screws with beeswax. The 3rd screw was almost fully seated and the head breaks off [crying]. Tryed backing it out with a pair of pliers and it snaps off flush with the wood surface [crying] [crying]. With extraction being impossible at this point, I decided to mill it out, so chucked up a 3/32" carbide mill in the drill press, clamped the box lid down and it was working very well. And then, snap, now I had a carbide mill buried where a screw need to go [crying] [crying] [crying]. Tried fishing it out but this puppy was staying put. I ended up drilling an adjacent hole and using small chisels, excavated to get the carbide mill and remnants of the brass screw out. I was then able to clean it up and glue in a plug. Used the next larger size drill and finished installing the hardware. [big grin]
I am not sure I want to risk touching this again but, I am thinking of installing a knob on the lid. What do you guys think? I don't know how to do a poll so just post suggestions. I am thinking:
a) Leave as is - no knob
b) Small brass knob
c) Turned cocobola or ebony knob
d) Sculpted small handle of cocobola or ebony
By the way, this is a Christmas present so, if you know a little girl named EmmaMerie - shhhh!
Festools used during the construction are: Domino with 4mm dominos, ETS-150/3, and RO-90
I am happy with the results and did learn a few lessons. This was my first use of cocobola and I knew enough to wipe the cocobola with laquer thinner to remove oils for gluing. I was not aware that these oils would also inhibit the curing of oil based finishes. After several days, the finish was still tacky around the edges so, I then referred to Bob Flexner's book Understanding Wood Finishing (an excellent resource by the way, but only if you read it first :
). Based on the recommendations in the book, I tried warming with a heat gun which was an excercise in futility so, I built a small box out of styrofoam insulation and placed the box with a drop light in it for about 8 hours. The temperature stabilized at around 120F and I honestly think the finish felt even more tacky when warm. I then decided to strip the finish and sand it again. This time, I would follow the books recommendation and wipe the box with laquer thinner (did it twice for good measure) and then re-apply the finish. This seemed to improve the situation but still after 3 days of curing (or not curing), the cocobola still felt tacky. [crying] [crying] So - strip and sand again. Now, I really like Festool sanders but, not this much [big grin]. It was then off to the shellac route which worked extremely well. ;D ;D ;DNow to the second lesson learned. Last step is installing the brass hardware with, you guessed it - brass screws. I did not have a steel screw the same size so took extreme caution and pre-lubed the screws with beeswax. The 3rd screw was almost fully seated and the head breaks off [crying]. Tryed backing it out with a pair of pliers and it snaps off flush with the wood surface [crying] [crying]. With extraction being impossible at this point, I decided to mill it out, so chucked up a 3/32" carbide mill in the drill press, clamped the box lid down and it was working very well. And then, snap, now I had a carbide mill buried where a screw need to go [crying] [crying] [crying]. Tried fishing it out but this puppy was staying put. I ended up drilling an adjacent hole and using small chisels, excavated to get the carbide mill and remnants of the brass screw out. I was then able to clean it up and glue in a plug. Used the next larger size drill and finished installing the hardware. [big grin]
I am not sure I want to risk touching this again but, I am thinking of installing a knob on the lid. What do you guys think? I don't know how to do a poll so just post suggestions. I am thinking:
a) Leave as is - no knob
b) Small brass knob
c) Turned cocobola or ebony knob
d) Sculpted small handle of cocobola or ebony
By the way, this is a Christmas present so, if you know a little girl named EmmaMerie - shhhh!
