Frank Pellow
Member
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2007
- Messages
- 2,743
(part 1 of 2)
Today is my oldest (living) grandchild's 10th birthday and I made her (Isla) something special to mark the event.
The item is a small jewellery box that contains a music-making mechanism made in Switzerland. The music that is played is 22 notes from Lara's Theme.
I will describe the making of this box using extracts from my weekly journal.
2009, Nov 29:
I started another project this week. This time it's a small music/jewellery box for Isla's birthday in January and the plans come from the same issue of Wood magazine as the table that I am making for Margaret. Here is a picture from the magazine:
[attachthumb=#1]
The box in the magazine is made from mahogany and maple. I am making it from cherry and walnut. The actual music making mechanism suggested in the magazine is one from Rockler costing about $20 and made in China. A couple of months ago, I ordered two different mechanisms costing about $100 each and made in Switzerland. They both play Lara's Theme. I will use the better sounding one in the box.
Dec 13, 2009:
I carried on working with the jewellery/music box this week. The one that I am working on right now will most likely just be a prototype that I will not give to anybody and that, in the end, will not have any music mechanism permanently installed. I decided to try inserting small dowels into the two 45 degree mitered corners at the front of the box. This is not something supported by the Dowelmax jig parts, so I made an extension to the jig out of plywood to enable drilling into the facing faces of a 45 degree joint:
[attachthumb=#2] [attachthumb=#3]
Next, I sanded and polished the interior sides of the box pieces up to 4000 grit: [attachthumb=#4]
The next step was to route an indent in the front side exterior for the lid latch to fit into when shut: [attachthumb=#5]
I used the template in the foreground to set the stop locks on the router table. The reason for all this is that the notch only goes part way through the front side.
Now it was time to glue-up the basic box: [attachthumb=#6]
Dec 20, 2009:
I continued work on the music/jewellery box. First, I made a jig to cut slots for two splines across each corner of the box. The plans called for splines 1/8 inch in thickness, but I decided to make them 1/4 inch.
[attachthumb=#7] [attachthumb=#8] [attachthumb=#9]
I did not bother to sand the sides any further than 8 grit, because they were about to be beveled at 6 degrees. Before doing this, I cut 4 small feet out of a slice of walnut. This time I used my small bandsaw:
[attachthumb=#14]
Now it was time to cut the bevels:
[attachthumb=#10] [attachthumb=#11] [attachthumb=#12] [attachthumb=#13]
I screwed up! :-[ The dowels that I had inserted on the faces of the 45 degree joints to assist positioning during the glue-up were now revealed. What to do?
I drilled some larger holes, made a few short dowels out of some walnut, glued them into the holes, and sanded and polished all the sides up to 4000 grit.
[attachthumb=#15]
It creates a strange pattern on the two front corners which I don't like but which Margaret says she likes. I might give the box looking like this to Isla or I might try to make another. Her birthday is not until January 18, so I put the box aside for a while and I will make the decision early in the new year.
2010, Jan 17:
Since Isla's birthday is tomorrow, I got back to her jewellery/music box this week. When I last reported about this project on December, I had just compensated for a big mistake and was contemplating starting a brand new box for Isla. Well, I never got around to it, so the box she is getting is the one with the mistakes. :-[
The next step was to attach a lid. This entailed cutting notches for some fancy box lid stop hinges (part number 01B03.02 at Lee Valley). The magazine plans showed a technique for cutting the notches with a router but, with my routing skills, that seemed somewhat risky. So, I opted for the tried a true method for makes hinge notches with saws, chisels, and wood files:
[attachthumb=#16] [attachthumb=#17]
I did a good job on the notches, but not such a good job screwing in the hinges. They screws supplied with the hinges were quite week and, although I had drilled a small pilot hole, one of them broke off:
[attachthumb=#18]
This breakage resulted from two different factors. First of all, the #3 brass screws that came with the hinges seem to be very weak. Secondly, although I predrilled a hole for the screw, there was still pressure on it to cut the threads in the hard Cherry wood.
I went back to Lee Valley and purchased some #4 brass screws that appear to be of better quality than the screws that came with the hinges. The screws that came with the hinges were to long for the lid anyway, so I would have needed some different screws anyway. I selected 3/4 inch screws to use in the box and 3/8 inch screws to use in the lid. Then, I drilled out the broken screw and glued a piece of very narrow maple dowel into the hole:
[attachthumb=#19] [attachthumb=#20]
Today is my oldest (living) grandchild's 10th birthday and I made her (Isla) something special to mark the event.
The item is a small jewellery box that contains a music-making mechanism made in Switzerland. The music that is played is 22 notes from Lara's Theme.
I will describe the making of this box using extracts from my weekly journal.
2009, Nov 29:
I started another project this week. This time it's a small music/jewellery box for Isla's birthday in January and the plans come from the same issue of Wood magazine as the table that I am making for Margaret. Here is a picture from the magazine:
[attachthumb=#1]
The box in the magazine is made from mahogany and maple. I am making it from cherry and walnut. The actual music making mechanism suggested in the magazine is one from Rockler costing about $20 and made in China. A couple of months ago, I ordered two different mechanisms costing about $100 each and made in Switzerland. They both play Lara's Theme. I will use the better sounding one in the box.
Dec 13, 2009:
I carried on working with the jewellery/music box this week. The one that I am working on right now will most likely just be a prototype that I will not give to anybody and that, in the end, will not have any music mechanism permanently installed. I decided to try inserting small dowels into the two 45 degree mitered corners at the front of the box. This is not something supported by the Dowelmax jig parts, so I made an extension to the jig out of plywood to enable drilling into the facing faces of a 45 degree joint:
[attachthumb=#2] [attachthumb=#3]
Next, I sanded and polished the interior sides of the box pieces up to 4000 grit: [attachthumb=#4]
The next step was to route an indent in the front side exterior for the lid latch to fit into when shut: [attachthumb=#5]
I used the template in the foreground to set the stop locks on the router table. The reason for all this is that the notch only goes part way through the front side.
Now it was time to glue-up the basic box: [attachthumb=#6]
Dec 20, 2009:
I continued work on the music/jewellery box. First, I made a jig to cut slots for two splines across each corner of the box. The plans called for splines 1/8 inch in thickness, but I decided to make them 1/4 inch.
[attachthumb=#7] [attachthumb=#8] [attachthumb=#9]
I did not bother to sand the sides any further than 8 grit, because they were about to be beveled at 6 degrees. Before doing this, I cut 4 small feet out of a slice of walnut. This time I used my small bandsaw:
[attachthumb=#14]
Now it was time to cut the bevels:
[attachthumb=#10] [attachthumb=#11] [attachthumb=#12] [attachthumb=#13]
I screwed up! :-[ The dowels that I had inserted on the faces of the 45 degree joints to assist positioning during the glue-up were now revealed. What to do?
I drilled some larger holes, made a few short dowels out of some walnut, glued them into the holes, and sanded and polished all the sides up to 4000 grit.
[attachthumb=#15]
It creates a strange pattern on the two front corners which I don't like but which Margaret says she likes. I might give the box looking like this to Isla or I might try to make another. Her birthday is not until January 18, so I put the box aside for a while and I will make the decision early in the new year.
2010, Jan 17:
Since Isla's birthday is tomorrow, I got back to her jewellery/music box this week. When I last reported about this project on December, I had just compensated for a big mistake and was contemplating starting a brand new box for Isla. Well, I never got around to it, so the box she is getting is the one with the mistakes. :-[
The next step was to attach a lid. This entailed cutting notches for some fancy box lid stop hinges (part number 01B03.02 at Lee Valley). The magazine plans showed a technique for cutting the notches with a router but, with my routing skills, that seemed somewhat risky. So, I opted for the tried a true method for makes hinge notches with saws, chisels, and wood files:
[attachthumb=#16] [attachthumb=#17]
I did a good job on the notches, but not such a good job screwing in the hinges. They screws supplied with the hinges were quite week and, although I had drilled a small pilot hole, one of them broke off:
[attachthumb=#18]
This breakage resulted from two different factors. First of all, the #3 brass screws that came with the hinges seem to be very weak. Secondly, although I predrilled a hole for the screw, there was still pressure on it to cut the threads in the hard Cherry wood.
I went back to Lee Valley and purchased some #4 brass screws that appear to be of better quality than the screws that came with the hinges. The screws that came with the hinges were to long for the lid anyway, so I would have needed some different screws anyway. I selected 3/4 inch screws to use in the box and 3/8 inch screws to use in the lid. Then, I drilled out the broken screw and glued a piece of very narrow maple dowel into the hole:
[attachthumb=#19] [attachthumb=#20]
