Red Gum and Wenge Jewellery Box Build

[ROb McGilp]

So this is the story of the rise of a Red Gum and Wenge Jewellery box.
The box is quite large at 350mm long x 260mm wide and 135mm high (without the lid.)
Pic 1. shows the timber I will be using. The Red Gum has great figure and the Wenge is not so brittle as some Wenge can be. It will be used for the trays.
Pic 2. I'm going to need about 1.25m of Red Gum, so I cut 1.3m on the Kapex.
Pic 3. Shows the board being thicknessed to 14mm (down from 19mm). I am using Quadrant hinges on the box, so I need a bit of meat on the sides.
Pic 4. Shows the planed width.

 

[ROb McGilp]

The next step is to cut the mitres, keeping the grain continuous around the box.
Pic 1 shows the timber being readied for cutting the first mitre.
Pic 2 shows the grain continuing across the mitre joint for the front to the right hand panel.
Pic 3 Shows the slot for the base being cut on the Router Table. I use a 4mm slot cutter, set in this case to 6mm depth, as the thickness of the box is 14mm. If I were using thinner box sides, I would reduce the depth to about 3 or 4mm.
Pic 4 Shows a dry knock up of the sides only, to allow me to calculate the actual base size.

 

[ROb McGilp]

Next task is to assemble the carcass. This involves several steps.
1. Cut the base from plywood and coat with self adhesive felt.
2. Assemble the carcass to ensure that the base fits properly. In fact the slot for the base was too tight for the base, so I raised the slot cutter about a mm and re cut the slot. This gave a perfect fit.
3. Finish the insides of the panels with oil. I shall describe how I do this later, but you can see the process at

http://www.sanding.damnfinefurniture.com

4. Glue the four sades and the base together.

Pic 1 Shows the base inserted in a dry knock up of the box carcass.
Pic 2 Shows the friction sealed inside of the side panel. You can see how much colour and grain definition this process provides.The shine from the oil is also remarkable.
Pic 3 Shows the sides taped together for assembly
Pic 4 Shows the glued , assembled carcass.

 

[RONWEN]

Very nice expos'e -- keep it up.

PS --I'm somewhere between you and Genghi...  [wink]

 

[ROb McGilp]

The real world got in the way today, so I didn't get a real lot done.
Next post will probably be in two days time. (It's the Week End here and I close my shop for that.)

So today I ripped three 6mm x 55mm x 1 metre sticks of Wenge in readiness for making the trays.(Pic 1 and 2). I also thought you'd like to see the way the grain in the Red Gum has come up after being friction sealed into the wood. (Pic 3 and 4).

 

[ROb McGilp]

So now I am going to make the trays and tray supports. There will be three trays, one in the bottom of the box and two as a top layer. There will be a ring holder in one of the top trays and possibly a watch/necklace pillow.

Pic 1 Shows the Wenge after it has been planed and sanded, ready for processing. Sanding consists of using 80, 100, 120, 150, 180, 240 and 400 grits to give a very smooth finish.

Pic 2 Is the Wenge strips (55mm x 6mm) oiled on the inner faces and with the base groove routed.

Pic 3 Shows the tray glued up with the base in place. The bases are made of Tasmanian Blackwood and are finished with felt on top and Tung Oil underneath

Pic 4 Shows the Oiled Tasmanian Blackwood base before being placed into the tray for glue up.

Now that the trays are assembled, the supports must be inserted into the bottom of the box. These are just Red Gum 6mm wide strips. (Pic 5)

The next task is to insert the dividers into the trays. These are glued onto the sides of the trays. I have used this technique with great success for a number of years. (Pic 6)

Pic 7 Shows the top trays in place and Pic 8 shows the box with its trays in place and sanded to 400 grit ready for friction sealing with Liberon Tung Oil to 4000 grit.
Seems like a quiet day, but it wasn't...that's quite a bit of work!

 

[rdesigns]

Very nice, and the pics are really clear.
Keep 'em coming.

 

[peter halle]

Rob,

I have been enjoying your projects for a long time over at talkfestool and am glad to see you also sharing here.  I love to see your boxes and the different woods not readily available here.

I am surprised that I haven't seen more comments or questions because decorative boxes of all types are a great project especially as gifts that can be altered and adjusted to fit financial budgets, time constraints, skill levels, tool inventory, etc.

Keep the images and posts coming!

Peter

 

[ROb McGilp]

So today I finished the box. I made a ring compartment out of Styrofoam and felt, oiled and burnished the outside of the box and mounted the Quadrant hinges. I use square ended Quad hinges as I like paring the timber with a chisel and I think square suits a square box better.

I have photos of the ring compartment being made if you want them. The burnishing is best seen at;

http://www.sanding.damnfinefunriture.com/

Pics 1-4 show the finished box.

This has been a good build for me. The timber is beautiful and shows excellent Red Gum figure and delicate grain. The Quad hinges accentuate the box well and add some class.
Hope you enjoyed it too.

Regards,

Rob

 

[Wooden Lungs]

Thanks for sharing constructions pics. Lovely work.

 

[nclemmons]

Nice set of photos and technique, Rob.  Love the choice of wood and final piece.

For those who want to learn more about your finishing process, I found it at:

http://www.damnfinefurniture.com/sanding 

Your URL was misspelled.

Many thanks!

neil