Boxes

Beautiful!

Don Orr

I really like the wood choices. Great figure all around.

Yes.  Really attractive.

Nice.

Ellis Walentine

What a great use of small chunks of special wood. Now the requisite questions...

What kind of hinges are those? And, how did you install your magnet catches? What's the finish?

Ellis

Beautiful Work -- And a Question

John McGaw

Beautiful. I've tried things like that and have yet to find a way to get the inside cavities anywhere near as smooth as I'd like. I hollow mine with a bowl and tray bit but there is always some roughness that just won't sand out (or I can't get to every surface to do proper sanding) Do you have some secret?

Re: Boxes

dave nichols

those boxes are beautiful

Re: Beautiful Work -- And a Question

John in NM

Thanks John, you're right that getting the inside smooth is the very hard part. I've tried a number of things over the years, depending on how I hollowed the box - these were done with a bowl and tray bit as you have done.

To sand the inside smooth, I use small strips of sandpaper, folded over so that my finger grips the other side and I get some traction. Start really coarse, like 60 grit or more. I used to make these with a big tooth burr on a Dremel or Foredom tool, which presented the inverse problem - getting the scratches or burns out! Tried drum sander corners, flat disks, even some cool round top sanding drums from Pferd, none worked as well as the folded strip and patience.

What worked the absolute best was to use a straight bit for a flat bottom box and a square corner inside, then make a template for cutting out a piece of leather to cover the bottom (make the template by plunging through a piece of 1/4" plywood as you rout the box or a sacrificial block), glue down with contact adhesive. The time I did that I used scraps of glove leather I got at a fabrics by the pound surplus place in Tucson. I may do that again next time if I can find my box with little scraps of glove leather

Re: Nice.

John in NM

Thanks Ellis.

Hinges are little barrel hinges from Lee Valley. Woodcraft and other vendors sell them as well, just need a 5mm brad point to install. I used a drill press jig with a corner fence to get the holes in the same place (or close enough) for each half. If the hole is placed right you can use a single set up for all four holes. I had thought I would need to epoxy these in, but they seem to work fine just pressed in - that is nice when building and finishing as you can pull the top off easily if you need to but it doesn't pull off in use. I could still drop some epoxy in if needed later.

Magnets are just epoxied in the holes. Thinking of trying CA glue next time, the epoxy is a bit messy and difficult - Too much and the magnet wants to pop back up above the surface. Between that and trying to confirm that one magnet isn't reversed, I need to improve the process!

Finish is BLO followed by Waterlox. The little upside down jar in the background is Waterlox

Re: Nice.

William Duffield

If you buy your rare earth magnets from Lee Valley, they all have a little red spot on the middle of one end (the same pole on every magnet). So, if you are gluing in a pair, and you see either two red spots or no red spots, you have to flip one of them over.

Re: Nice.

John in NM

These don't have the dots, but I have seen that before.

I suppose the easiest solution would be to add my own sharpie dots and remove them with alcohol when I'm done with them. Only trouble with that plan is I never seem to have a sharpie around when I need one I think I have an orange one somewhere I could use for this - I've noticed that lighter, useless colors like orange don't grow legs like the darker ones do.

Leather?

John K Jordan

>>>The time I did that I used scraps of glove leather I got at a fabrics by the pound surplus place in Tucson. I may do that again next time if I can find my box with little scraps of glove leather

John in NM,

Could you use some thin leather? I once got a blanket-sized piece of leather made of diamonds of leather sewn together, each about 12" from point-to-point on the shorter dimension and 16" on the longer. This leather is quite thin and flexible and dark, probably dyed. I don't know but I'm assuming it was sewn up to cover a couch or something. I don't know leather terminology but this is smooth on the obverse and rather like suede on the reverse side.

I bought it and a bunch of other leather years ago from a Mennonite leather shop back in the hills of in TN. I also bought a box, maybe 2x2x3', of "scrap" pieces for only $8!

I've used a few diamond-shaped pieces but have way more than I need if you could use some for inside your boxes (and if the size I have would work). If so, send me an email with your mailing address.

BTW, the boxes are beautiful! And those are incredible pieces of wood - woodturners everywhere are drooling.

JKJ

Re: Leather?

John in NM

Thanks, I'll drop you a line.

A couple of those pieces started as turning blanks, I've had them kicking around for ~30 years and finally decided I would rather make just about anything out of them rather than wait for the perfect use.

Re: Beautiful Work -- And a Question

Buck Nall

Maybe I didn't grasp it all. Could U use a mortise & tendon ?drill bit? for the corners?

Re: Beautiful Work -- And a Question

John in NM

Thanks Buck.

Do you mean a hollow chisel mortise bit? You could use one for the vertical corners if you wanted them square. Not sure the cut would be smooth enough though, hollow chisel bits aren't exactly clean cutters.

Stunning!

Very Nice

Mark Mandell - Gone Round In New Jersey

I did one of those for a joke for a tool collector friend. It held six 4"x 1/2" dowels as a "matched set". I cheaped out, however, on the interior. After loosing patience trying to sand it smooth, I lined it with "Corinthian Naugahide"

Matched dowels...

John in NM

You know they have to come from matching flitches of lumber right?