Re: Questions
CJ in MPLS
Bill:
Thanks for asking. This box is joined using rabbets, though in the next iteration I will use miters to see if there is any difference. There are screws holding the sides to the top and bottom. The screws let me do measurements on the channels for the door hinge. I don't know that I would use the rabbets again as the corner edging (cocobolo) seems to provide a lot of long grain contact. I've also become comfortable enough with the hinge pin set up that I won't need to mess about with disassembling the carcase before glue up.
The veneer covers a Baltic birch carcase. I added a secondary veneer across the back under the burl to avoid having the joints ghost through. I struggled with the veneer a bit as I pieced it together directly on the carcase. I was able to clamp through the open front of the box. I wised up and pieced the veneers for the door together and glued both of those at once, flat on the bench. I was going to add holly stringing between the burl and the quarter sawn walnut border, but ran out of steam. I don't think it suffers from the lack. I still have a bunch of holly strips I need to use up.
The finish is straight up french polish using a 1# cut. I did not fill the pores however.
The linings are very simple and I think look great. Tandy and other places sell pig skin suede in every color of the rainbow. $25 for an entire hide. I used a bit less than 1/2 of the hide I purchased for all of the drawers. I cut bristol board to fit the drawer bottom and then adhere the suede to the bristol board using a fast tack latex craft glue. The suede wraps around the back of the bristol board. I make the bristol board a bit smaller than the opening into which it will be placed to account for the thickness of the suede, but a tight fit is good. I used some hide glue to tack the bristol board down to the bottom of each drawer. Very simple and quick to accomplish. I find that I like using leather/leatherette in projects.
This box took forever. Between prototypes, remaking parts due to error and all of the new stuff I had to learn, it took about 10 months to complete. Now I need to see about making this into a 10 day project rather than a 10 month one.
Cheers,
CJ
