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18th December 2018, 11:12 AM #1GOLD MEMBER
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- Mar 2008
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Black Bean and Northern Silky Oak Document Box
hi all, this job was given to me by my wife on 22 Nov as a gift to her young cousin who has spent the last 5 years at JCU School of Veterinary Science, and tomorrow Dec 19th graduates as a Vet and then returns home to Melbourne. It is made of Queensland timbers and intended to remind her of her happy days in our city of Townsville.
The box timber is Black Bean, and the lid is a beautiful piece of quartersawn Northern Silky Oak (NSO) with amazing flecks that become 3D in the right lighting. I was given this timber as a gift a few years ago, and have been too scared to use it as I was worried I would not be able to do it justice. The brolga is the official emblem of Townsville.
The box timbers have been resawn from a single board to 12mm thickness, to enable continuous grain around the 4 corners
The box is 380 x 250 x 90 mm, designed to take A4 sheets comfortably. The lining is pigskin suede, and the finish is Livos Kunos #244 oil. I was just able to apply the third and final coat on last Saturday morning. That afternoon at 3pm, ex Cyclone Owen dumped 120mm on us for the next 24 hours, but I have been fortunate with a couple of hot sunny days to help cure the box finish. It really requires 4 weeks in a light sunny location to fully harden.
The box could not have been done in time without the generous help of 'homey' who lent me a SmartLock until Andrew Crawford's production starts up again soon, and also helped me with escutcheons. The hinges are solid brass SmartHinges. And many thanks to 'crowie' and 'Uncle Al' for their pointers and advice with the photography. Still lots to learn there, but time beats me on this one. What an amazing Forum this is.
Had the usual problems with bleeding of the oil finish on the open pored silky oak lid, requiring hourly rub downs for 8 hours as the oil bled through the pores and popped out.
The key to the SmartLock is rather small, and the commercially available escutcheons are too large, so I designed one on AutoCAD and sent it to the local trophy engravers to be laser cut out of 2mm thick Qld Silver Ash. It was done so accurately that they were able to return the escutcheons together with the tiny keyhole cutout piece. Big thanks to NQ Plaques and Trophies for their quick and accurate work.
The City Council refused to give me an outline drawing of a brolga, and they are impossible to find on Google, so I found a drawing of a crane and between my wife and youngest daughter who is a photographer we were able to modify the drawing of the crane to that of a brolga. That involved changing the head and putting a U bend in the neck. The local trophy engraver was able to laser engrave the image on the NSO lid.
The escutcheon and the corner keys ( slipfeathers) are all made of Qld Silver Ash.
The side finger lift was preferred by the recipient, with magnets on the corner, but there was too much uncertainty for me with magnets, so went for the lock instead. I was not sure of the strength of the magnet, and the surefire way of gluing them in so that they would not pull each other out of position over the years. Thanks for Alex Springall for his advice on magnets, but I chickened out. Sorry Alex
For those interested in photography, the photos were taken with an old hand held Panasonic Lumix LX5, which produces excellent photographs with its Leica lens. The camera was run in Aperture mode, f4 and ISO 100. The morning sun was very glarey so I under-exposed with a EV of -1/3 The resulting shutter speed varied between 1/1000 and 1/ 2000 sec - thanks Uncle Al
P1330747 .jpg P1330748 .jpg P1330753 .jpg P1330760 .jpg P1330770 .jpg
P1330774 .jpg P1330779 .jpg P1330788 .jpg P1330784 .jpgregards,
Dengy
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18th December 2018 11:12 AM # ADSGoogle Adsense Advertisement
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18th December 2018, 01:34 PM #2
That is one nice box with a beautiful lid and a well told story of the making. You must have a good relationship with the trophy place and they obviously have the right gear.
Nice of the council not to help out with their emblem to help promote the city.Dallas
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18th December 2018, 02:40 PM #3GOLD MEMBER
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- May 2015
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- Brisbane
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- 1,150
Beautiful. Everything about it is first class.
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18th December 2018, 03:35 PM #4
lovely box that is sure to be treasured for the rest of your niece's life
Here's some pics for next time
regards from Alberta, Canada
ian
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18th December 2018, 05:11 PM #5Novice
- Join Date
- Jun 2013
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- Western Sydney
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- 22
Very nice. That silky oak panel is just gorgeous!
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18th December 2018, 05:45 PM #6
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18th December 2018, 07:13 PM #7
Superb Joe.....
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18th December 2018, 07:26 PM #8GOLD MEMBER
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- Nov 2011
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- Sutherland Shire, Sydney
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Nice story to go with the box Dengy. First class job, you certainly have some nice timbers. The fitting of hinges and catches can be a bit daunting, but worked out very well. I hope the recipient appreciates and enjoys your skills.
Alan...
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18th December 2018, 08:51 PM #9GOLD MEMBER
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- Sep 2011
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- Valla Beach
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- 1,192
Not bad Dengy, not bad at all, very impressive indeed. Very nice craftsmanship.
Paul
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18th December 2018, 09:42 PM #10
Nice job Joe.
JimSometimes in the daily challenges that life gives us, we miss what is really important...
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18th December 2018, 10:54 PM #11GOLD MEMBER
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- Apr 2014
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- Kew, Vic
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Joe,
A sensational box and a wonderful heirloom.
Brilliant.
Brian
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18th December 2018, 11:44 PM #12SENIOR MEMBER
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- Jul 2004
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- Adelaide
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- 76
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- 768
A first class box Dengue, and the lid WOW!!!
Regards
Keith
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19th December 2018, 06:33 AM #13GOLD MEMBER
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- Apr 2013
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- Sydney
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Fear not, you have done the NSO a true justice. that's beautiful. although personally I would've put the laser etching inside the lid.
fantastic. you didn't show us the feet? hahaha
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19th December 2018, 07:19 AM #14GOLD MEMBER
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- Mar 2008
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- Townsville, Nth Qld
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personally I would've put the laser etching inside the lid.regards,
Dengy
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19th December 2018, 09:08 AM #15GOLD MEMBER
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- Apr 2013
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- Sydney
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