Thread: Curly maple and bocote

Originally Posted by ciscokid

Scored some rather nice curly maple recently. Paired it up with a piece of bocote that was whispering to me. Design is from Doug Stowe as read about in Fine Woodworking Magazine.

Nicely done, but I think your timber was prettier than mine.

Doug

Very nice contrast. Any chance of some internal shots?
Well done
regards
Billy

Lovely piece Cisco. What an inspiration to pair those two timbers like that.

Just wondering about the piece that keys the mitre on the bottom corner. Is this there for the aesthetic, because usually the bottom panel can be glued to support the joint down there, or was it for structural reasons?

great work Cisco beautiful combination of timbers
cheers

That's a very nice box Cisco. Love that curly maple too. Went to a local timber yard the other day and noticed they had maple boards but I wonder how much I would have to buy to get some like yours.
Regards
Peter

Superb Whispering Cisco! I, too, bought that issue of Fine WoodWorking just to read Doug's contribution. I wish I could 'channel' other woodworker's style as well as you have with this lovely piece.

cheers
Wendy

Wonderful work Cisco!

Beautiful work. Love the curly maple.

Love the contrast and the finish looks great. Inspirational..
Thank you Cisco

Ruddy

Thanks, guys. It's just a plain old box. Nothing inside. No fancy dividers or lining. Just a place to put things if one were inclined I guess. I spent too much of 2008 working on my pen making, I decided that 2009 would see more and better boxes and some furniture pieces that SWMBO wants. Funny thing about boxes though. They are very satisfying to build.

Cisco,

I believe that this is certainly not and "Ordinary Box" as you have stated but a piece of art work. The contrast between the woods used and the grain in the bocote are terrific. Thanks for the post.

Bob

Very nice box, love contrast. Carl

How did you accomidate for the wood expansion of the top? Looks very tight to the frame... I am always cocerned that the top panel will swell, blowing apart my boxes.

Naw. There's actually quite a bit of room around the groove. The sides start out as four pieces and you set your tablesaw up with the blade raised about 3/16" and the fence about a blades width away from the blade. Run your sides down the fence inside face down, both ways, to get two grooves on the inside face (top and bottom). Without touching the setup, run the top piece down the fence standing up, all four sides to get a groove running around the circumference. Choose a bottom piece thin enough to fit in the bottom groove and when you glue the whole mess up, you've captured the bottom and top between the four sides. Of course, now you have a cube that doesn't open. That's when you cut the top off (carefully). This way, the top is not only the same size as the bottom (guaranteed), but the grain matches as well. Kind of hard to explain. Get last months Fine Woodworking magazine and follow the pictures. They explain it better than I can. I put one drop of glue in the middle of one top groove at assembly to keep the lid from rattling all around. This should allow it to expand all it wants too, yet keep it secure.