Document Box for my daughters' 21st

**Alastair** · 28th August 2012, 07:14 PM

Good day all,

In Feb this year, I was confronted by a dilemma

When I turned 21, (more years ago than you wish to know), my mother made me a 21st key. Mom was an accomplished craftswoman, covering woodcarving, mosiac, pottery, ceramics, batik etc, but her principal skill was in pewter and copper modelling.

My key was a work of art, which I still cherish.

With my eldest celebrating her majority, my goodwife tasked me with the same, saying I owed it to both mother and daughter.

I mulled over this for ages, before deciding that nothing in the "traditional" key format would not look tacky if I tried to force it into a timber format.

I then stepped out of the 'box' (so to speak), and as Megan is bent on a career in theatre, I decided to make her a document box, to keep her stage programs in, (with a key inlay) as a substitute. With further consideration, I decided to give up completely on the key theme, and instead go with a thespian motif.

I started with some blackwood I picked up at the Sturt Toolmakers w/e. This was bookmatched to give 4-side grain match, and mitred, with jacaranda splines. Base was free-floating fijian cedar ply.

For the lid, I decided to tackle a marquetry inlay, as the previous owner of our house had donated me his basic scrollsaw, and hence embarked on a far steeper leaning curve than what I had expected.

First up was upgrading the saw to pinless blades, followed by web search on techniques and videos. I was spitting, when Alex let on that he had just attended a course by the master, Silas Kopf.

The core for the lid was more of the FC ply, with 3mm veneers of red cedar, (inside) and silky oak. The inlay was made up from veneers I cut from scraps on hand. (Jacaranda, blackwood and IRW). After the inlay was complete, I laminated up the lid in a home-made veneer press.

After the lid sandwich was cut to size, it was glued directly to the top of the box. Once everything settled, I ran off binding rebates on the router table, and bound with mitred strips of Queen Ebony I had left over.

After scraping back and sanding, Initial bodying coats of french polished blond shellac were added. The lid was then separated on the table saw.

I lined the box with WRC, to leverage the insect repellent properties, and then fitted Smarthinges sourced from Andy Crawford, and a magnet latch.

I have to thank AlexS, for all the help and advice, as well as advancing me hinges from his stock, which saved me from embarrasment, as my order ran too late.

With finiting, and rubbing back and meeting my anal standards on finish, I finally finished on the morning of her party.

The finished article
Attachment 221349
Attachment 221350

Corner and binding detail
Attachment 221351

The lid inlay
Attachment 221352

Linings and hinges
Attachment 221353

Hinge detail.
Attachment 221354

**ian** · 28th August 2012, 08:01 PM

Very nice

what was your daughter's response?

**Ruddy** · 28th August 2012, 08:57 PM

Alastair, that is a stunning box. No doubt an heirloom that she will always treasure.
A couple of questions.................
What are the overall dimensions?
How did you find fitting those beautiful Andrew Crawford hinges? They really do make a great feature.
I have 5 grandaughters and am slowly making each of them document/keepsake boxes, so far three down and two to go.

**A Duke** · 28th August 2012, 09:09 PM

Very neat and well thought out.
Regards

**ClintO** · 28th August 2012, 09:15 PM

Very nice box, unusual to use wood as a liner

**Alastair** · 29th August 2012, 11:11 AM

She was stoked,

now has pride of place on her desk

Originally Posted by ian

Very nice

what was your daughter's response?

**Alastair** · 29th August 2012, 11:17 AM

Hi Ruddy,

Inside dimensions just A4, so ~ 310 x 210 x 90mm
\
Fitting the Crawford hinges was OK, his instructions are dead simple. However, you need to be precise, particularly with the length setting. As you rout complementary corners on each set-up, your error doubles, and you get a lid which is slightly skewed. So if you are clumsy, or if your router table is a bit dodgy, you may have to do some creeping up.

Originally Posted by Ruddy

Alastair, that is a stunning box. No doubt an heirloom that she will always treasure.
A couple of questions.................
What are the overall dimensions?
How did you find fitting those beautiful Andrew Crawford hinges? They really do make a great feature.
I have 5 grandaughters and am slowly making each of them document/keepsake boxes, so far three down and two to go.

**Wongo** · 29th August 2012, 02:54 PM

Very nice Alastair.

**AlexS** · 29th August 2012, 07:01 PM

Good to see how the final result turned out. Looks great, and I'm glad your daughter appreciated it.

**Evanism** · 7th September 2012, 06:45 PM

So many spares, off-cuts and scraps.

Its sort of like a meal where your have Indian, Chinese and Pizza all left over.

Add a few beers and its a feast of gluttonous proportions!

Your box is like this. Worthy of every mans mealy woodwork dinner

**Dengue** · 8th September 2012, 01:29 PM

Alastair, this is truly beautiful, I just hope my lawyer nieces don't see it

As a newcomer to boxes, yet to make her first, can you please tell me how you did the base and the lid, esp the narrow black bead around the silky oak lid.

How did you cut the mitre corners, and then separate the lid from the body of the box ?

Congratulations on a great piece of craftsmanship

**BobR** · 8th September 2012, 02:37 PM

Beautiful box. Love the inlay.

**Alastair** · 10th September 2012, 12:15 PM

Originally Posted by JillB

Alastair, this is truly beautiful, I just hope my lawyer nieces don't see it

As a newcomer to boxes, yet to make her first, can you please tell me how you did the base and the lid, esp the narrow black bead around the silky oak lid.

How did you cut the mitre corners, and then separate the lid from the body of the box ?

Congratulations on a great piece of craftsmanship

Hi Jill,

Thanks for the compliments

From the

Mitres were done on the tablesaw. The sides were prepared from a "resawn bookmatch" to give the all-round grain match. Glue-up was done using a Spanish windlass, around 4 corner pieces rebated to locate on the corners. Base is Fijian cedar ply, floating in slots cut on t/s.

Splines were resawn on bandsaw, then thickness sanded on my little drill press homemade, as were the veneers for top and inlay. Spline slots cut on t/s, using a homemade 45deg jig.

Lid is a F. Cedar ply core, with 3mm veneers (Aus Cedar inside, Silky Oak show) glued on, after the marquetry was complete. (Lots of clamps, between 2 sheets of melamine, with cardboard gasket.)

After dry, it was trimmed to fit on the box. I had levelled the top of box on a sanding board. Again, glued to top, clamping all round rim.

Rebate for the ebony was done on the router table. I used a flush trim bit, but changed down to a smaller bearing, to give a 2mm rebate. Ebony mitred to fit, glued in and scraped flush.

Lid was separated on table saw, cutting about 1mm short of right through. I then used a dovetail saw for final separation. Box and lid then levelled on sanding board.

Hope this helps, regards

**Dengue** · 10th September 2012, 01:08 PM

Many thanks, Alastair, for sharing your knowledge and skills, it is a real eye opener for me ,and a real inspiration to get stuck into it

Thread: Document Box for my daughters' 21st

Thread Tools

Search Thread

Document Box for my daughters' 21st

Similar Threads

Step Daughters Pen

Daughters bed

Daughters Wedding

Daughters first chopper ride

The Farmers Daughters

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions