Military Medal Box

**Ruddy** · 8th June 2015, 04:37 PM

I was asked by a friend if I could design and make a box to store some service medals. The person requesting the box had served in the Australian Army and his father has served with the legendary Gurkhas. I was able to source some artwork for the Gurkhas and also for the Australian Army Engineers. I had these respective emblems laser engraved on the curved lid along with the names of the recipients.
The box is made from teak and the medal tray is lined with a green pigskin leather split. The box is made with Domino joints and is finished with waxing after Danish Oil. As previously posted, I do like the combination of oiled wood and polished brass and this box incorporates my simple hinge design using a 10 mm dia polished brass rod as the hinge. I have included a picture with the lid separated from the box showing the brass rod attached to the lid with 3 brass screws. The appearance of the back of the box shows a simple polished brass hinge without any visible screws. The hinged lid will be held in place with some 3 mm dia brass pins.
I could not source a suitable small escutcheon for the key so I decided to make my own from some 16 mm dia brass with an inserted red acrylic to highlight the escutcheon.
The box measures 250 mm x 145 mm x 80 mm high.
Medal8.JPG Medal1.JPG medal4.JPG medal5.JPG medal6.JPG Medal2.JPG Medal3.JPG

**Sawdust Maker** · 8th June 2015, 05:12 PM

noice!

**crowie** · 8th June 2015, 05:20 PM

Now that's one beautiful box Ruddy and very much honours the purpose....Cheers, crowie

**AlexS** · 8th June 2015, 06:37 PM

Nice work, Ruddy. It's nice to see a box with a curved lid, and that one works well.

Also like the escutcheon - hand made makes a world of difference.

**spokeshave** · 8th June 2015, 07:23 PM

Beautiful box.

**coffenup** · 9th June 2015, 11:14 PM

not nice but bloody nice
regards Michael

**TTIT** · 9th June 2015, 11:39 PM

Top job Ruddy

Nice way of hinging the lid - looks good!

**doug3030** · 10th June 2015, 12:15 AM

[QUOTE=Ruddy;1871523]I was able to source some artwork for the Gurkhas and also for the Australian Army Engineers.

Hi Ruddy,

I hope I am wrong here but I think you definitely have the wrong badge for the Australian Army Engineers.

The badge on the box is the Royal Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. If that is the Corps your friend served with then all is good. if not he may well smile wisely when presented with the box but he will not be real happy with it.

This is a totally separate corps from the Australian Army Engineers, or to give them their more correct title, the Royal Australian Engineers.

The badges are quite different s you would find from a google search. I tried to post some examples but the computer would not let me.

Apart from that the box looks great, but if you have not presented it to the intended recipient yet I would suggest seeking some clarification and possibly making another lid...

Hope all works out for the best

Doug

**Ruddy** · 10th June 2015, 09:24 AM

Hi Doug,
The box has the correct engraved emblem, in fact I got the link for the artwork from the recipient. My quote in the original post using Australian Army Engineers was a little clumsy! I should have quoted the correct title.
Thanks to all for the positive comments.

**doug3030** · 10th June 2015, 10:25 AM

Originally Posted by Ruddy

Hi Doug,
The box has the correct engraved emblem, in fact I got the link for the artwork from the recipient. My quote in the original post using Australian Army Engineers was a little clumsy! I should have quoted the correct title.
Thanks to all for the positive comments.

Fantastic. Glad to hear that. Would have been a shame to have wasted all that good work.

Cheers

Doug

**old1955** · 10th June 2015, 11:47 AM

Absolutely beautiful.

**sea dragon** · 10th June 2015, 06:19 PM

They will be chuffed when they each receive their box.

Great that the engraving was spot on.
Really like the flow of the curved lid.Everything is in great proportions.
How do you fit the ends in the brass rod for the hinge to pivot open?

**Ruddy** · 10th June 2015, 09:46 PM

Hi sea dragon.
The brass rod has a 3 mm hole drilled in each end and the sides of the box have a similar hole. When the lid is placed on the base of the box 3 mm brass pins are pushed through the side holes with the lid in place. The pictures here show a longer bamboo skewer as the hinge pin but these will be replaced with brass pins.
With this hinge design you can install and remove the lid as often as you like during the making of the box using longer bamboo pins. You get perfect positive alignment every time.

**sea dragon** · 10th June 2015, 10:15 PM

Originally Posted by Ruddy

Hi sea dragon.
The pictures here show a longer bamboo skewer as the hinge pin but these will be replaced with brass pins.
With this hinge design you can install and remove the lid as often as you like during the making of the box using longer bamboo pins. You get perfect positive alignment every time.

Thanks for the enlightenment, Ruddy.

All in all, your hinge approach is quite ingenious.
I will try it with the right box and curved lid.
The Sydney WWW Show will give me a chance to access the 10mm brasss rod and 3mm brass pins, hopefully. Maybe with some nice Huon Pine to set them off.

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