Thread: NG Red Wattle and Huon Pine box

Fantastic result there Dengue. Never used black suede, but it really looks good - must give it a try.

Wow...

That's exceptional. Beautiful workmanship, no wonder it was well received.

Steven.

Magnificent Dengue. Wonderful design and workmanship.

We sure have some beautiful timbers in this country.

I've watched this box take shape for several years: from a pretty ordinary tree that was in the way of something better so it came home, through milling, through being a single board taxed by Mary from a sale pack that leaned against the shed wall for a year that eventually went home with Dengue.

Then the fun started.

James Bain of the Black Ball Line commissioned Donald McKay to build "Lightening" - the fastest clipper of the great age of sail, 277 foot long and 2084 tons - with the words " make her fast". Three words.
This box took weekly, sometimes daily, sometimes hourly emails as Dengue and Mary worked together to turn her desire for a custom heirloom jewelry box to a reality. Ideas, realities, options explored and scrapped and explored again. Periods of progress and then pauses as life did what life does and got in the way.

I think they both enjoyed themselves. I certainly enjoyed watching them.

She didn't know it was coming yesterday, and was totally surprised when they came through the door. She was nearly in tears when she unwrapped it. She keeps walking past to stroke it, or she'll just stop and look at it and go quiet.

Anyone who who knows my wife knows that takes a bit of doing.

I want to thank you Joe for making this. I'm no woodworker but I know good workmanship when I see it and it's easy to see that you have pushed yourself to an extremely high level of fit and finish with this box. Barring acts of God it will remain in this family for generations, and it's been built accordingly.

im going to stick a couple more pictures of the box here because it is a chameleon. Every way you look at it you see something different, or it changes colour.

He tells me there's a couple of faults. I can't find them.

Wow Joe... an absolute stunner!
The brass and black suede are the perfect compliment to it all, well done!

And I finally got the gold colour in a picture!!! Persistent I are.

IMG_20170219_163302.jpg

An absolutely splendid result. Well done. A credit to all.

Well worth the effort and time. Its great to see the interaction between saw miller, maker and client which in this instance is a closed loop. Joe (Dengue) was quite excited about delivering this to Mary when he dropped in briefly during the week. Now I can see why! Brilliant.

+1 For all the above very satisfying I am sure for the maker and the recipient.
Regards Rod.

Top job That was one special bit of timber used to optimum benefit.

A lovely keepsake box. No doubt it will be cherished and passed on in the future. Great work Joe.

Hi Dengue, Super box, great work. I am interested in how they put that mother of pearl or whatever it is, into the engraving. I've recently built a pantograph engraver all from timber. I'm currently working on how to hold the piece of timber that is being engraved, might have that figured out as of today. Then I started to make one letter, all for experimental purposes. Slowly getting there in between other projects. I haven't made a box since before Christmas.

Regards, Paul

Hi Pauls321. I have seen a big industrial CNC machine in action ($200k +), and it uses a 12 mm thick MDF sacrifical board under the workpiece. There is a powerful vacuum pump connected under the sacrificial board, and that vacuum pulls right through that sacrificial board and holds the workpiece down on it. No clamps required.

I would not have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself, and tried to push the workpiece off the sacrificial board ( unsuccessfully)