Thread: Need repair suggestions on a jewelry box

Hi Rattrap, I don't know how to bring up a past post, but if you care to look up one of my posts on 25/12/08 on a document box ,it has a piece fitted on the front of the box to take initals of the receipent. You might be able to adapt something along these lines to cover the mark in the lid.
Other wise very nice box. regards nine fingers

U mean this post?
https://www.woodworkforums.com/f87/document-box-86287
you can find all your old posts thru user CP located far left side. I found yours by just clicking on your name & selecting find more posts.
I remember that box of yours, was some very nice work indeed. I had thought of doing something like that, or gluing on a raised panel of more huon maybe but i really liked the grain in the lid piece of blackwood & i don't want to have to spoil it any more than necessary. Its still an option tho.

Hi Rattrap..why can't these things happen at the beginning of the job
I would suggest one of 2 things if you feel up to it inlay a motif or design of some sort over it or the soft option I would suggest some tan colours wax stick. Simple heat up and allow a few drops to fold into the damaged area them scrape off excess and buff with soft rag.

Bit like a new car the first ding hurts them when it get another it's not so bad.
Had one fly out of my hands yesterday as well 45min before it was the be shown to some one. Bit of magic here and there and they never noticed anything wrong.

All the best with it it's a beaut looking box with lovely colour. and layout.


Cheers

Steve

Inlay will cure that. Once had to use it to cover up a jacketed bullet in a beautiful piece of birdseye maple. Worked like a charm.

Originally Posted by ciscokid

Inlay will cure that. Once had to use it to cover up a jacketed bullet in a beautiful piece of birdseye maple. Worked like a charm.

I agree that inlay will cure a lot of things, but another technique involves borrowing the iron from the spouse. Or buying one of your own. Injuries that result from collisions with unforgiving objects often result in dents that can be drawn back out with a bit of spit and a hot iron. It won't work in every case, and is least useful where edges are damaged and wood fibers are torn. Sometimes it takes ironing 2 or more times to bring the surface level, but ironing is easier than inlay and might be worth a try.

I've done the old iron repair on projects before but i don't think it'll work here. that little cross dint is actually round 2 - 3 mm deep.
I've got a book on inlay coming in the mail from Amazon but i've never done any before & its going to be an incredably delecate process considering that the lid can't come off & theres a mirror glued to the underside.
How do i go about doing an inlay piece all from the top & applying such little pressure. Using chisels on that lid is going to terrify me, it wouldn't take much of a tap to crack the mirror.

I would try the iron trick first as it would cost nothing. It might raise the dent enough that some light sanding would suffice. Another option would be to be to replace the dented spots with diamond plugs of matching color and grain. The current issue of Fine Woodworking shows the technique and I also show it on my blog, in a post called fixing a ding. It would take some minor chiseling, but not enough to crack the mirror.

Originally Posted by Rattrap

I've done the old iron repair on projects before but i don't think it'll work here. that little cross dint is actually round 2 - 3 mm deep.
I've got a book on inlay coming in the mail from Amazon but i've never done any before & its going to be an incredably delecate process considering that the lid can't come off & theres a mirror glued to the underside.
How do i go about doing an inlay piece all from the top & applying such little pressure. Using chisels on that lid is going to terrify me, it wouldn't take much of a tap to crack the mirror.

When I did it to the bit of birsdeye maple, I took a contrasting bit of hardwood that matched the rest of the cabinet and sliced it thin. Then I cut a pattern out of the thin stock until I was happy with it. I used a small piece of two-sided tape to stick it to the damaged maple and started tracing around it with a sharp X-Acto knife. Once I had a decent score all around it, I removed the inlay piece and set it aside. Then I continued to run around the pattern with the knife getting the marks deeper and deeper each time around. Once I felt they were as deep as the inlay, I chucked up a small (1/8" diameter) upturn spiral bit in a pony router and set the bit depth to just less than the thickness of my inlay. I carefully routed out where the inlay would rest being careful to not quite touch my scribed lines. Just get as close as you feel comfortable with. With that done, a sharp chisel easily cleaned up the remainder to my scribed lines. A couple of drops of superglue and a light tap set my inlay in place. Since the inlay is a little thicker than the recess, a bit of sanding bring it flush. It was my first attempt at this sort of thing, but I must say it wasn't as hard as it sounds.

Thanks for that Cisco you've made the process much clearer to me. I"m going to try Dougs suggestion of the iron first - can't hurt to try. If the iron doesn't work I'm going to have a dig thru my scrap timber pile & see if i can find any matching blackwood for a repair as Doug also suggested.
If all else fails it'll have to be an inlay job. A nice inlay design in huon pine would actually look really fine & is something i had considered for this project when i was designing it, i just hate doing something like that at this late stage especally considering i've never done that sort of thing before - too much room for things to go pear shaped in a major way & create a much bigger mess to fix up - my woodworking skills are still very much 'virginal' especally when it comes to hand tool work. I'm really keen to try my hand at inlay work but on a piece of timber that i can easily add to the firewood pile if it goes pear shaped rather than on a finished piece.

Well the iron failed to touch the dent at all but thats not suprising considering how much the fibers were torn & the center compressed.
The inlay of some matching blackwood also failed for 2 reasons; first i just couldn't match up the timber, theres too much grain & color variation; & second my hand tool work let me down badly. So i think i'll go with a nice engraved brass name plate. I'll order it this week & post some pics when its all done.
I defenately need to do some practice work with my chisels, i bought a good quality set but the driver behind the wheel sux. lol.
Thanks everyone for your input on this little disaster.

Originally Posted by Rattrap

Well the iron failed to touch the dent at all but thats not suprising considering how much the fibers were torn & the center compressed.
The inlay of some matching blackwood also failed for 2 reasons; first i just couldn't match up the timber, theres too much grain & color variation; & second my hand tool work let me down badly. So i think i'll go with a nice engraved brass name plate. I'll order it this week & post some pics when its all done.
I definately need to do some practice work with my chisels, i bought a good quality set but the driver behind the wheel sux. lol.
Thanks everyone for your input on this little disaster.

I am so sorry the iron didn't work. From looking at the ding, it did appear that some of the fibers were too badly crushed. I have another fun idea. I use an inlay technique which I call a log-cabin template. You can take a four pointed diamond shape (or square) and build up layers around it. It takes two layers. The corners are done log cabin, over-lapping style. So that means you have one piece for each side, and 4 pieces the length of the sides plus at least twice the width of the stock to form the shape. You arrange these pieces tightly around the object that is to be inlaid, and then glue and nail the corners together. I use 1/4 in. thick Baltic birch so the stock is uniform and builds up to a level template. I use a 1/2" diameter mortise clean-out bit in the router. It is a short bit with an equal sized bearing at the top. You clamp the template on the surface to be routed and set the depth of the router to the thickness of the template plus the depth you want it to cut. You will need to chisel the corners, but much of that can be done using the template as a chisel guide.

This technique will be illustrated in a coming edition of Fine Woodworking. The great thing is that all you have to do is make the straight sided object to be inlaid, frame around it with the log cabin template parts, then place the log cabin template on the object to be inlaid, rout, chisel and glue the object in place. You can also do this with a brass plate. The article in Fine Woodworking will focus on the use of the log-cabin template for the once tedious task of installing butt hinges... done with very little chiseling, almost no measuring, no marking gauge and perfect every time.

Looking forward to that article, Doug. As always, you are a wealth of information.

Thanks Doug, very interesting. I'll look forward to my next issue of fine woodworking.
So as i see what u wrote the log cabin template just acts as a guide for a pattern bit like a spiral bit with the bearing on the top so i could actually countersink the brass name plate so that it is flush with the top. The plate will probably have rounded corners, if i make them the same radius as the pattern bit then it should drop straight in. hmmm interesting.

Originally Posted by Rattrap

Thanks Doug, very interesting. I'll look forward to my next issue of fine woodworking.
So as i see what u wrote the log cabin template just acts as a guide for a pattern bit like a spiral bit with the bearing on the top so i could actually countersink the brass name plate so that it is flush with the top. The plate will probably have rounded corners, if i make them the same radius as the pattern bit then it should drop straight in. hmmm interesting.

The article won't be in the next issue, more like fall or winter. Fine Woodworking is several months on production. Yes, you can inlay any square, rectangular, or diamond shaped object flush with the top, or raised slightly if you want. The log cabin corners allow you to exactly reproduce the shape as a negative space, and the pattern bit follows the template, producing an exact sized hole for the piece. If the plate has the same radius as the bit, it should fit right in. If you want it to fit a little loose put tape on the sides of the object before you make the template.

It may be a challenge in Australia to find the router bit I use, which is shown here. I use the 1/2 inch diameter size.