Thread: Rock maple

Nice job on the box it looks great!

Beautiful timber and great workmanship. You should be very proud of this.

Alan...

Beautiful little box, really love the timber choice and finish.
It’s inspiring [emoji106][emoji106]

That's a very nice result. Did you have to use a scraper on the rock maple, or were you able to plane it without any tear out?
Good choice of banding & lining too.

Lovely work, Jacques! You should be very pleased with that- as should the recipient!!!

The Osmo 3011 has come up well. For me, the jury is still out on the colour of Rock Maple but that said this is a lovely box! Congratulations on a fine result! Already looking forward to seeing the next box

Brian

A very nice box, the timber choice is spot on.

Regards
Keith

Thank you for all the kind words guys. I'll make sure to post some of my other boxes as well.

Originally Posted by AlexS

That's a very nice result. Did you have to use a scraper on the rock maple, or were you able to plane it without any tear out?
Good choice of banding & lining too.

I know this will be frowned upon [emoji849]. Even though I own a fancy smoothing plane I struggle to get consistent results with it so am a bit scared putting it to use. I tend to revert to my random orbital sander instead so that's what I used extensively on this box. Nothing like a piece of 120 grit to knock down the proud inlays or sides of the rabbet joints.

Very nice box indeed. Looks super. That's an interesting lock that you used, looks like its off centre somewhat, obviously the design of it. I've just spent the last couple of part days making up a jig in order to router out the cavity for a solid brass full mortise box lock. What thickness are the sides of your box?

Paul

Thanks Paul, the lock is just a cheap plated one with a flimsy mechanism. It's basically a "hook" of some sorts that comes up, and curves into the recess on the top of the lid to lock it. I don't like it at all.

The sides of the box are 12mm.

Where do you source your locks from?

Rgds
Jacques

Hi Jacques,

Using abrasives puts you on pretty good company - see this article: https://www.fine-boxes.com/uploads/f...rasives_v2.pdf

I use a card scraper more than any other smoothing tool. I had a couple of bad experiences early on with power sanding (sanded through the veneers!) so now when I use abrasives on veneered boxes I use a small block (25mm x 35mm) faced with hard rubber.

Locks. If I’m not using a smartLock I’ll generally put on a half mortice lock from England. Can’t remember where I bought the last lot but I do know they are available from Lee Valley in the US:
Box Locks - Lee Valley Tools

More specifically these are the exact ones I use:

Extra-Narrow Jewellery-Box Lock - Lee Valley Tools

Again, great work!

Brian

Phew, that's great to hear Brian. Here I was thinking I'm the only one. If the master can use sandpaper then I certainly will [emoji4].

Don't get me wrong, I love to see guys taking that low angle block plane and glide it around the edge of a box to level it, or grabbing that smoother to get a glass like surface. For me is either to my piece of MDF with the 120 grit glued down, or in extreme situations my drum or random orbital sander.

Hi botes and Homey, ,...I just looked at Homey's locks, do they go into a mortise slot inside the actual timber,.?. I used to buy a few locks from a different source but they are always a pain to install, so havent worried about it for a while. Now a woman wants a box with a lock in it, so I got searching around. I buy all my smaller strap hinges from the site I am about to put up for my smaller boxes but for larger boxes say 300 x 185, I buy the hinges from Andrew. I purchased two of the following locks just the other day.

http://www.veneerinlay.com.au/locks/152-brass-cigar-box-lock-full-mortice-set-with-key-5127-or-5148.html

As advertised solid brass. There is a mistake on that site which I discovered after they arrived. I must tell them next time I am ordering, the plate is actually 9mm wide and not 8mm wide as per the diagram. Hence I had to rush around a buy a 9mm straight bit, bought one from Sydney Tools Online.

So in the last few days I have made a jig in order to router out the cavity for the full mortise lock to sit in. For my larger boxes I make all the sides 12mm, and you need every bit of this 12mm for this lock. I use my Makita Laminator with a long 1/4 inch straight bit. (for my smaller boxes I make all sides 10mm). When I prepare my 12mm timber and put it through my home made drum sander etc, I make it about 12.2mm. Then after more sanding (tidying up dovetail joints etc) and more ROS sanding from 120 through to 2000 grit, this usually brings my timber back pretty close to 12mm.

Finished making my jig this arvo and everything fits perfectly. Lock, hinges etc, so pretty happy with it.

Paul

Post some photos for us Paul. Would love to see your jig in action.