Thread: Rock Maple Box - Work in Progress

Hi WP,

The brass pins are one of those things that look like they must have been done by a master, but in fact they’re the easiest thing to do. Just right for me They look particularly good against dark timbers.

Sometime in the next week or two I might do a post on the jigs I use, including the ones in this post. I think it could be helpful to newcomers. I particularly like my donkey ear!

UHMW is such useful stuff. I use it to edge low fences on the router table and table saw and to make runners for sleds. My small table saw is a Festool CS50 - i bought it mainly due to its small size but it does do a good job for boxmaking - and the mitre channels are not standard size. Of couse not, they’re Festool...... anyway, the UHMW allows me to make much smoother slides than with timber.

Haven’t tried the Behlen gloss yet as I’m still using their rattle cans and they only come in satin or semi-gloss. Must get a spray gun. Do you use HPLV turbine, an HVLP conversion gun or a regular compressor gun? Any recommendations?

Getting good quality inlay banding seems unbelievably difficult in Australia. All the stuff I’ve been able to source locally looks very cheap.

I spent some days recently learning to make banding with Andrew Crawford. However, I really need a drum sander and a source of figured English Sycamore. If it can source the latter I’ll buy the sander. Meanwhile I’m still buying from Andrew. Expensive but it does make the world of difference to have clean, sharp edges and quality timber in the banding. Watch this space!

Brian

Very nicely done Brian.... Cheers, crowie

Originally Posted by homey

The first is that there seems little value in bookmatching this birdseye maple as the “pattern” is too small to be noticeable - I could have simply used a single sheet. To my eye, bookmatching works better with a bolder grain pattern in the burr or with crown cut timber where you can achieve some startling matches. The second is that Rock Maple (Hard Maple) is too white for my taste. If this box were for me I’d put a very small amount of dye (something like Honey Amber) in the shellac.

Finally, thanks to those who came along on my first Work in Progress journey! Any comments, suggestions, improvements are very welcome.

Off to the woodshed to find some walnut......

Brian

its been a pleasure to watch and see how others do their thing, and no criticism, just praise, it should be well received. Me i like the whites, extremely pale timbers as much as the dark ones but I find it hard to prevent the yellowing effect. I like to know that it is white. just have to see how my Sllver ash box goes.

Beautiful box Brian. I love the step by step walkthrough. Can you share where you purchased the inlay banding strips from?

Jacques
Auckland NZ

Hi Jacqes,

Thanks for the kind comments. This particular banding was purchased from Andrew Crawford in the UK. Not cheap but then it is absolutely top quality. His website and shop: hinges smartBoxmaker - Fine Wooden Boxes | smartBoxmaker smartHinges, smartLock, smartWare

i haven’t yet found a source of high quality bandings in Australia. Many are badly put together (gaps) or use end grain instead of side grain or are just overprinted on cheap timber or vary wildly in width along the banding. None that I’ve seen locally use high quality figured woods.

Small items like boxes make poor components stand out. I’ve made many of those mistakes. Now I’ll just use Andrew’s or Matt Furjanic’s (Inlay Banding, Ebony and Holly Wood Products). Otherwise I make my own .

Matt is in the US - you can find a number of his videos on YouTube. Andrew also has a couple of inlay banding videos on YT.

Regards,

Brian

Oops- duplicate post deleted.

Thank you very much Brian, I will look them up.

Jacques

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Originally Posted by homey

Hi WP,

Sometime in the next week or two I might do a post on the jigs I use, including the ones in this post. I think it could be helpful to newcomers. I particularly like my donkey ear!

Brian

Brian great job on the box and the how to of it.
I look forward to seeing the post on the jigs and such.

Thanks Richard

Not to take away from Brian’s box but there was talk about banding and were to buy. One option is making your own. Steve Latta has a great how to DVD’s that I have and would recommend if you have interest in making your own. He will teach you from start to finish, from basic bandings to more elaborate ones.

https://www.lie-nielsen.com/product/...ental-bandings

Thanks for the advice Woodtec. I watched it yesterday and todays task was to make my first banding. The top one was made using some walnut veneer and claret Ash for the white pieces. The bottom two sourced from Aliexpress.

More photos on my Instagram post at the link below.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BtKwZHYg...=19difs71gy8er


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If anyone happens to have a copy of the Steve Latta DVDs that they don't need, I'd be pleased to buy them off you (I'm skint!)

botesmj1, Glad I could be of help. They are great videos and bandings are easyer to make than a lot of people think.