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  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    Eden Hills, South Australia
    Age
    62
    Posts
    3,458

    Default Macassar Ebony Box

    This box was made entirely by dark side methods: no, not a single electron was sacrificed.

    I took up woodwork while I was in America a few years ago, and the galootish neanderthal philosophy fitted in well with not being able to buy "tailed apprentices" due to different voltage, plugs, etc, and with the fact that my early forays into woodworking had been with chisels and a handplane.

    While I was in the states, I posted to rec.woodwork.galoot or some such place, an enquiry about where to get nice wood. A reply from someone not too far away soon found me in his basement while he gave me a tour of his wood library. It was just like a library: he had seemingly hundreds of samples of every type of exotic wood stacked neatly in shelves throughout his basement. He generously gave me various samples to take away and start me off.

    This box was one of my first projects from this collection. Macassar Ebony is just superb. It has a beautiful brown and black grain patterns, and plane shavings come off looking (and almost smelling) like chocolate curls.

    After handsawing the board to length and width, I (hand) resawed the board in half thickness-wise, and planed the two slices flat. The advantage of this technique is that it allows you to match the grain around all four corners of the mitred box.

    The top was made my tracing an arc on the ends of a board and planing and scraping to achieve a nice smooth curve. The ends were bevelled with a plane to give the curvy decorative edge. Then I cut a small rebate on the underside with a skew block plane.

    The slot for the bottom was cut in the sides with the Veritas scratch-stock.

    The mitres were planed on a shooting board -- should have done this before cutting the slots for the bottom

    The bottom is done floating-panel style: bevels planed off till the edge thickness fits in the slots in the sides. (No glue)

    The slots for the mitre keys were cut with one of the varitas flush-cut (japanese style) saws, and a chisel.

    The mitre keys are made from Tagua nut (a superb matrial: with a nice translucent creaminess). (Quite tricky to cut even slices from these small irregular round nuts, but it can be done).

    Finish was Tung oil – really shows the natural beauty of the grain.

    I'm very happy with this little box, and grateful to my American friend for the gift.
    Those are my principles, and if you don't like them . . . well, I have others.

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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Nerang Queensland
    Age
    66
    Posts
    10,766

    Thumbs up

    Very nice effort. I love the old techniques, even though I rarely use them myself.

    Well done.
    Neil
    ____________________________________________
    Every day presents an opportunity to learn something new

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 1999
    Location
    Westleigh, Sydney
    Age
    77
    Posts
    9,542

    Thumbs up

    That's a really nice box, especially since it was done using darkside methods. Look forward to seeing some more.
    Visit my website
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  5. #4
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    Magill, Adelaide
    Age
    59
    Posts
    1,537

    Default

    That is beautiful work and timber well done

    Stevo

  6. #5
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    SA
    Posts
    507

    Default

    That's lovely zenwood! Such beautiful, rich looking timber. Very, very nice!

    Cheers
    Tikki

  7. #6
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Port Pirie SA
    Age
    52
    Posts
    6,908

    Default

    Very nice, excellent darksideness!
    ....................................................................

  8. #7
    Join Date
    Aug 2000
    Location
    Sydney, NSW
    Posts
    2,261

    Default

    Very nice box, good choice of timber.
    Brett

    Only Robinson Crusoe could get everything done by Friday!

  9. #8
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Toowoomba Q 4350
    Posts
    9,217

    Default

    Beautiful work Zenwood-master!

    How long did it take you to resaw the board? Any problems, hints or tips for this? I've a piece of silky oak I want to do this to but am not sure the best way to go about it.



    thanks

    RufflyRustic

  10. #9
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    Eden Hills, South Australia
    Age
    62
    Posts
    3,458

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by rufflyrustic
    Beautiful work Zenwood-master!

    How long did it take you to resaw the board? Any problems, hints or tips for this? I've a piece of silky oak I want to do this to but am not sure the best way to go about it.

    thanks

    RufflyRustic
    RufflyRustic: please don't call me master: in this company I feel very humble!

    How long did it take? Probably about half an hour of careful sawing. The detailed process was:
    1. Estimate thickness of saw kerf. I used two saws to do it: starting with a tenon saw to establish a straight kerf in the board ends, then switching to a panel saw when I ran out of depth with the tenon saw. My two saws leave the same kerf width.
    2. Mark one side of the saw kerf: positioned to leave equal thickness boards each side. Does this make sense? You don't want to mark the centre of the width because the line would be too hard to follow with the thickness of the saw.
    3. Put board upright-ish in vice with one corner facing slightly away from you. Then establish a short kerf by sawing uphill. This minimises tearout.
    4. Turn board around back to front, put saw in kerf (now on the far side). Start sawing downhill, and bring the heel of the saw down, extending the kerf along the mark on the end of the board. Continue bringing the saw kerf down the line in front of you. Don't extend the saw kerf on the far side, because you can't see the line there.
    5. Turn board around back to front again and extend the saw kerf on the near side, leaving the far side alone.
    6. Repeat steps 4 & 5 till you are about half way down the length of the board.
    7. At the half way point, flip board top to bottom and begin again at step 3. Ice cream sticks (or some other item of suitable thickness e.g. wad of paper) can be inserted in the kerf that is being squeezed in the vice. This stops the board from distorting in the vice.

    Some of the old woodworking books describe how to do this.

    The board was about 13 x 40 cm, from memory, and only required minimal planing to smooth the sawn surfaces. Planing the saw marks away by hand is a very satisfying job with this timber, the finished result is so beautiful.

    Now that I have a tablesaw, I wonder if I could establish the kerfs on that, and then finish using the process above. Might be a problem, though, with the tablesaw kerfs being thicker than the handsaw kerfs. Can you get thin-bladed tablesaw blades?

    I guess that's why bandsaws were invented. Must get myself one, one of these days.
    Those are my principles, and if you don't like them . . . well, I have others.

  11. #10
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Toowoomba Q 4350
    Posts
    9,217

    Default

    Hi Zenwood
    OK no master this time , but I'm still very, VERY impressed with both the box and the instructions for darkside re-sawing.
    Thank for you this. I feel much more comfortable in attempting resawing the silky oak piece.

    Have to agree with you - planing is a very satisfying task.

    Cheers
    RufflyRustic

  12. #11
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Toowoomba Q 4350
    Posts
    9,217

    Default

    Hi Zenwood,


    Thank you so much for the resawing steps.

    I managed to resaw the silky oak piece yesterday. I think I need lots more practice or should buy a bandsaw. The piece was about 35 mm thick, and just a little bigger than an A5 sheet of paper. One and a half hours later.... I had two boards, one had a dent in it, the other had the matching bit. So time for planing.

    The end result is that I've now got two lovely pieces of silky oak, not square, not the same thickness, one with a lovely concave section and the beautiful grain showing
    Beautiful, ruff and rustic
    Will post pictures, once again when the new film is developed.
    Thanks again Zenwood, I wouldn't have attempted it without your steps.
    cheers
    RufflyRustic

  13. #12
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    Eden Hills, South Australia
    Age
    62
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    3,458

    Default Hand resawing

    Hi Ruffly,

    1.5 hours does seem like a lot of effort for an A5 piece. How's the saw sharpness?

    I think the dent and hollow are a natural outcome of the process---and gives you the chance to do some fun planing

    From memory you were making the silky oak into a frame, yes? So they don't have to be the same thickness. For me, that's one of the neat things about dark-sidedness: you don't have to get all retentive about uniformity. The ruff, rustic, handmade look is what it's all about.

    I look forward to the pics.
    Quote Originally Posted by rufflyrustic
    I managed to resaw the silky oak piece yesterday.
    Those are my principles, and if you don't like them . . . well, I have others.

  14. #13
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Toowoomba Q 4350
    Posts
    9,217

    Default

    Yes, I'd say my saw needs re-sharpening too. But I also had to take frequent breaks to rest the arms and hands due to RTS & CTS. I like the darkside techniques, but the arms and hands just can't take it anymore. Was wishing I have my shed and a sander, planer, jointer, thicknesser etc etc etc

    The dent's gone - yes, planing was fun. The hollow is still there though.

    thanks
    RufflyRustic

  15. #14
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Jarrah Country, South Of Perth, WA
    Age
    47
    Posts
    300

    Default

    Splendid looking wood mate. Interesting way to join it together too.
    J!

    My opinion is neither copyrighted nor trademarked, and its price is competitive. If you like, I'll trade for one of yours.

  16. #15
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    east of eden Mt Horeb
    Posts
    111

    Default Well done Sir

    Thats really nice work! Just love that timbre. The grain looks fabulous. I too love Box craft. That one certainly gleams with beauty.

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