Thread: Aussie cedar & American cherry jewellery box

After cleaning the excess glue from the outside, I pared the dovetail pins flush with the sides and sanded them. After a coat of shellac and a light sand, it was time to separate the lid from the base of the box.
Dovetails trimmed.jpg


One of the pins is made oversize, where the cut will be made. I cut almost all the way through the carcass on the table saw, then make the final separation using a small Japanese saw.
Separating lid 1.jpg Separating lid 2.jpg

After separating them there is a small lip which is pared away by chisel. The edges of the base & lid are then sanded flat. I've made up a laminate board with a couple of sheets of 240 grit for the purpose. They are then hand sanded to 800 grit to match the rest of the box.
Lid separated.jpg Sanding lid and base edges.jpg

After removing the excess glue from the inside corners, I routed the slots for the hinges. These hinges are expensive, but they pay for themselves in the time saved in installing them, and their quality. Because the slots are close to the box sides, there is a danger of a small piece of wood chipping out, so I make small saw cuts to prevent it.
Preparing to route hinge slots.jpg

To cut the slots I position a stop block, using a jig to set the distance. The block has to be set twice, once on either side of the cutter. The second pair of cuts is made starting with the box against the stop. These are the cuts where there is a danger of chipping out.
Hinge slots.jpg

You know AlexS, it was your technique of putting the clingwrap at the bottom, overlaying the fabric, that I use now.

It's so good it feels like cheating

There is a video by Ian Hawthone where he uses a similar hinge-fitting technique. He must have stolen his tips off you

Thanks Woodpixel, the hinge fitting technique is straight from Andrew Crawford's instructions that come with the hinges.

“The second pair of cuts is made starting with the box against the stop. These are the cuts where there is a danger of chipping out.”

I haven’t tried this yet, but lowering the box onto the cutter like this sound a lot less nerve-wracking than making climb cuts - thanks, Alex.

No problem getting the cling wrap out around the edges?

Regards,

Brian

Because the bottom panel is floating, there's usually no difficulty pulling the cling wrap out. Sometimes it might het a bit caught at the corners, but not usually a problem.

Today I started on the tray and tray supports. The supports are 3mm strips that are a tight fit inside the box.
Tray supports 2.jpgTray supports 1.jpg

The tray has 6mm thick mitred sides. The front and back will be flush with the top of the open box, while the sides are curved, with lifting holes.
Tray sides 1.jpg

To shape the curves, I drew and printed one using my graphics program, then stuck it to a piece of ply, from which I made a template.
Tray sides curve template.jpg

Both the template and the sides were shaped by cutting slightly oversize and making the final shape on the disc sander.
Tray sides shaped.jpg

Mainly handwork today. First, I faired the ends of the tray into the front & back, and softened the edges using a spokeshave and sandpaper. I also drilled the lifting holes in the ends.
Tray sides softened.jpg Tray sides softened 2.jpg

I attached the lining to the bottom panel and cut the grooves in the tray sides to hold it. The last step was to prepare the tray dividers and cut the stopped dados in the front & back to house them.
Tray dry fitted 2.jpg Tray dry fitted 1.jpg

Apart from finishing and gluing up the tray, the only remaining joinery is making & fitting the lid lifts. I laminated a cherry & cedar sandwich from which to make them.

Alex, how do you attach the base to the tray? You've got me scratching my head. Also are the mitred tray joints strengthened in any way or are you relying on the glue to hold the tray together?

Originally Posted by aldav

Alex, how do you attach the base to the tray? You've got me scratching my head. Also are the mitred tray joints strengthened in any way or are you relying on the glue to hold the tray together?

The bottom panel just sits in slots in the tray sides. I'll try to remember to take a photo tomorrow when I have it apart. I'll put slipfeathers in to strengthen the corners.

The first photo shows the tray components. You can see the slot in the sides that the tray bottom sits in.
Tray components.jpg

Today I made the lid lifting handles. There are a pair so that the lid can be opened using the thumb & index finger, against the force of the magnets holding them closed. After making the lifters I cut the mortices to hold them.
Lid lifters.jpg

After shellacking and re-sanding all the components, I waxed around all the joints and taped the sides together. After applying glue to all the joints I folded the sides around the bottom panel and placed the tray in the box base for the glue to dry. I also installed the rare earth magnets that will hold the lid closed.
Tray glue-up.jpg Box_.jpg

The next steps are to complete oiling the box and make the ring holders.

Looks bloody awful Alex. I hope your client has enough coin....

G'day Zed, Hope you're keeping well.

Had a quiet day in the workshop today. did some oiling and also put slipfeathers in the mitres on the tray. I had a very thin veneer, offcut from a cedar board, so I used it, with the slots cut using a small Japanese saw.

Slipfeathers 2.jpg Slipfeathers 1.jpg

Originally Posted by Zed

Looks bloody awful Alex.

I think we know what he means, but that's not what he said.

I gave the exterior of the box another coat of oil today. From now on it will just get very light buff coats.
The next step is making the ring holders. These are made by wrapping 15mm gap filler foam rod in suede. I used to use PVA glue to stick the suede, but have discovered an easy to use liquid contact adhesive, which makes life so much easier.

Ring holders.jpg Making ring holders.jpg

The box is almost complete.
I finished off the ring holders, and after discussion with the client we decided to only put six rolls. As all men know, if space is provided for more, there will be a demand to fill it. Jewellery abhors a vacuum. One of tomorrow's jobs is to fit the rolls.
Ring Holder 6 rolls.jpg

I also fitted the hinges. This is a much quicker and easier job with Andrew Crawford's SmartHinges. They may be expensive, but they pay for themselves in quality and reduced installation time.
Almost complete 4.jpg Almost complete 3.jpg Almost complete 2.jpg

I fitted small nylon feet. All that remains now is to install the ring holders, apply a few more buffing coats of oil and replace the steel hinge screws with brass ones.