Thread: Madrone burr jewellery box - work in progress

Part 13. Finishing Up

The lining process is pretty simple so I won’t dwell on it. I buy 0.6mm white card in A3 sheets from a local art store and fix the lining material to the card with either double-sided tape from the web or Sikkens spray glue from Bunnings. For me, the spray glue is faster but the DS tape is neater with less chance of getting any glue on the show surfaces.

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Generally I use DS tape in various widths but sometimes I buy A3 sheets of double sided transfer paper from the local art store and make up some larger panels of card if I have a lot to do.

Other glues are fine, too - I’ve just settled on these methods because they work for me and don’t give me any bleed-through.

To cut both the card and the lining material I use this nifty little safety ruler - it has a lift up flap on the side next to the scalpel, knife etc to prevent blood dripping onto my work.

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I work in the order: bottom, long sides then short sides.

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I choose to do the short sides last as they are slightly more complex, having 6mm ply ‘plinths’ built in to form the supports for the tray. I support the tray leaving 25-30mm underneath which also raises the top of the tray above the level of the lid divide which I like.

This picture shows a test fit of the tray (as yet without a bottom) sitting on the side supports:

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Over the past few years I’ve moved away from using woven materials such as velvet or moire for lining as they often fray at the edges. I now prefer non-woven Ultrasuede (Alcantara) which is a suede-like product made from 80% recycled materials. It’s more expensive than suede but it doesn’t smell and it cleans very well.

All that said, for this box I was asked to use a particular blue velvet.

The Tray

I leave the making of the tray until after the box is lined so I can sneak up on the right fit. I aim for slightly less than snug so the lining cloth doesn’t get a hard life.

The tray was straightforward, made from 7mm Loas Rosewood with a veneered ply base and 30mm high walls. Mitred joints cut on the sander:


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Then glued using tape and a Veritas speed clamp. I like these little clamps for things like trays - easy to use.


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The tray was fitted with maple mitre keys

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and dividers glued in to give a narrower section in the centre for a ring run.

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At this point I got demob-happy and forgot to take pictures so I’ve borrowed one from an earlier project!

To secure the dividers and add a tiny bit of bling, brass pins were inserted through the tray sides into the end of the dividers. This meant some pre-drilling to avoid splitting. Once the pins were in most of the way the heads were snipped off and the pins carefully filed level with the sides.


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The tray was finished with Mohawk NC spray lacquer sanding sealer and Liberon Black bison wax applied with a light grey 3M Scotchbrite pad.

A little more lining for the tray then some ring runs for the centre section. The ring runs were made using a method recommended by Pauls321. This worked very well so thanks, Paul - take a bow!


The Last Steps

Very (very) nearly there. Just the final assembly of the hinges and a last polish of the box and brasswork. A shallow 25mm recess on the underneath of the box for the maker’s plate and for better or worse it’s done.

This box could have been made every bit as well using completely different approaches and different tools. For example, hand tools instead of power tools, home-made jigs instead of shop-bought ones, blue tape and strong elastic bands instead of clamps and so on. My methods are just ways I’ve become used to over time.

Finally, for anyone who has made it this far - thanks for sharing the journey with me! Here is the finished article - I hope you like it.



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Comments, suggestions, improvements, thoughts etc very welcome


Best regards,

Brian