Thread: a few more Resin Boxes

Hi and thanks Dallas, Maybe it does harden with age, I've never had any Walnut before. I've still got a fair bit of this Walnut left, maybe I might do one totally from the Walnut, including the lid insert, it's got a lovely grain in it.

The timbers in the second box are my usual, red cedar and silver ash. ( the timber embedded into the lid is river oak). They go well together and I just happen to have a "ton" of red cedar. I've also got a fair bit of Rosewood and I might do a similar one from Rosewood and Poplar (that I also got from Mal). I haven't tried the Poplar yet, but it is also very blonde in colour.

And just for interest I buy those solid brass locks from veneerinlay.com.au I find them very good. I think they are around the $70 mark plus postage. Michael has them listed as solid brass cigar box lock. I made a jig to router out the mortise, works well.

Paul

Hi Paul,

Lovely boxes as always!

Originally Posted by Pauls321

The other day I bought a Meguiars pro dual action polishing/buffing machine, on special at Repco. The highest speed on it is slower than the slowest speed on my De Walt ROS.

Is the higher speed on your DeWalt sander softening or melting the resin?
What grit do you sand to before going onto the polishing compounds? I've been trying the higher Micromesh grits, up to 10,000 (on NC lacquer) but my technique isn't right. Must get some expert advice.

Lovely that you could use some timber with a bit of history to it.

Regards,

Brian

Hi and thanks Brian. After I take my "resin lid" out of the mold I put it through my home made drum sander that has 120 grit sandpaper and you can imagine the scratches on it then. I then use my De Walt ROS (I only bought the Meguiars polisher last thursday) and sand it all the way through to 3000 grit dry. At that point I could just wipe some 1200 grit w&d soaked in my danish oil over it and it would come up pretty nice. And bear in mind that I am at this point only concentrating on the underside of the lid which has a lot of exposed timber which is at the bottom of the lid, I get it nice and smooth enough to then router a little 1mm deep rebate around the edge and then glue it to my box which is already made to the carcass stage. The 1mm rebate keeps it from slipping around with the glue whilst in the clamps.

At a later stage I would then work on the top side of the lid which is now all clear resin, sanding/buffing cutting compounds etc in and then a final polish. BUT I was finding that the De Walt ROS was leaving slight swirl marks in the resin. This is what I wanted to eliminate. My De Walt has speeds from 7,000 to 12,000 opm. This Meguairs has a 10 speed from 1800 to 4800 orbits per minute and is dual action. I am finding it much better as I went over the top of the second box in the pics and it removed the swirl marks (with also using a cutting compound followed by a polish).

I'm looking forward to pursuing this more. I hope you follow all this Brian.

Paul

Hello Paul,

All clear, thanks. Lots of work, though so I doubt I'll be making any resin river boxes anytime soon! Need to find a way of spending less time finishing not more I'll be interested to hear how you find the new DA polisher - I've tried polishing with my Festool random orbit sander + polishing heads and compounds but it's not quite right. Perhaps you've discovered the secret. Fingers crossed....

Best regards,

Brian

Oh no, not more,.........I did some experimenting with this latest box. An idea I had been toying with for some time. To put a "flood coat" of resin on top of the lid. 6 months ago I didn't even know what a flood coat was. But after watching numerous youtubes as we all do, I had to try it. It's not casting resin, but a countertop resin, basically applied with a gas torch, amazing, and self levels to about 2mm thick with a finish like glass. This brand is,...........scratch resistant, UV resistant, heat resistant, and even food safe.

I had used it on 2 serving trays, one I gave to oldest son, and 3 coffee tables, second son will get one of those. So I tried it out on the lid on my box. The lid was already made with casting resin, first coloured and then another layer of clear. And then the flood coat goes on top of that. My next build I'll eliminate the middle layer of clear.

The timber is Rosewood and Poplar, lovely timber to work with Poplar.

I'll put a couple of other pics on here of the boxes I used for those Brusso JB 101 hinges I mentioned I purchased at half price. I made a jig to router out the recess for the hinge (with a makita laminator) with only a small part of the hinge poking out at the back to pivot. I bought 15 pairs of these, so I intend to do similar style boxes for some of the other 13 pairs. The box with the raised panel frame is definitely a one off, first and last, too much mucking around and a bit dangerous when I cut the 20 degree angle on my table saw with no jig.

These two boxes are Red Cedar and White Cedar.

Paul

You are certainly putting a big effort into these resin boxes striving for that ultimate finish. Seems to be paying off but I hope you are getting well compensated in your sales price, or are you mainly doing it for your own satisfaction?

Cheers,

Thanks Dallas, very good comment. I'm at the stage now where it doesn't worry me how long it takes to make a box, as long I am totally happy with the end result and the finish on it. I've got two resin lids at the moment that come out of the mold some days ago now. I'll put them through my home made drum sander today, work on them a bit and then pour a flood coat maybe Wednesday. That'll sit there for another 5 days to a week before I glue and clamp them to the base. So yes a lengthy process, good thing its just a hobby.

Paul

A few more resin boxes for you blokes to look at. I finished these in the last day or so. They all have flood coats on the lid. I wouldn't say I have perfected this process, but pretty happy with the final result. Tops are just like glass. (flood coat resin is different to casting resin). Scratch resistant, heat resistant, UV resistant and food safe. Well at least the brand I buy anyway.

I was pretty blown away with the one with the huon pine in the lid. I tried to keep as much of the old bark on that as I could. Box on that one is rosewood and silver ash. Another I call my red box, all done in very old red cedar with the old piece of slab in the lid river oak. The other box is a long story to that one. All made in RedGum. I made that box maybe two years ago, having bought all the RedGum at Maleny Wood Expo 2019, a couple of long lengths of it the bloke told me I could have it for 5 bucks. Anyway, for a reason, I sliced the old lid off it about 3 weeks ago, leaving the lid frame in tact. I had this old offcut of a RedGum burl I got from Mal, so I prepared it, flood coated it, glued it to the original RedGum lid frame. The lid has come up looking like tiger stripes. That box has still got the original tray I made two years ago. I have changed the design of my trays since.

Paul

Very impressive great work.

Can't argue with your opinion of the Huon Pine lid. It's one of my favorite timbers especially when its got some features in it and the smell makes it so nice to work with. Having said that, all the boxes look special and it would be great to see one in real life one day.

Thanks Dallas, I have a problem with huon pine. My wife is allergic to the smell of it. And also with camphor laurel. To be honest I am not that keen on the smell of camphor laurel myself, tends to get up your nose. With the huon pine its very hard for me to work with it in my shed, and not leave behind the lovely aroma of it. So when I do work with it, like on that piece in the lid of that box, I dust blow out my shed and change my clothes. I've got a few more rather large offcuts of old huon pine slabs maybe around 20mm thick. There is no way I can slice them down to say about 11 or 12mm thick (these may be around 600mm wide). I've got a mate at bowls who tells me that his neighbour (both on properties) invested in a horizontal band saw that will take widths of up around the 900mm wide. And slice them down to whatever. Reckons he paid about 13 grand for this horizontal bandsaw. So he says he will give me a yell one day and I can take whatever I want up there and they will mill it for me. The other old pieces of slabs I have in similar thicknesses are river oak, hairy oak and needlewood. If this ever happens will save me a ton of work but at present my mate tells me you cant even get onto the property with all this rain. The rain has been terrible up this way for ages now. And of course much worse further up north.

Paul

I don't envy all your rain. We have had a beautiful summer here with most days in the mid 20's up to low 30's and just the right amount of rain. Hopefully it dries out soon and you can get your boards sliced up and put them to use.
Pity about your wife's allergy as I love the smell of both the Huon Pine and Camphor.

Some Stringy Bark and Silver Ash. The velvet in this box goes perfectly with the "wild watermelon" resin.

Paul

Very nice colour combination.