Thread: Zen Box <cough!>

OK, attached is my "latest" effort... my ZEN box.
Attachment 64024

Attachment 64025

Carcass is Red Gum, with Brazillian Rose Wood veneer lid (I know a luthier who gives me his scrap veneers).

It's my "ZEN" box because I needed zen patience to complete it. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong.
1) I started gluing up and realised that the lid and base were a few mm too big preventing the box coming together. I had to race against the glue to get the box apart again - no easy feat!
2) I damaged the veneer lid on the underside so I had to "repair" it with a marquetry cut.
3) I originally finished it in Shellac - a good idea at the time! It looked awful, so I wondered what to do. Sandpapering didn't work because the wax simply clogged the paper. Then I bought a $9 scraper and it worked like a treat - that scraper is now my favourite tool - though it took me at least an hour to realise that it didn't need batteries! .
4) The barrell hinges... hmmm ... I've had a poor run with these. They absolutely have to be drilled perfectly! One mm out is too much! This time I measured and tapped in two small nails. Chopped the heads off the nails, pressed the lid down (correctly aligned) and voila! The nails leave a nice indent in the lid where they need to be drilled out. Great! Drill away I did. Bang in the hinges. Uh Oh! I guess I didn't drill deep enough! And can you get these hinges out without destroying them? Not in my experience! Oh Well, at least I had spare set.

Not my best box but one of my favourites because as a beginner it will be a constant reminder that almost every problem will have a workaround... and hey... it means I can now mentally move on to another box project!