Thread: Jewellery box

Finally I have finished one of the two jewellery boxes. This one is heading intestate and is a bit late for my mum’s birthday that was last week.

I had a go at using wipe on poly but hated the smell of it and ended up sanding it all back and French Polishing it, I’m more comfortable with it as a finish.

x 10

Lovely work, and french polishing is by far the better choice.

Stunning, I think you have just pushed the bar considerably higher.

Cheers Matt.

Beautiful work. Love the burl insert in the lid.

Next one under way

Basically the same as the last but with a different fill in the top.

Lovely box Cal, a lot of work went into that for sure. Looks superb,

Paul

Well that’s that done! And not a day too soon. Hope the mother in law is happy with this one!

Back to ukuleles and harmonicas in the new year!

Both very nice boxes Cal. What are the timbers used? I reckon they work well together.

Did you have any trouble with the French polishing around handles/hinges and in corners? I tried it on a small box recently and found it difficult in fiddly areas.

Thank you!
For French polishing the inside, I did it all prior to glue up. Then tape the entire inside of the box up before it is glued together. The inside needs taping up anyway, otherwise there is a lot of work to do to clean up the glue. And no matter how much I have cleaned it up in the past, the glue still shows through the finish if it’s not taped. So polishing prior to gluing seems to work well and any glue left over on the tape seems to come off well. Just don’t leave it overnight, I started cutting the box open after a couple of hours and the glue was titebond original.

I also start laying up the shellac on the outside prior to gluing, again it is easier to get the glue off with some shellac on the timber than it is to get it off raw timber.
The little lid pull was cut out and attached after polishing also. As were the brass rod pieces on the trays. And the hinge and magnet holes were also cut after polishing.

The sides are Blackwood, Claret Ash, Redgum, Wenge and Jarrah. The infill panels in the tops are something I can’t identify for you, I was given a heap of veneers and I don’t know what many of them are.

And to let you in on a secret, all cutting out was done on my CNC machine. I only have a Triton and a compound mitre saw, and neither of them give me accurate mitres. So I used a 90(45)degree bit in the CNC to cut the mitres.

I hope that explains a bit of the process.
Cheers Cal

Thanks Cal, there's some very useful advice in there.

...and your secret is safe with me so it's just between the two of us .

Haha! Thanks Bob!!