Jacaranda & Camphor Laurel

Plenty of shed time at the moment :D so I've just completed the first commission - no. 2 well on the way.

The carcass and lid frame is Jacaranda, which came from a fallen tree in the Blue Mountains a few years ago (chambezio also got a few bits of this courtesy of my brother). The lid is a piece of Camphor Laurel 'stump' wood from a stash I bought from MAPLEMAN (thanks Chris).

This is my first go at hand cut dovetails, I've only handcut the pins previously, and although I'm pretty happy with the result it would be fair to say that I've still got a lot to learn. :p Hate to imagine what they would have looked like without Youtube and the WIP's on here by Derek Cohen and others. The finish is Feast Watson Proofseal followed by a coat of Fine Buffing Oil. The lid insert was completed with UBeaut EEE Ultrashine to really make the Camphor grain 'pop' while the rest of the box got a coat of my own recipe wax (canauba, turps and BLO), which imparts a subtle shine. All the finishes are silky smooth to the touch. Initially the finish on the box sides was patchy, not quite sure what went wrong, but ended up rubbing back to raw timber and starting again. Brought a whole new understanding of sand paper as a consumable. :D

Dimensions are 300 wide by 195 deep by 106 high (150 with the plinth and lid). Box sides are just under 10mm thick and the tray has 5mm sides. Bottom lining is suede fabric.

You should be really happy with those dovetails! I have found that when examining a piece where I've used dovetails after several weeks, they look a lot better. I put it down to forgetting where the issues were so you don't look for them, and you consider the piece as a whole, instead if focusing on what went wrong.

A lovely piece all in all.

Nice result. I think you should be pretty happy with your dovetails.
One tip when cutting the tails is to tilt your board so that you are cutting vertically. Then you can let the saw do the work.

Hi Dave, very nice box,first time I have seen one of your boxes on here. Excellent result,lovely timber also.

Paul

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Originally Posted by AlexS

One tip when cutting the tails is to tilt your board so that you are cutting vertically. Then you can let the saw do the work.

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Thanks Alex, never thought of that. The Moxon vise makes things a bit easier as far as marking and cutting goes, glad I made it. Thanks for the inspiration Derek. :2tsup:
For these relatively thin materials I think my dovetail saw might not be helping me, it's an old 12 ppi tenon saw. Anyway I'm going to persevere with it. :rolleyes:

I have posted boxes before Paul, can only find this thread though - Wig Box for my Daughter-in-law That was a long time ago wasn't it. :C

Looks great David, especially that piece of Camphor in the lid. From the photos your concerns about the dovetail quality are unfounded.
I will have to try your trick with the EEE as you seem very happy with it on both this box and the other one you linked to.
Did the problems with the grain direction in the base of the other box ever manifest themselves?

Well done David, the dovetails look pretty good.

Regards
Keith

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Originally Posted by Treecycle

Did the problems with the grain direction in the base of the other box ever manifest themselves?

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No problems reported so far Dallas. I guess it just loves that air-conditioned office. :D I always build in a couple of mm expansion room for bases and lid centre panels to give things a chance of coping once they leave our generally low humidity area.

Thanks for all the positive feedback guys. :2tsup: