I finally got around to making this simple box for the ashes of our recently departed doggie, Bell.
It’s made mostly of walnut, with two maple curved line details on the lid, and uses box-joints.
It’s not perfect, but these things rarely are. She’ll be fine.
Back in the shop today after a lazy January …plus a lazy first week or so of February… seems to happen that way every year… I decided to try something with some chunks of a walnut tree that was harvested last summer.
Click to view larger on Flickr
Those are mints, not eggs, by the way. This bowl is about 2 inches in diameter, by about 2 and a half inches tall, and would probably hold ONE egg just nicely. I’m pushing the process a little, in that the walnut was only cut 6-8 months ago. I rough-turned three bowls from the same wood not too long ago, and put them away for another 6 months or so, but I thought I’d go ahead with some small turnings, just to see how it would work out. I think it’s small enough that nothing too dramatic will happen as it finishes drying. Time will tell, as it does.
So here are some photos of what I’ve been working on for the last couple of weeks in the Barkwhistle Wood Shop:
Yeah, pretty much nothing. January doldrums, or something. I say “pretty much” nothing because technically, there was something. I thought I would make a little caddy to hold my various replacement carbide cutter heads in their little packages, sorted into each type, to replace the empty yogurt container I have been using for that purpose. Just a simple plywood and hardboard thingy, but with small rabbets and dadoes to keep everything lined up and to hone my skills.
Should be no big deal for a maker of fine jewelry boxes such as myself, right? “Wrong again, Bob!”
I don’t know exactly what went wrong, but let’s just say there will be no photos. Probably. My little interior dividers were so out of alignment the first time that I had to start them over. Still not perfect, but enough is enough. It’s just a stupid little shop project, so I probably didn’t slow down enough to finesse the details the way you need to with any joinery. Like the title says, a humbling (and frustrating) project.
I think I will just putty up the excess gaps in the enlarged-into-alignment dadoes and spray paint the whole thing orange. THEN I might post a picture…
I made this small box (about 4.5 inches) from padauk and holly. The circle pattern was done on the lathe, then I spray-painted the whole lid. When it dried I scraped off the paint that wasn’t safely down in the circle grooves. Some paint stayed in the small pores of the wood as well, but that looked cool to my eye, so I went along with it.
This is a 3-drawer box I just made, mostly walnut with figured maple drawer fronts.
It’s about 8 inches tall, 6 inches wide, 5 inches deep. (My hand is shown for scale.)
The design is from The Box Builder’s Handbook by A.J.Hamler, which I more or less stuck to in this case. I was happy I could incorporate the sapwood of the walnut (the lighter parts) in a pleasing way.
I will probably add flocking to the drawer bottoms, but otherwise it’s done. So what’s next?
(Click any photo to view larger on Flickr)
Two Scoops
When life hands you a heat wave… Here’s a pair of ice cream scoops I just made. The wood is Pau Ferro, the scoop is “platinum gold with gunmetal accents.”
Zebrawood Bubinga Walnut Jewelry Box
This is the same box I posted a while ago, except I’ve gone ahead and made it into an actual jewelry box (added the upper tray, the dividers and the blue flocking.)
This is a medium-sized (roughly 10″ x 7″ x 5″) general-purpose treasure box. I may still add dividers for the jewelry box treatment, we’ll see. It’s a real multi-species affair, with zebrawood front and back, figured bubinga sides, and a walnut lid.
(click photos to view larger on Flickr)
Another large walnut and maple jewlry box. Possibly the last of these for a while, though I could be persuaded…
As always, click for larger versions.
I call this kind of box a “Schrodinger’s Box” as a reference to the fact that it’s made as one large box, and until you slice off the lid, there’s just no telling WHAT might be inside… Maybe even Schrodinger’s Cat
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schrodinger’s_cat
Ususally there’s just sawdust, but you never know….
The dark wood is walnut, the top is quilted maple with a walnut stripe.
