I based the design of the box on Hebrew architecture, and decided to try some new things. First off, this is my first completely successful veneering project, and it is my first time using mother of pearl inlay. The veneering was great, but the mother of pearl was a bear (ironically, my Mom loves bears, too).
So here is the box, The lighter wood is Curly Maple. The way I used it makes the fact that it is curly irrelevant, but its what I had. Lets talk construction, and the issues associated therein...The mitered corners were horrible. all but one of the corners had significant gaps in them and it was really frustrating. I have not made my shooting board yet, so the only way I can cut the miters is on the man-eating death machine (some people call this a table saw). Unfortunately, the blade on the saw only tilts to 44 degrees, so the miters are terrible. I really wanted this box to turn out well, so I had a stroke of brilliance (or stupidity, I haven't decided yet) and I used my dovetail saw to OPEN the gaps in the miters, and then I glued in a piece of Purpleheart veneer that just happens to be the exact thickness of the dovetail saw's kerf and Presto! perfect-ish miters!
For the top, I just veneered a piece of Purpleheart to a piece of Maple, cut it to fit the top of the box, then used my block plane to angle the sides in, revealing the Maple. Next I cut the slots for the splines using my old nemesis, the table saw. I think I am going to start cutting these by hand. The handles on the front and sides were just scrap pieces that I thought looked cool, so I glued them on. They added a little texture and color, made it a bit more interesting. With all that done, it was time to do the inlay. evil evil inlay.
So it seemed pretty straight forward. I cut the Hebrew characters (which say Remember) out of the mother of pearl, trace them onto the top, and then cut an equal sized slot. Reality was a little different story. The mother of pearl sheet was 0.006" thick and as brittle as a politician's ego. The first letter I cut was in three pieces before I finally got it free from the sheet. I modified my technique and just lightly scored the sheet with an exacto knife over and over and over and over until the other letters came free. Then I traced them onto the wood and broke out the carving chisels. Cutting the slots for the letters was also tricky, especially when I had to cut cross-grain, and there are several spots where the whole is bigger than the mother of pearl, but you live you learn. I then carefully glued the letters in and it looked pretty good for my first time.
Then I tried to sand the top of the box to prepare it for finishing. I oh so lightly went over the top with a 320 grit sanding block when I looked down and realized that the bottom half of two of the letters had been ripped out. I just stood there, mouth agape, for a few years (others may have counted the time in seconds). I spend an undisclosed amount of time searching the floor of my workshop until I finally found both pieces and glued them back down. I am pretty sure the box was telling me that the top wasn't supposed to be as shiny as the rest of it. No sanding for you!
The inside of the lid includes a little pyrography. My Dad was an engineer, and also going with the Hebrew theme, I used two interlocking rings; the Hebrew symbol for eternity, and the mathematical symbol for 'we can't count that high'. Then I added my parents initials to each ring.
Mortices for the hinges were hand cut and fitted, the edges of the box were relaxed slightly with my block plane, then I started finishing. I have been experimenting with wipe-on Polyurethane, and got good results on my scrap wood (my Dad always said to use the three 'F's: Finish Firewood First), so I started into it. By this point in a project, I am usually in a hurry to be done, so I rush, and thereby screw up the finish. The wipe-on poly requires 4 hours between coats, so I was forced to slow down and do it right. I put 8 coats on and was happy with the results. The final coat was a Spar Urethane, which includes a UV blocker that I hope will help prevent the Purpleheart from browning over time. We'll see if it works in a few years.
The last step was to apply the felt lining. This involves laying down a tar-like glue then spreading felt fibers onto it. After 15 hours of drying time, simply vacuum off the excess fibers, and the lining is done.
I enlisted the help of my 3-year-old, Tave, to help me wrap it up and ship it. We used an old Woodcraft catalog for padding in the box. I ripped out pages and Tave crinkled them up and put them in the box. My Mom really liked it. Now, I need to re-sharpen all my hand planes. Purpleheart has a really high silica content, so it dulls things really quick. I think I will take some pictures so I can do a blog post on adventures in sharpening. It would be cool if people actually read this blog.
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