Here’s what I’ve been up to lately…

[steve_g]

I was commissioned to make a men’s jewelry box. It’s made from Texas Mesquite and has box joints all around. Trays are Birdseye Maple and have hand cut Mesquite veneer accents. The lid top has a handmade inlay strip made of Cherry, Walnut and Birch, while the inside of the lid has a v-carved Oak leaf and acorn pattern. It’s finished with a water base sealer and a rattle can satin lacquer.
SG

[Chuck Keysor]

Steve, that is a beautiful, heirloom quality box! Thanks for sharing this! Chuck

[Ajcoholic]

Very nice, very classy.

[Bob Eustace]

Lovely piece of work Steve. Have you ever had a go at making concealed wooden hinges as done by Rob Cosman? A heck of a lot of messing around but it intrigues people! Really hones up your hand skills. He gets $300 for most of his boxes using exotics. Love your idea of the v carve inside the lid. How many hours went into this Steve?

[scottp55]

VERY Nice Steve! Lot of nice details. Ballnose or bowlbit on the compartments? How was finish before sanding? What was toolpath strategy you used(That's a lot of material:eek:).
Pretty tricky guide on drawer--Sliding dovetail or slot and runner(Full length runner?).
I see you got your leaves in there:)
The accents really make it. Beautiful workmanship!

[steve_g]

Lots of questions! I’ll try to answer as best as I can…

“How many hours” That’s a good question! It was ordered a year ago… my only constraints were that it needed to incorporate the handmade inlays he’d seen elsewhere and have a “hidden” compartment. I spent way too much time trying to devise a cute and tricky mechanism for the “secret” compartment only to have my test part stop working when the weather changed! I finally settled for a simple “non-obvious” drawer. When I finally got down to business, I spent a few hours a day for a week + about 6 hours for my v-carve.
“ concealed hinges…” I’ve never had any success with any kind of wooden hinge… Does Rob Cosman make a stopped hinge?
“ v-carve inside lid” I was trying to give a masculine look to the Box. I felt that the Oaks and acorn pattern I’ve used elsewhere would do that… Scott recognized my pattern, Good eye Scott! The lid is 3/8 thick, my inlay goes in 1/8 so I didn’t want my V-carve to go very deep. I used a 30° bit and limited the depth to 1/8”, to get a clean carve at that shallow depth, I used a 1% step over. That v-carve took about 6 hours, but I think it was worth it!
“Bull or bowl bit”… 1” ball end bit… last pass with a 5% step over, Birdseye tends to burn easily and I felt that a ball end might have less propensity to burn the bottom. Even then, I had several burns in corners.

Finish before sanding… The finish after routing the trays left a look akin to a phonograph record (that’s an early sound reproducing method used by anyone older than 50) The perimeter was clean and only had the grooves on the flat area, it cleaned up quickly with my modified sanding pad for my Milwaukee multi-tool.
Toolpath strategy… I used a offset toolpath for the tray pockets. When you raster cut, the cut alternates between a climb and a conventional cut as it goes back and forth. This difference in cut direction can leave marks that never reasonably sand out. If you did use a raster cut you’d better do the perimeter cut first so that it stops the splinters that fly during the conventional pass.
Drawer glide My drawer guide is a simple dado in the drawer and a dado in the box side filled with a tongue that mates with the drawer dado. This is a simple foolproof method and if something happens to be tight you put a piece of self-adhesive sandpaper in the groove and work the drawer back and forth.
Hope I answered your questions! If not just ask, I’m always willing to share…
SG

[POPS 64]

Steve , very nice work . That's a great box the box joints are my favorite . Everyone I make box's for know that's what there getting unless they specify something different. Really like the inlays to . Nice choice of wood . Jeff

[scottp55]

Steve, Is the runner for the front draw L-shaped then, and hidden in the box joint? Not seeing any radius on the face cut out-Chiselwork?
Got a pic of "Hidden" drawer closed?
Didn't think you liked carving with flat depth, but see why you had to. How long did you agonize over That?:)

[steve_g]

Scott…
The decision to V-carve with a limited depth was difficult for me… I’ve never liked the way it rendered and so have never done it! I could have used a 120° bit and made it work. I’ve also never v-carved with a 30° bit before, I had some that I bought to mess with Gerts dovetail method, rendered it and liked it!
The front of my box has a protrusion that covers the end grain of the tongue that is glued into a dado in the side of the box, see photo. Does that answer your question?
I’m calling the “hidden” drawer the “not obvious” drawer. If you’re looking for a hidden compartment, it jumps out at you, but otherwise it blends right in.
SG

[steve_g]

One more photo.
The drawer front was glued to the drawer “box” just like I’d do a kitchen drawer…
SG

[myxpykalix]

that's "purdy"...:D or is it "purty"?

[scottp55]

Thanks for close-ups Steve--Got it:)
LETSSS SEEE! if between the flash and the thunder is 1,052fps then I JUST got HIT!.
Later

[scottp55]

Both whole house surges are still green, But Landline $14.99 RadioSHack is Fried!
Glad 'Bot is on UPS and only have to 1 cord to yank and stop spindle for a bit at first thunder.
No comm loss and have Desktop running(No spindle) and can design while cutting is down.
PHONE made the WEIRDEST sound at the lightning strike.

[scottp55]

Curious, Phone got fried, but NOT wireless Modem?
Might have been better, as you wouldn't have heard me Yak till the 3'rd of the month:)

[chadagmsign]

That is one good looking product!

[elcar903]

very nice job :)

[Burkhardt]

Let me chime in this is a very nice piece of work. You probably know that I am a big fan of box joints (and dovetails, too :D ).

For the hinges, did you consider the SOSS conceiled barrel hinges (http://www.soss.com/soss_barrel_hinge_bagged_solid_brass)? I tried the 8mm diameter version lately on a box. They are easy to install and work well (so far). Also quite inexpensive in bulk.

[steve_g]

Thanks Guys, for the kind words!
I’m open to another type of hinge for my boxes… Gert, It has been 25 years since I used a SOSS hinge, refresh my memory… Can you get a SOSS in a 90° stop? Almost as long ago, I tried making a wood hinge but had the barrels split across the short grain. Lately I’ve been using a hinge I get at Craft Inc. http://craft-inc.myshopify.com/products/l3237-mini-decorative-hinge (http://craft-inc.myshopify.com/products/l3237-mini-decorative-hinge) In quantity they cost me about a nickel each, and to make it a stop hinge I use an oversize round head screw… Really, for the kind of money I get for my boxes, I should be using a quadrant hinge…
SG

[Burkhardt]

The barrel hinges open 180 degrees and need a separate stop. The lid leverage would be too great and the hinges may break out when opened too far. I used a skinny piece of chromed chain (the type with the twisted links) pinned to the box and the lid as stop. Looks even quite decorative but not good if you have box inserts like in your example.

SOSS also make quadrant hinges and you can get a pair in brass plated stainless steel I believe for $10-15. But they are of course a pain to mount with a narrow pocket for the stop lever and recess for the hinge itself.

I have made wood hinges too (or tried to) but so far not with great success.This was an attempt of slotting the boards from alternating sides (https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-MuDFhl_4p2U/UYxTDccovBI/AAAAAAAAD6s/CP0UU7CRwZg/s912/DSC01471.JPG) and then inserting an 1/8" brass rod into the channel. But the wood was less than 5/16" thick and too weak. It broke out and I found it did not look good. I ended up using normal metal hinges for this tapered box.

[Burkhardt]

....... Almost as long ago, I tried making a wood hinge but had the barrels split across the short grain.....

This discussion motivated me to give the wood hinges another try. I fitted one of the finger joint boxes with hinges cut from 1/4" bamboo plywood. Could probably have used solid tough hardwood as well. Works quite well but I still need to tighten the fit tolerances and make the hinge dowel invisible. I should not have cut the dowel hole trough for the outer hinge leafs.

I could move the entire hinge inside the box wall but then I would need a fillet along the rear edge of the box lid. I think that would look better and maybe I try that next.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-RLd-Ldokul8/VC4RC-GltQI/AAAAAAAAFVI/SMTr7y_ajf8/w894-h853-no/DSC02695.JPG

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-v68U-b0dXog/VC4RFUTQrDI/AAAAAAAAFVQ/eDMMyWO1RBg/w1036-h853-no/DSC02696.JPG

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-rhgnAMCItaI/VC4RHPMx55I/AAAAAAAAFVY/C-BpnLxulW0/w605-h853-no/DSC02697.JPG

[Bob Eustace]

Gert, almost invisible wooden hinges are doable by those with patience! The trick is to make some 1/4 diameter dowel out of the same timber as the box. Cut this into 5 pices that add up tp the complete width of the box. You do need a jig to drill a 1/16 hole about 3/8 into each end or use a lathe and centre drill. Next run a groove on both dides of the hinge joint (this is tricky for one off but a cinch in production) and a 1/4 ball nose works really well. The idea is to make this 1/32 deeper than than the outside of the 1/16 hole so that when the round bits sticking out tye back get planed off the hinge wire doesnt break though. You glue up one side of each piece and stop excess by using wax. This all sounds horrifically fiddly but it adds super class to a project. Big box dowell is usually garbage which is why you make your own. These hinges are super strong as they go full length and you dont need stop chains etc. The best part is showing to your woodie mates and watch them scratch their heads as it initially had me totally tossed!! This method would lift your already fantastic boxes up into tye $300 plus class. Cant post a pic at present as since IOS 8 it wont let me post.

[steve_g]

Bob...
I’m not following everything you said, when you get a chance, post some pictures! I think Gerts bamboo ply is a perfect material for a hinge but thought his design a bit “clunky on the interior.
Still interested
SG

[scottp55]

Keep playing with it G., You certainly got me thinking:) Agree with Steve it's not at the "Elegant" stage, but proto's rarely are.
When I made that one "Fingermaker" shelf with the 1/8" wide fingers, I kept "swiveling" the joint back and forth and thinking "What a wonderful full-length hinge this would make if I could JUST....." :) I think that one had a small "glue gap" called out in the software.

[Burkhardt]

Thanks for the tip Bob, I must try that (I believe I got the idea...). That sounds difficult but doable.

It would be real nice to 3d-machine the dowel features from the box walls and then kind of gun-drill the wire hole with a long sharpened drill rod. It *might* be possible with a guiding fixture that re-centers the drill between every segment of the (now integrated) dowel. You think that may be possible? It would at least save the dowel prep, glueing and planing.

I agree, the inside of my experimental hinge looks a bit crude. I call that an opportunity :rolleyes: