I just finished my daughter Angela's present for her 18th birthday on Saturday (July 22); a rosewood box very loosely based on the one described in The DaVinci Code. She's going to college this fall, and I thought she needed a place for letters and other personal things relatively safe from any prying dorm mates.
It was my first experience with inlays that are more than just a strip of wood in a groove. I used an inlay guide bushing set I got at Woodcraft, and I'm very satisfied with the result (beginner's luck?).
The box is 11-1/4" x 7" x 4-1/4". The sides are rosewood, the top is maple with bloodwood inlays for the "five-petal rose" pattern and a circle of walnut for the center. The corner splines are walnut also, to tie in with the top.
I finished it with two coats of 1:1:1 varnish/BLO/mineral spirits mixture, topped off with three coats of varnish thinned 1:1 with mineral spirits. As you can see from the picture, the rosewood really "caught fire" when finished.
It was my first experience with inlays that are more than just a strip of wood in a groove. I used an inlay guide bushing set I got at Woodcraft, and I'm very satisfied with the result (beginner's luck?).
The box is 11-1/4" x 7" x 4-1/4". The sides are rosewood, the top is maple with bloodwood inlays for the "five-petal rose" pattern and a circle of walnut for the center. The corner splines are walnut also, to tie in with the top.
The bloodwood "petals" are all actually more or less the same shade; the grain at various angles plays tricks with the light.
I finished it with two coats of 1:1:1 varnish/BLO/mineral spirits mixture, topped off with three coats of varnish thinned 1:1 with mineral spirits. As you can see from the picture, the rosewood really "caught fire" when finished.
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