A housewarming gift

[ars_lurker]

Buddy of mine built a new house and this is what I made for the housewarming gift. I got the plans out of Wood Magazine. It was fun to build and I am sure I could do a better job on the next one but they were happy with it.

Curly Maple for the sides, bottom and lid. Walnut for the ends. Finished with 3 coats of Satin Poly.

Thanks for looking.
Mike

[Black wallnut]

That is a great looking keepsake. Hope they enjoy it and the contents.

[cgallery]

That is extremely slick. I'll bet they show it to everyone.

[BobSch]

You can warm up my house anytime! Beautiful piece.

[dbhost]

Very nice work!

[GPA61]

Excellent work. Looks great!!!

[pelligrini]

Nice job. I liked that design when I first saw it, it did look like a fun project.

Are those shavings from a handplane inside?

[jaywood]

I've got a new house!!! Well... three and a half years ago I got a new house... does that still count?!??!

[smorris]

Nice job.

Last year I made several of those for friends at Christmas time and put in bottles of my homemade wine in them. I modified the plans slightly and used dovetail for the corners. They seemed to be well received.

[shoottx]

Very Cool

[ars_lurker]

Sorry to disappoint but the shavings are just packing confetti from the craft store.

I ended up with 4 days to make and finish the box. Most of the 4 days were just a couple hours at night after the regular job and the kids went to bed. The finish still had a little tack to it when we handed it over.

The only real modification to the plan I made was to put a walnut stop on the top of the lid. You can see it in the pics. That way the lid would seat fully without pushing through the other side. I also used a couple brass screws to hold the handle on in addition to the glue. The plan says the handle is just a decoration but when I tested that theory with my wife and my parents, everyone's hand went to the handle to remove the lid.

I don't know anything about wine at all so another friend and I went together on this one. He bought the wine, I supplied the box. It was well received and I heard it was going above the fireplace.

[Wood_workur]

That looks really good.

Sorry to disappoint but the shavings are just packing confetti from the craft store.

I was about to ask that. I would think that would make it really cool.

[JR]

Sweet! Very thoughtful.

JR

[Pappy]

If that's a last minute rush job, I'd like to see what you do when you have the time!

[lrogers]

That is pretty cool. I think the handle really sets it off.