Jewlry Box

[JR]

There have been a couple of calls lately for more discussions about woodworking. I heartily agree, so I thought I'd chime in with this.

I'm finishing up a jewelry chest, made of cherry and maple with bubinga (or is it cocobolo?) drawer pulls. The end product is very much less than I had imagined, but here it is.



Here's the purpose of this post. I struggled with how to do the pullls. The top and base are beveled so I didn't want to do curved pulls. I finally settled on these, as seen from the side.



They're fit into 1/8" mortises, as you'd expect. I ran a v-groove bit accross both top and bottom to give the fingers a little purchase. Resetting the fence, I used the same v-groove bit to bevel the fronts ever so slightly. They're kind of a pain to sand and finish, but I like 'em and hope they get the creative juices flowing for someone else.

JR

[chopnhack]

That came out really nice JR. Was the design your own or from plan? I love how the woods compliment each other. What finish was used?

[dbhost]

Did you line the drawers with anything? That is really pretty...

[cabinetman]

That's a great looking box...nicely done. The handles go very well with the look of the "keys".
.

[Hoakie]

That is very nice. Love the spine on the.drawers.

[JR]

Was the design your own or from plan? I love how the woods compliment each other. What finish was used?

I found a plan I liked in a Wood Mag book and stuck fairly closely to it.

The cherry and cocobolo/bubinga (I'm really going to have to find the receipt!) were chosen because they work together so well. I also have a wide plank of figured maple that I used for the drawer fronts. I took care to keep the pieces in alignment from the original board.

I used Minawax cherry stain. There are quite a few coats on the lighter maple bits, fewer coats on the darker maple, and one coat on the cherry. No stain on the pulls. I used Minwax wipe-on water-based poly on top. I now officially hate that stuff. It dries quickly, but I find it difficult to apply evenly. It's my main beef with the final product here. I made a legendary number of mental errors on this project, most of which were recovered nicely enough. The top-coat just bites.

JR

[pelligrini]

I'm betting cocobolo. I love that stuff.

Nice job on the box. Did you do any sort of guides for the drawers?

[JR]

Did you line the drawers with anything? That is really pretty...

I haven't done the interiors yet. I normally apply felt to 2mm self-adhesive foam and stick it to the bottoms. There are enough different sizes to the drawers that I probably won't make dividers.

At least one of the small drawers will get ring holder treatment. I do that with rolled low-density foam, covered with cloth. I haven't yet done that trick to where it looks really good, so my technique is a work in progress. LOML just came in and volunteered to help with the interiors, so hopefully she'll have some good ieas.

JR

[Bruce Cohen]

Great looking box.

The jewelry boxes I make, usually get the bottom's lined with leather or suede. I find I can buy 8 1/2X11 sheets at AC More or one of the other craft stores.

I usually spray mount them down to slightly oversize stration board, (NOT Foamcore) trim to the size of the interior of the drawer and give the bord a shot of Spraymount to keep it in place in the drawer.

Again, really nifty box.

Bruce

[JR]

Did you do any sort of guides for the drawers?

This was one part of the Wood plan that I followed closely because it's unique.

With no vertical panels between the drawers on the top two levles I couldn't install guides on the sides. I used 1/4" hardboard glued to the horizontal panels. The bottoms of the drawers are set into a groove which is cut at 7/32" from the bottom of the drawer sides, leaving a 1/32" reveal. The hardboard is cut at 1/32" under the distance between drawer sides, then glued to the horizontal panels such the drawers all stop in alignment with the panel fronts.

The plan suggested an interesting way to size the drawers: cut the fronts to the exact width of the opening between the vertical panels. After the drawers are assembled, sand the sides until there is a 1/32" opening between drawers and between drawers and vert. panels. At this point you install the harboard guides, with shims in place around the drawers to keep everything in alignment. It requires a little patience, but is actually fairly easy to do.

JR

[JR]

I usually spray mount them down to slightly oversize stration board, (NOT Foamcore) trim to the size of the interior of the drawer and give the bord a shot of Spraymount to keep it in place in the drawer.

Ah, so you cut to the exact size of the box and do not roll the material over the sides of the stration board? What is stration board - some sort of advertiser's trick!?

I've been rolling the felt over to the bottom of the foam board. I makes for a lush look, but with the thickness of the felt there is a bit of contour that comes through to the top side.

JR

[gsmittle]

Ah, so you cut to the exact size of the box and do not roll the material over the sides of the stration board? What is stration board - some sort of advertiser's trick!?

JR

Probably the same as illustration board, which is a laminated cardboard or card stock. You can get it in several different colors, sometimes with a contrasting color as the second layer. Matte board is even heavier.

I HATE Foamcore.

g.

[Bruce Cohen]

Great looking box.

I usually spray mount them down to slightly oversize stration board, (NOT Foamcore) trim to the size of the interior of the drawer and give the bord a shot of Spraymount to keep it in place in the drawer.

Again, really nifty box.

Bruce

Sorry guys, my typing sometimes sucks , the correct word is ILLUSTRATION BOARD, and single ply is stiff enough. Some art stores (do they still exist) carry a heavier weight called two-ply.

Again, sorry for the confusion, I promise to proofread my posts better in the future.

Bruce