Just another box but it has some unusual joinery points, no hinges to worry about and you can use up a bunch of small scraps to make them. That equals cheap birthday and Christmas presents. I try to get a bunch done and leave them on a shelf so I can recover from dates I tend to forget.
These are from a Carlyle Lynch set of plans on a Moravian Candle Box. I have modified it a bit(larger) but its basically a box with a groove cut to accept a raised panel cut on the table saw and smoothed out. They take a little extra time at first but once you make a few, you barely think as you build them.
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In this batch I chose to make a panel on the bottom from a veneered piece of ply. I put a mitered edge around the bottom to attach it to the box and not worry about expanding boards to push out the joints in the humid months.
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Photos attached to break it down for any other box builders interested in trying the design. The curly is from a rifle stock that just isn’t big enough for….
dan
Edited 9/24/2007 12:52 pm ET by danmart
Replies
Dan,
Nice work! What did you use to get the nice brown color on that maple?
Lee
I start out with a very dark water dye. After it dries I scrape and sand it away. The dark stain stays in the soft curl. Next coat a medium brown wash. Then some bright yellow. Steel wool. Orange shellac. Rub with 0000. No grain filler on the maple but used it on the walnut. Rub down. Shellac and some garnetlac that was getting near the end of its shelf life. Wanted to get rid of it. I'm a big shellac user. Its really Murphy proof stuff, dries fast and it has a nice tint/warmth if you don't mind something less than super clear.
I need to finish the front miter and attach a rim to the raised panel to make the top look the same all the way around. I'll get to it this week. I have to finish 4 of them. I'm still in the middle of the Lonnie Bird desk and 3 kentucky rifles so... Christmas is still a ways out. Hunting season is coming real soon.
As you can tell, I am not a photographer but I try to make it more apparent to the reader what I am talking about.
Something like a picture tells a ....
dan
Dan,
Uh, the dovetails look a little loose to me. :-)
Nice work!
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
My Japanese saw is a little bent. Ha
Hi Dan,
Got a question for Ya.
What do you think about cherry for a stock?
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Bob
There are a few rifles that I have seen done in cherry but they are rare. Maple was the wood of choice during the Golden Age of longrifles. There were some rifles made of walnut but not near as many as maple. Lots of old rifles that you examine don't have a lot of curl. Some are really special even with the straight grain. You find rifles made from the crook of a tree that took advantage of the natural curve of the wood. This makes the stock very strong.
I think some of the interest in the maple was also driven by the way the maple reacted with nitric acid(aqua fortis). They took nitric acid and put iron filings in the water and nitric mix and got a solution to color the wood that deep color brown red. When it is done correctly, it has a depth that you just don't get with anniline dyes. You can get close but it just isn't quite the same.
If I was up in maple country, I wouldn't give you a nickel for a cherry stock. Several years back I found a nice chunk of quilted maple. I posted a photo or two of the rifle stained with nitric and it was just unique. Haven't found a piece since.
This makes the stock very strong...Is this why the US Army told us to never dive into the dirt unless we had our hand on the BUTT of the stock? Yes I broke one AND we had to pay for it!EDIT: I for one think the drill sargent used my money for a binge the next night!
Edited 9/25/2007 10:28 pm by WillGeorge
You know you're dating yourself my friend? Most of the guys in their 50's carried the little Matel design.
dan
I'm with you, Bob--somebody, send that boy a clamp!
Nice work dan.
Ray
Nice work Dan
Got the $12 for the postage. Hope you can find some sizes you need.
John
Thank you again for the screws- they are being shaped and used on some rusty hinges on an old Hoosier Cabinet.
Another benefit to visiting the forum.
dan
Update on the incompleted project pictures. Here is the final piece that needed to be on the box to make sense. I should have held off on the photos in the first message but I had a question from someone and the pictures helped some and confused others.
one photo boxes completed.
one photo from earlier stage incompleted. Hope it makes sense.
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