My father found thousands of arrowheads, and I would like to create beautiful boxes to display them in.
My thought was to use a different types of wood for each display, and potentially even make each display different from the others. Although it may be a better approach to pick one style and get more proficient at making just the one style.
I’d appreciate any suggestions.
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Literally thousands? Wow, that's an amazing collection...maybe a few museums would be interested in displaying some of them in their display cases.
Do you want to display them in stand alone cases, in shallow shadow boxes on the wall, in frames that can be displayed on a desk or table, in cases with drawers, or ??
Maybe you want to consider a cabinet with shallow drawers, very similar to the many coin collector cabinets that you can find online. That's how I would do it if I wanted to occasionally see some of them or show them to someone. It would be a very efficient way to both store and display a lot of them. You can still have some in shadow boxes on the wall, although your house may not have enough wall space to display thousands of them.
Thank you for your suggestion. I have given thought to contacting a museum about them, but wanted to get them displayed first. My father was a heart pine fanatic, and mounted many on heart pine boards and made some rustic (like folk art) displays that are very large.
I like the idea of a cabinet and I'll check out some coin collector displays on line. I was initially thinking of the shadow box approach and trying to hone my woodworking skills in the process.
Thanks again for your suggestions.
Another option could be to look at the cabinets entomologists use (similar, I guess, to the coin collectors' ones above), eg this from the JJ Joicey butterfly collection. Not the most exciting example, but plenty of scope to tart it up. Could build a structure on top, possibly with glass doors or such, to display some of the more interesting specimens so they can be openly seen.
Yep, these are similar to coin collector cabinets, but these seem a bit larger. Good suggestion.
Thank you all for these wonderful suggestions. If I go this route, I could certainly have them displayed in the house. Also it will make it easier to photograph and share with others.
Great ideas!
One problem associated with using boxes or drawers is that you can’t see the item.Given the quantity i suggest one or more two foot widr,five foot high by say 5 inch deep cabinets with lipped shelves on say a 15 degree angle..Glass doors would keep the items clean and safe.As to the pine ,I have eight 16 inch wide by 8 ft long pine boards that have been on my rack for 20 years. If you are serious and are near Philadelphia you can have them.
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