StevieB
Nordic Pine
SWMBO asked for a jewellery box for Xmas. She asked in early October, knowing the rate at which I find time to work, and I finished it this morning, so pretty good estimating on her part! About 12 years ago when I was starting to move from DIY into woodwork as more of a hobby, I made her a jewellery box from oak that was a bit rough and ready (router cut finger joints, veneered panel in the top) and it is now too small. I wanted to make something better this time around, and even toyed with the idea of dovetails, but time and lack of timber to remake after inevitable mistakes means in the end I didn't go that far, but I am still pleased with the end result despite it still being far from what I would call perfect. I doubt I could have made it 12 years ago however, so that is some form of progress I guess. Rather than a proper WIP, I just took some photo's as I went as and when I remembered, so apologies for the jumping about in places.
First off, I started with a sketch and a mock-up. I knew I wanted to do more than a simple box, but couldn't find much I liked as inspiration online. In the end I went with a stack of drawers, roughly 380mm wide, 200mm deep and 250mm tall.
I also knew I didn't want to make it out of oak. I did have some maple, but far less than I thought, and in the end went with ABW. I had a single plank of this and a few sticks/offcuts, which is largely what determined the overall dimensions (and the somewhat odd construction method of the back) as well as my decision not to risk dovetails - there was no spare timber for repeats at all here. So prep the ABW:
Rough cut to size, being careful to keep all the pieces in the right order - I was paranoid about accidentally cutting the lid up for drawer fronts by accident - this was largely done an hour here and there in the evenings, hence starting in October:
and then using scrap pine where things wouldn't show e.g. drawer runners. I am well aware that this build is not 'proper' and I make no suggestion that this is the right way to do things, but as these parts would be hidden nobody will ever know!
Front runners in ABW scraps, again size largely determined by available timber. The back piece is some ABW veneered MDF (if you want relatively small quantities of this, I have found laser suppliers to be rather good, this came from kitronic, as did the maple veneered MDF)
First off, I started with a sketch and a mock-up. I knew I wanted to do more than a simple box, but couldn't find much I liked as inspiration online. In the end I went with a stack of drawers, roughly 380mm wide, 200mm deep and 250mm tall.
I also knew I didn't want to make it out of oak. I did have some maple, but far less than I thought, and in the end went with ABW. I had a single plank of this and a few sticks/offcuts, which is largely what determined the overall dimensions (and the somewhat odd construction method of the back) as well as my decision not to risk dovetails - there was no spare timber for repeats at all here. So prep the ABW:
Rough cut to size, being careful to keep all the pieces in the right order - I was paranoid about accidentally cutting the lid up for drawer fronts by accident - this was largely done an hour here and there in the evenings, hence starting in October:
and then using scrap pine where things wouldn't show e.g. drawer runners. I am well aware that this build is not 'proper' and I make no suggestion that this is the right way to do things, but as these parts would be hidden nobody will ever know!
Front runners in ABW scraps, again size largely determined by available timber. The back piece is some ABW veneered MDF (if you want relatively small quantities of this, I have found laser suppliers to be rather good, this came from kitronic, as did the maple veneered MDF)
