Website: www.philcrane.com

Location: Sacramento, CA

Amateur or Pro: Amateur

Finish Used: The finish is a standard wipe on poly – 4 coats of General Finishes Arm-R-Seal

Wood Species: Mahogany

Project Description:
I was looking for something to create for my niece on her 18th birthday and I came across a picture of a jewelry box which looked unique so I took the design and added my own touches. Having just completed a class on Shell Inlay I thought this would be an ideal opportunity to practice my new found skills!
The joinery is all mortise and tenon except for the drawer fronts which have dadoes cut in them to accept the sides. The drawers are all lined with flocking.
The drawer fronts are inlayed with Japanese flowers cut from Mother of Pearl, Green Abalone, Pink Mussel and Black Lip and the top of the box is inlayed with a large Japanese Crane. I didn’t keep track of how many hours it took to make this box but it covered a number of months with the usual mad rush to get it finished on time!

You can download the SketchUp File here.

From: Jack G

Location: San Dimas, CA

Amateur or Pro: Amateur

Finish Used: 3 coats Spray Laquer (semi gloss)

Wood Species: Cherry / Walnut w/ Wenge and Birdseye Maple Inlay

Project Description:
This is a jewelry box for my daughter, Melissa (nickname: Turtle), hence the turtle inlay in the top. She just turned 6 and is starting to accumulate some jewelry. Simple buscuit joinery with my first attempt at router based inlay after watching Marc’s video. Designed the turtle inlay to include the “M” for Melissa.

Would have liked to use Wenge instead of Walnut for the legs and handle but my hardwood supplier was out. I think she will be happy with it and hopefully will get years of use.

I would love it if you could show a few of my recently made boxes. I am quite proud of them and I would like to see what some real woodworkers think about them. Either way negative or positive responses are always appreciated. The first box is Oak with dovetails. I used Dark Walnut Danish Oil and I left it without a top coat. The second box is Oak as well with miters and splines. I used Medium Walnut Danish Oil and top coated it wish paste wax. The third box is Maple with a 9/16 box joint. This one also has the Medium Walnut and a wipe on poly.

And here are some unique inlayed boxes submitted by Larry. I love the way the handle was incorporated into the design. Check them out:

I just wanted to show you the end result of the gift boxes I had made. I had asked you a few questions regarding their constructing/finishing, to which I thank you for your insight. I basically built them from a guide in Woodsmith magazine. I used my own ideas on materials though. I made the inlay first. I used black walnut and maple glued up to form a “blank” that I cut the inlay strips from. The cool part is, I got the black walnut from a pallet about 2 years ago. I had never seen black walnut used on a pallet before and have not seen it since either. The maple came from some old warped flooring that was being discarded from the school system I work for. The basic box is made from cherry as that has always been a favorite of mine. The top and bottom is plywood. I’m pretty sure it was a birch veneered plywood but I’ve had it laying around so long I don’t remember. I used the plywood because I wanted to be able to glue the tops and bottoms securely as I flocked the inside. By the way I also followed your advice by making up a “mock” box to practice flocking. It was one of the easiest things I ever did. All you have to do is follow the instructions they give you and the results are excellent. After the inlay was done I used the remaining inlay stock to make the handles.
Thanks again for your website and taking the time to do what you do. It is greatly appreciated!!!

When I introduced myself on the site, I said I was working on a jewelry box for my daughter. Well, after about 20 hours and a lot of mistakes because I made it up as I went, here it is. I looked at a lot of pictures on the web and formulated my own plan with ideas from a lot of them and of course my daughter’s input. Thanks again for the great site!

The piece is made of solid red oak except for the drawer bottoms and lid inlay which are 1/4″ oak ply. The construction is actually very simple. The main case is made with a dado on the sides so that the end grain is only showing from the back. The front false drawer sits in a stopped dado and has a 1/2″ roundover to match the drawer fronts. The drawers are constructed using a homemade drawer lock joint for a lack of better terminology, and have 1/4″ dadoes cut in the sides to ride on oak runners glued to the inside of the case. The dividers are just cut-offs that I planed down to 1/8″ to match the kerf of one of my blades which was used to cut interlocking slots. The top was made about 2″ deep so that I had plenty of room for padding and velvet fabric plus a mirror that was epoxied on. I would like to give credit for that idea, but I can’t remember where I saw it. I then made a base from some scrap pieces of oak flooring, mitered the corners, cut rabbet for the case to sit in and rounded the corners. Stained and poly all parts and glued it up. Added some knobs and handles and put a done stamp on it. The finished piece measures around 20″w x 12″d x 10″h. I didn’t have any plans to go by, I just made it up as I went. Again, I want to express my sincere appreciation for the great things you do for tthe woodworking community. I have learned so much from your site and it is inspiring.

Here are some specifics about the project:

The Honduras Mahogany I received for free from a woodshop that had accidentally planed the rough lumber too thin for their use! Tragic. The grain pattern shifts around in the light – which I thought was interesting and Denise was able to select the pieces herself – which was also cool. (The box was a surprise, but the lumber wasn’t.)

I don’t own a planer – so I left it 3/4 – which might be strange for such a small box – but works for a new guy! It was my first drawer box and it took a little while to get sized just right. I opted to not try anything fancier than a dado…but it’s tight enough for this small stuff.

I made up the dimensions and the basic design, partly from your maple/bubinga box (awesome by the way) and partly from the sizes of the pieces I was trying to use up. Your design video also helped. The earring holder I saw in a magazine on someone else’s box and tried it out with just some blade kerfs. The rest of it was made-up-as-you-go.

By the way – there is a sliding dovetail joint in there above the dbox. My first one. I’ll probably use that a lot more because it’s pretty strong and easy to make. Plus it looks like I know what I’m doing. Personally, I can see a number of places to self-improve– the finish, the open grain issue on Mahogany, etc. I think I’ll need to buy your finishing video for the next one! In any case. I hope you enjoy it.

This cabinet was my first big project. The toughest part for me was preparing the lumber since I do not have a planer, bandsaw or thickness planer. Also I wouldn’t have room to place them :) Unfortunately, there is no store that sells ready milled lumber. So, I had to buy rough lumber and mill it at a local shop. However, the end result did not please me. I had to wind up changing the project dimensions.

I used bubinga (inspired from your gadget station) and hard maple. I wanted to use figured maple but was unable to find any around here. The top and bottom pieces were dado jointed. The drawer shelves are doweled. The right side of the chest is for earrings. All four racks can be moved thanks to neodymium magnets. The left side of the chest is for necklaces. In the center there are five drawers. The bottom two drawers are bigger than the top three. The drawers have separators for rings, watches, bracelets, etc.

When you use a scraper on bubinga you get a very nice golden shiny surface even without finish. For the finish, I used wiping varnish (thanks for your formula) and applied four coats. After it dried I used antic wachs for wax all surfaces, especially on the drawers to ensure smooth movement.