Granddaughter's jewelry box

[Lee Schierer]

Here's a jewelry box I made for my granddaughter for Christmas. The wood in the box is cherry and the trays are curly maple. The finish is sprayed semi gloss lacquer. I used brass cyliner hinges for the lid. The curly cherry for the lid came from some "pieces of scrap" given to me by a non-woodworking friend. The trays as you can see by the second photo are removeable and there is a large compartment below with a removeable divider. The dividers in the small drawers are also from curly maple and glued in place after the bottom liner was glued in. Now it will be Grandpa's task to help her fill it I suppose.:D

Thanks for viewing

[Roger Warford]

Beautiful! She must have loved it! The figure shows nicely in both the cherry and the maple. Did you do anything to bring out the figure in the maple?

[Glenn Clabo]

Lee...
Many...many years of pleasure are built into your gift. Nice job!

[Ted Shrader]

Lee -

Very beautiful work. Excellent design. That jewelry box will be treasured for years (and generations) to come.

Regards,
Ted

[gary Zimmel]

I bet you had one very happy grand daughter when she saw her present.

Great job on the jewlery box Lee.

[Lori Kleinberg]

Lee, that is a great looking jewelry box. I am sure your granddaughter loves it.
I wish someone would give me scraps like that.

[Jim Becker]

I bet she was thrilled with that, Lee! (And probably is begging as we speak for "stuff" to fill it with. LOL) Very nice work, my friend...

[Mark Engel]

Absolutely marvelous!

[Ed Sallee]

Very nice.... I love the cherry and maple combination....and you did a great job!!!

Bravo!!!

[Mark Valsi]

Nice job, Lee.

Good proportions and everything works well.

[scott spencer]

Beautiful job Lee....you should both be very pleased!

[Martin Shupe]

Very nicely done, Lee.

[John Keeton]

Very nice. I love curly maple, and it "goes" with nearly anything. Great job!

[Lee Schierer]

Beautiful! She must have loved it! The figure shows nicely in both the cherry and the maple. Did you do anything to bring out the figure in the maple?

All the parts were sanded to 220 and sprayed with a semi gloss clear lacquer. No other finish materials were used. The lacquer finish seems to bring out the wood highlights well enough on its own that I don't apply any oils or other materials. Each coat of finish except the final on were sanded smooth. There are 6-7 coats of finish on the parts. I don't usually count, but apply finish until it looks right.

[Doug Shepard]

Nice job Grandpa:cool:

[Jimmy Williams]

Great looking jewelry box. Can you tell me the overall dimensions? My girls are wanting a jewelry box and both have a birthday coming up. How did you get the hinges into top part of the crown moulding like that? Again great job on the box.

[Robert Meyer]

Beautiful. What router bit you use for the sides? Now get busy on a cherry blanket chest for her.

[John Thompson]

Excellent Lee... especially the tray IMO. I am building my first small box inspired by Ed Sallee up the street from me but... I am not ready to tackle the tray yet. The horse needs to go in front of the cart and I haven't quite mastered grooming the horse. :)

Well done and I'm sure your grand-daughter will be thrilled. If not... cut her out of the "will"..

Just kiddin' of course. :D

Sarge..

[Lee Schierer]

The box is made from pieces of 3/4 x 5-1/2 cherry crown molding. The only tools needed to make the box were a router and a TS. Cut the crown molding to lengths needed with the TS set on a 45 degree bevel cut. To make good corner joints this 45 degree cut needs to be exact and opposite sides have to be exactly the same length. This box is about 10 x 15 x 6 outside 8 x 13 x 4 inside. Once the sides pieces are cut, cut a groove near the bottom for the bottom board of the box. Cut out the bottom board and the top and you are one on the TS.

To form the leg cut outs, I made a jig for use on my router table with a guide bushing and 3/8" dia up spiral router bit. The jig guides the cut and insures the height of the cutout is all the same and finished quality. You could also use a bandsaw, but would have to do a lot of sanding to get rid of the teeth marks. I attach the pieces to my jig with double sided tape. Once the legs cutouts are done, I glue up the box. On the assembled box and lid, I mark the locations of the two brass cylinder hinges. This has to be very precise so the hinges will press into the holes. There is no adjustment on this type of hinge. I drill the holes to the desired depth on my drill press. Then after the holes are done, I put a 45 degree chamfering bit in the router and set the fence to remove material from the top edge of the box and back lower edge of the top until the bevel is halfway across the hinge holes. I shim up the front edge of the lid about 1/16-1/8" so that the bevel on the back side ends up at about 47 degrees so the lid leans back slightly when fully open and stays open more readily.

A trial assembly verifies the hinge fit and function then its off to finishing. For final assembly I line the hinge holes with superglue right before pressing in the hinges. This glue insures the hinges stay put better. That's pretty much it for the box.

The trays are straight forward except for making the thin stock. The tray corners joints are locking rabbet joints cut on the TS. For 1/4" stock the 1/8" saw kerf is ideal for making this joint which almost doesn't require glue.

[Lee Schierer]

Beautiful. What router bit you use for the sides? Now get busy on a cherry blanket chest for her.

The box is made from crown molding so no bit is needed for the outside contour.

[Lee Schierer]

Great looking jewelry box. Can you tell me the overall dimensions? My girls are wanting a jewelry box and both have a birthday coming up. How did you get the hinges into top part of the crown moulding like that? Again great job on the box.

The box is about 10 x 15 x 6 outside and 8 x 13 x 4 inside. Ther isn't a wide flat ont the top edge of the crown molding, so I use a bradpoint bit to make a pilot hole then a regular twist drill to get the 5 mm size for the cylinder hinges. I drill the hinge holes after the box is assembled with my drill press and then bevel the back edge with the box upside down on my router table. I use a 45 degree chamfering bit and a fence to cut the bevel to the centerline of the hole.

[Brent Ring]

Very Impressive! I really appreciate the work!

[Pat Germain]

Mighty spiffy box there, Lee. Thanks for sharing.

How timely. Just this morning Mrs. Pat requested a new jewelry box.

[Jason Tuinstra]

Lee, that calls for an "Oooo" and an "Ahhhh"! I like the use of the maple as well. Great fit and finish. I'm sure grandpa won't have a hard time turning this into a treasure chest full of nice finds.