Flag display case

[Marc Casebolt]

Our friends son passed recently, and being a veteran had a military funeral. At that time I told them that I would make a display case for the flag. Later they asked if I could also make a frame for some pictures of him, so sure, I can do that too (the frame is 30" X 40").

About a year ago I went to an all hand tool mode of woodworking, so these were made with no power tools at all. Both projects were milled from a single 8/4 cherry board because that was how I always did it with power tools so that I would have a good color and grain match. It was a lot more work than I expected milling the pieces for this, but in the end it was very satisfying.

The finish is:

BLO
put in the sun for about 3 hours to darken
shellac
5 coats of BLO/spar varnish/turpentine wiped on then wiped off
wax

These pics are kind of crappy, but they"ll have to do. The frame is too big to hang just for pics, so there is just a shot of one corner to give you an idea of how it matches the box.

[Chris Padilla]

I like the molding details you put on these, Marc...gives what would have been an otherwise delicate frame some heft but not overly so. :)

[John Thompson]

Love it and nice job with the hand tools...

Sarge..

[Ed Sallee]

Beautiful.... my hat's off to you, Sir.

Flag cases are one thing that I will drop anything else and get to work on....

Our soldiers deserve it!

[Marc Casebolt]

Thanks guys,

The design was kind of a 'figure it out as you go' type of thing. I wanted a military sort of look, and our friends house has more of a modern style than I usually do, so it evolved into this with a bit of trial and error. Over all I'm happy with the look, but the frame is a tad heavy looking to me, if that makes sense. You learn as you go along on every project.

Marc

[Jim Kirkpatrick]

Nice job Marc! What were the angles on the miters and how did you cut them?

[Marc Casebolt]

Jim,

All of the angle cuts are at 45 degrees. It's a right triangle, 90 at the top, and 45 at the sides. I used a lion miter trimmer to cut the 45s. The top of the case, under the trim, is a through dovetail joint that is hidden completely by the trim pieces. The long side of the triangle is joined to the sides with a dado, also hidden by the trim.

Marc