Girlfriend's first complete project (walnut/b.e. maple jewelry box)

[Tony Shea]

I have recently been sharing my shop space and tools with my girlfriend to get us more time together with a hobby that we both enjoy. Like me she does 90% of the work with hand tools, minus the dimensioning of stock thickness in which case we use a lunch box planer. All other work is done by hand. She has unfortunatly surpassed my skill level it seems.

[Peter Aeschliman]

Gorgeous. I love the walnut/maple combination.

[Bill Houghton]

Nice work!! Was this her Christmas present to you?

The good news is that you won't get any complaints about tool purchases and shop upgrades. The bad news is that you'll have a heck of a time surprising her with wood projects.

[Bruce Page]

Wow! She did a great job on that.
Love the HC dovetails!

[Trevor Walsh]

Those DT trays are pretty awesome. I also like the bridal joints on the lid. My main question is this though, when you need to escape your girlfriend which shop do you go to now?

[Chris Griggs]

Wow. That is nice! Your lady's got some serious talent.

[Bill Bukovec]

Did she build this to store her engagement ring?

[Patrick McCarthy]

Tony,

It would seem she is a "keeper"

[Deane Allinson]

Very nice work. Nice design. Nice details.
It seems that "all is good"
Deane

[Jack Curtis]

Wow, those internal tills are fantastic, great stuff.

Jack, who learned all he knows about woodworking from his girlfriend

[bob blakeborough]

sweet piece!

[Maurice Ungaro]

Bow down to your Queen!

[James Owen]

Beautiful work, and a great combination of woods!

She is quite skilled!

[Rick Fisher]

Beautiful work.. I guess its your job to fill that box up now .. lol

[Steve Branam]

Gorgeous! Those bridle joints on the lid are especially impressive. We see a lot of people doing dovetails here, but not many of those. I can attest that it's tricky to get their big wide faces to be smooth and gap-free :rolleyes:!

[Mike Null]

All well and good--but does she keep a clean shop and can she sharpen tools?;)

[Jonathan McCullough]

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

[Jim Koepke]

Nice jewelry box.

Does she expect you to fill it?

jtk

[Tony Shea]

She does not expect me to fill it. It's actually a christmas gift to her mother.

The bridal joints were actually the toughest part of the construction for her. Sawing such a wide surface that true is difficult for a beginner. But the router plane is the hero when it came to fitting the male part of the joint. I just can't say enough about a router plane and it's usefulness.