Walnut jewelry chest....

[Michael Stafford]

Here is the first of two walnut jewelry chests I am building for some people. This one is 8X8X14" in walnut, birdseye maple and maple for the splines and drawers. It is lined in crushed velour.

The second box is nearly identical to this one only a little longer. The owner has not decided whether he wants wooden drawer pulls or metal ones. I am quite ready for him to decide as it is taking up valuable shop space.

[Chris Padilla]

Gorgeous, Mike! Nice lil' touch with the BE pulls....

[Bill Arnold]

Excellent work, Michael!!!

[Doug Shepard]

Very Nice Work! Where do you get the crushed velour for your lining??

[Michael Stafford]

Thanks Doug. I find the velour at fabric stores. I search most of them for a variety of colors so I can satisfy requests....

[Keith Burns]

Man, I'm impressed, Great Piece!

[Michael Pfau]

Very nice Michael
I am going to make jewerly chests like that for Christmas presents maybe this year, I love that spines...good job.

[Dan Gill]

Very pretty, and an interesting design.

[Lee DeRaud]

Thanks Doug. I find the velour at fabric stores. I search most of them for a variety of colors so I can satisfy requests....What kind of glue to attach it? Whoops, there I go assuming again...how is it attached?

[Dick Parr]

What more can you say Mike, they are beautiful. :D

[Michael Stafford]

Lee, I attach the fabric to posterboard/matte board that is slightly smaller than the inside of the drawer. The fabric is cut about an inch oversize in each dimension and then the posterboard/matte board is sprayed with a light coat of contact type adhesive such as 3M 666 adhesive. Then the poster board is laid on the fabric and carefully smoothed out. The fabric corners are mitered and folded over the back and attached with double sided tape. May not be the best way but that is how I do it.... You may find on larger pieces that you will need to put a strip of double sided tape on the underside of the liner in the middle to keep it secure and in place.... ;)

[Corey Hallagan]

Fantastic work Mike. I Love seeing your box projects. So artistic and the wood selection and finish is always top notch! The drawer runners you use on your jewelry boxes here, is that the typical construction method used? Just curious. No of any good books on building these type items?

Corey

[Michael Stafford]

Corey, thank you for the compliments. I am sure you can see the drawer runners are just wooden strips sliding in dadoed grooves. And yes, there are a number of good box making books out there. Doug Stowe has several box books for sale that he has written including one that is quite comprehensive on a variety of box making techniques. Boxes are fairly simple as long as you take into account that people look at them up close and personal and therefore mistakes are very obvious. Most box makers have just become better at hiding their mistakes.....Jump in and build a box. The worst that can happen is it becomes a storage container for something in your shop. The next one will be better....

[Corey Hallagan]

Thanks for the info Mike. I will check out his books.

Corey

[Vaughn McMillan]

Thanks for the pictures, Michael...the box is gorgeous. Like Cory, the drawer runners really caught my eye. Simple yet elegant solution. I've been eyeing a few different jewelry box ideas lately. I've never made one, and it seems like a good step up in difficulty from the stuff I've been making lately. (And like you said, rejects can still be put to use in the shop.)

- Vaughn

[Mark Singer]

Another Classic! You have the touch my friend!!!

[Robby Phelps]

Great project Micheal. Well designed and executed. Very, very nice

[Mark Patoka]

I must also add they are very impressive. I really like the design and adding this to my "gonna have to make one of those" list.

[Keith Hooks]

That's a beautiful piece. I especially like the shape that the drawer fronts create and the lighter spline accents. How did you attach the drawer pulls to the drawers? Are they glued flush or is there more to it?

[Mike Weaver]

Beautiful!

Making a jewelry box for a gift is on the round tuit list...
I like the look!

Nice work.

-Mike

[Jim Hinze]

Wow! Very nice design... very good execution.


I just love black walnut!

[Jason Tuinstra]

Michael, very, very nice! The walnut looks great on this piece. Very nice proportions as well.

[Michael Stafford]

Keith, the drawer pulls are mortise and tenoned into the drawer front. The pulls are 1/4" thick and have a 1/8" tenon on the reverse that fits into a groove. There are also two small 1/8" brass dowels centered on the tenon about 1/2" from each end reinforcing the handle. They are somewhat susceptible to breakage if one is heavy handed. DAMHIKT!!! Once I started reinforcing this type handle with the brass or steel pins I have had no breakage....

[Wes Newman]

Michael, Very nice design. Have you made any Men's valets? I am about to make one for my father in law and have been hunting for the right design. Great craftsmanship. I love it.

[Dennis Peacock]

Well now Mr. Stafford... :p ;)

A very outstanding piece you have there. I have always admired your box work and do learn a lot of things from you for my boxes. I like the walnut, the accent pieces and the overall shape of this piece.

I do have one question though?? You mentioned mitered corners on the velour. What sawblade did you use on your mitersaw to cut the velour??!!?? :p :p :eek: :rolleyes:

[Michael Stafford]

Okay, Mr. Peacock, I am afraid I cannot divulge the special saw I use for mitering velour. If I did that all my secrets would be gone..... :p ;) :D

[Effie Lever]

Great looking work Mike. I have on my to do list a jewelry box for my wife. Couple of questions, what size stock did you use for the box, is this 0.5”? The other question, can you describe the method you used for shaping the drawers fronts.<O:p</O:p

Effie.

[Erik Larson]

I like the contrast, spacing and location of those splines. To my eye, beautiful work.

[Michael Stafford]

Effie, the carcass is indeed 1/2" thick stock. The drawer fronts are a full 3/4". To shape the drawer fronts you start with a board planed to final thickness and the correct length but wider than the height of the box. In this case I started with a walnut board 3/4" X 8 1/2" X 14". Using a jig that allowed me to stand the board vertically I bevel ripped both with and across the grain. Then I carefully sanded and planed the ripped surfaces trying to maintain the crisp edges of the bevels. Then it is just a matter of ripping the drawer fronts to width. I used my bandsaw allowing a little extra to clean up with a handplane. Not as hard as it appears really....By the way the entire box was made from one piece of walnut that was 9" wide and 67" long. In this case the box was built to accommodate the board I had....I felt like I was cutting it close. The second one is larger in length and came from another board that gave me more material to work with if I made a mistake...
I also used a piece of walnut veneer I had to veneer some birch plywood for the back of the box. This I had to stain a little to get a closer match to the wood for the rest of the box...

[Effie Lever]

Thanks Mike, I’m still not convinced it’s not “as hard as it appears”, I’ll just have to try it and find out.
Your comment earlier about how easy it is to spot small mistakes in small pieces is something I leaned the hard way when starting to do this kind of work.<O:p</O:p

Thanks again for sharing.
<O:p</O:p
Effie

[Brian Triplett]

hey mike, I just wanted to say NICE BOX. I also noticed you were from Rocky Mount, well I'm just down old 64 in Wendell. Small world..... :D

Brian

[Michael Stafford]

Brian, then you must know my good buddy Rodger Barrows at East Wake Hardwoods.... I got one piece of the walnut I used for these boxes from him... Hope to run into you down there sometime.... I think I am scheduled for a wood run next Tuesday....the 19th :D

[Brian Triplett]

Mike, I'm actually headed that way today or tommorrow. Do you have any pieces in the gallery?