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Lee DeRaud
09-06-2005, 1:40 PM
Some way-overdue pictures:

#1 is maple with curly walnut veneer lid...going for "clean and simple" design here to go with some of my raku pottery. About 5"x7" (my "standard" box is sized to fit 4x6 photos inside).

#2 is padauk outside, maple inside, flame mahogany veneer lid, same size as #1.

#3 is jarrah outside, poplar inside, cedar inside the lid. Lid is a 6x6" tile with an Aztec calendar lasered onto it.

Lee DeRaud
09-06-2005, 1:41 PM
Detail of box #3's lid.

Michael Stafford
09-06-2005, 2:43 PM
Wow, Lee, those are wonderful!!! I love boxes and those boxes are made to love. Beautiful work! I love the nice neat box joints and the great finish. Let's see more and often! ;) :D

larry merlau
09-06-2005, 2:49 PM
how did you make the contrasting box jint on the first pic? and the second one having the light colerd accents?

Lee DeRaud
09-06-2005, 3:19 PM
how did you make the contrasting box jint on the first pic? and the second one having the light colerd accents?The wood for all these boxes is cut with a laser. On the maple box, that leaves dark "burn" inside the joint, which shows as a very thin dark line at the joint. (It does this regardless of the wood, it's just much more obvious with something like maple or poplar.)

The second one is one of my "two-layer" boxes: I use two contrasting woods and cut long finger joints in both. The fingers from the inner layer (maple in this case) stick through to the outside and appear as square plugs on the surface.

Vaughn McMillan
09-06-2005, 3:39 PM
They are all beautiful, Lee. I really like the various box joints, and also the scalloped edges on the Aztec box.

- Vaughhn

Lars von Wedel
09-06-2005, 4:40 PM
Lee,

this is really great stuff!

Personally, I like #3 most. The interior of the top is really well designed.

Can I consider #3 as a smaller box inside the another one? Did you cut the edges for the sides of the base and the top in parallel? Looks really interesting.

Lars

Bill Arnold
09-06-2005, 4:55 PM
Lee,

Excellent work! Do you have your own laser machine?

Regards,

Jim Young
09-06-2005, 5:21 PM
I like box #2 the best. The colors are the most appealing to me. The curved lid edge is not on the third box also.

Dick Parr
09-06-2005, 5:29 PM
Great job Lee, those are some beautiful boxes. :)

Lee DeRaud
09-06-2005, 6:58 PM
Excellent work! Do you have your own laser machine?Thanks.

Yup, in fact, that's how I found SMC: the guys I bought the laser from told me about the laser forum here.

Lee DeRaud
09-06-2005, 7:05 PM
Lee,

this is really great stuff!

Personally, I like #3 most. The interior of the top is really well designed.

Can I consider #3 as a smaller box inside the another one? Did you cut the edges for the sides of the base and the top in parallel? Looks really interesting.Thanks, although the interior of #3's lid was mostly an expedient to cover up the back side of the tile. Double expedient actually: the diamond pattern was because I didn't have a piece of cedar wide enough to do it in one piece. :cool:

It's not really two nested boxes, since the bottom is only one layer (the poplar in this case). The cutting, as I said, is with a laser, but I also cut a matching pattern in 1/4" MDF and use a router to clean up the edges (and do the contour for the front opening). I wrote a VBA program for Corel to do the box joint layout.

Richard Wolf
09-06-2005, 7:18 PM
Very nice boxes. That laser work is very interesting.

Richard

Kirk (KC) Constable
09-06-2005, 8:04 PM
Those are nice. :) I have a lot of respect for you guys that can do boxes and 'smaller' stuff with detail. I need 'big' stuff so folks can maybe overlook the detail boo-boos! :p

KC

Corey Hallagan
09-06-2005, 10:26 PM
Lee, those are beautiful, excellent work! I just love those boxes. I am a fan of both Mike Stafford and your box work. Great stuff. Thanks for posting.

Corey

Kurt Aebi
09-07-2005, 7:47 AM
Beautiful boxes, Lee!

Great laser work on the lid as well! As Big Mike said, show us more!

Lee DeRaud
09-07-2005, 11:07 AM
Those are nice. :) I have a lot of respect for you guys that can do boxes and 'smaller' stuff with detail. I need 'big' stuff so folks can maybe overlook the detail boo-boos! :p Spoken by someone who hasn't seen my scrap bin.:eek:

Actually, I gravitate to the smaller stuff on the theory that the major mistakes are less painful to throw away and the minor mistakes are too small for my old eyes to notice.:cool:

John Bush
09-07-2005, 11:31 AM
Hi Lee,
I have a bunch of 3/8"x 11" spalted maple that I've been making boxes with and it is lots of fun. I've been making box joints on the TS and seem to have it down now but am interested in the laser cuts. Do you do the finger joint thru cuts with the laser, and what thickness and type of material can the laser cut thru??

Very nice design and the finish detail shows lots of diligence and skill. Thanks for sharing. John.

Lee DeRaud
09-07-2005, 12:36 PM
Hi Lee,
I have a bunch of 3/8"x 11" spalted maple that I've been making boxes with and it is lots of fun. I've been making box joints on the TS and seem to have it down now but am interested in the laser cuts. Do you do the finger joint thru cuts with the laser, and what thickness and type of material can the laser cut thru??Yup, the joints are all cut that way. The laser I've got (25W) will go through 1/4" in most common woods (cherry, maple, walnut, poplar, oak) and MDF, 3/16" in padauk, jarrah, and the like. Stuff like rosewood or purpleheart better be less than 1/8" or it just burns. Works great with veneer (duh). And it will cut ridiculously precise router templates in 1/4" MDF...there's even a function in Corel to offset the line for the router bushing.

Very nice design and the finish detail shows lots of diligence and skill. Thanks for sharing. John.Thanks.:D

David Brasfield
06-26-2008, 5:03 PM
Hi, Lee.

Those are very nice designs. I am partial to boxes and finger joints, tabbed interlocks and such. Since I purchased the laser (I think it's been two months?), I have done at least a dozen different designs.

I am a good, well trained, experienced, long term electronics/electrical engineer, but I am a rank amateur at mechanical designs, and my scrap pile proves it :)

David

Dewey Torres
06-28-2008, 12:31 AM
WOW

Noce post Lee! Thanks.

Dewey

John Thompson
06-28-2008, 10:51 AM
Very nice Lee. I probably wouldn't have seen this if Dewey hadn't dug it up from the past. Laser cuts, huh... and I felt lucky just to have a hand saw. :)

Sarge..