Sycamore/Padauk Box

[John Motzi]

As I mentioned in my thread on miter sleds, I have been having fun making some boxes out of highly figured wood. The box shown below is QS English Sycamore with panels & accents in Padauk. The box measures 9" x 4.75" x 3.5" (L x W X H) and is constructed from 3/8" thick stock. The finish is just the wood sanded to P1000 and then a protective coat of wax rubbed with gray & white pads and buffed. The inside surfaces were finished prior to glue up and the outer surfaces after glue up.

The techniques used for these type of mitered boxes is well documented in FWW 162 (Apr 2003) p 40-45, FWW 43 (Nov 1983) p 32-28, Taunton's Complete Guide to Box Making and The Bandsaw Book (Lonnie Bird) p 166-174 as well as many other places.

The craftsmanship for this box is so so but the wood is great. I am also constructing boxes in another size (9 x 4 x 4) and also with other wood combinations such as birdseye maple & walnut and birdseye maple & quilted maple. Anyway, just thought I would have some fun before starting any more furniture projects.

John Motzi
Downingtown, PA

[Bob Tate]

That is a beautiful box. You did a great job. WOW! :D

[Lee DeRaud]

Very nice. Are the sides two-layer? (I'm seeing a joint about 1/3 of the way down on the inside in the second photo.)

[Jim Becker]

That's a yummy box, John! The figured stock is wonderful and the accents sharp.

[Corey Hallagan]

Very nice box John! Been waiting to see these photos! The stock is really nice. I like the mitered key accents as well. Keep up the good work and thanks for the photos. I don't know about so so woodworking, they look pretty darn nice to me. I started my first box today. A small jewelry type box made out of oak. Nothing spectacular like this.

Corey

[John Motzi]

Are the sides two-layer? (I'm seeing a joint about 1/3 of the way down on the inside in the second photo.)

Hi Lee,

What you are seeing is a 1/8" thick x <3/4" lip for the lid. When milling the box sides I rout a 3/4" x 1/8" deep groove on the inside 1" down from the top. After the box is assembled I saw off the lid approx 1 1/8" down from the top. This leaves most of the recess is the bottom part of the box and about 1/8" in the top. Then you glue on pieces of 1/8" thick stock slightly less that 3/4" high and voila you have a lip to capture & hold the top in place. The only problem is that when you are using highly figured stock the added lip is quite noticeable due to differences in grain/figure.

This technique is mentioned but not shown in the box making book I referenced. I'll take pictures when I make the next box so you can see the process.

JM

[Mark Singer]

John, very nice! Clean design! The Paduck will go brown with light....I like it almost like wenge

[Bernie Weishapl]

Beautiful box John. Nice clean design. Thanks for the pictures.

[Michael Stafford]

Very nice John. I like the combination. Splined miters are very decorative and you did a nice job of spacing them out. Nice box!

[Lee DeRaud]

What you are seeing is a 1/8" thick x <3/4" lip for the lid. When milling the box sides I rout a 3/4" x 1/8" deep groove on the inside 1" down from the top. After the box is assembled I saw off the lid approx 1 1/8" down from the top. This leaves most of the recess is the bottom part of the box and about 1/8" in the top. Then you glue on pieces of 1/8" thick stock slightly less that 3/4" high and voila you have a lip to capture & hold the top in place. The only problem is that when you are using highly figured stock the added lip is quite noticeable due to differences in grain/figure.

This technique is mentioned but not shown in the box making book I referenced. I'll take pictures when I make the next box so you can see the process.Ok, that's similar to how I do my laser-cut boxes, except I run the inside layer all the way up and down to form rabbets to support the top and bottom. The laser is limited in the thickness it will cut...the two layers typically add up to something in the 3/8-7/16" range.

[Mark Stutz]

John,
I really like the wood selection. The sycamore is beautiful. The lip cah also be made as you cut the top off. Use a router or dado blade to cut a groove on the inside. Use the same set up to cut off the top, only offsetting it, and the lip is created. The box will be shorter by the width of the groove, so keep final dimension in mind when planning it. This avoids having to "grain match" the figurded wood.

Mark

[Vaughn McMillan]

Very nice box, John. I like the wood selection...the figure in the sycamore is great, and the padauk makes for a nice contrast. (I've been playing with a couple of nice pieces of padauk lately, too.) I also like the simple, clean lines of the box. Great job overall.

- Vaughn

[Jim Dannels]

Boy that sycamore is pretty stuff! Funny you don`t see more of it used?
Several years ago I was over to the Amana Colonies( Amish Settlement).
Toured the furniture shop,(They are fine craftsmen) and was surprized to see them using beautiful figured Sycamore in drawers, where it would be rarely seen.

[John S Richards]

Anytime I sand bare wood to a high grit like you did with contrasting species like your box I end up with dust that essentially bleeds into the lighter wood. Did you do anything special to prevent that?

Perhaps Paduak is better than bloodwood for that issue, but I still would have expected it. I know bloodwood and maple is a tough combination.

Thanks,

John

[Jeff Sudmeier]

John,

That is a wonderful looking box! I like the spacing of the keys, it looks perfect. Small details make it!

[Jim Hinze]

Very nice work John. I love the sycamore and paduk, nice contrast.

I have to ask, how'd you get the paduk to not bleed into the sycamore?

[John Motzi]

Thank you all for the many kind words - my main reason for posting was to share with you the nice combination of these two woods.


Anytime I sand bare wood to a high grit like you did with contrasting species like your box I end up with dust that essentially bleeds into the lighter wood. Did you do anything special to prevent that?


I have to ask, how'd you get the paduk to not bleed into the sycamore?

Most of the sanding was done prior to box assembly. The bottom panel floats in the sides and the top panel also floats but is grooved such that the sides capture the the top overlapping the sides (see photos). I sanded and finished the bottom panel completely before assembly. I sanded the top panel completely and finished the inside face prior to assembly. This way I only needed to do a small amount of sanding with P400 & S1000 on the top after final assembly. With the exception of the keyes, I am never sanding both woods simultaneously.

All sanding was done with a Festool RO125 (5" random orbit) which is also equipped with very nice dust extraction. I think this is the reason I don't have trouble with dust filling the pores or being transferred between woods. The final sanding is a S1000 abralon pad (Festool calls it Platin 2)which with the vac completely avoids dust. Also I am careful to use different sheets/pads for the light wood than the dark wood.

Hope this helps.

John Motzi
Downingtown, PA

[Joe Unni]

Very nice John. Thanks for sharing!

-joe

[John S Richards]

I think the vac is really the key. Most of the time I've worked with that combo in on the lathe. Since all sanding happens with sandpaper held by hand there is no way to control the sanding dust at the interfaces between the woods.

Good Stuff.

John

[Paul Canaris]

John, what do you do to keep the Padouk from oxidizing? In the past when I have sued it, it goes from beautiful, to looking like dark plastic in three months or less.

[Dick Strauss]

John,
I saw Bob on "the router workshop" use this trick for lidded boxes...

He makes the sides out of one piece of material. He then routes just past half of both the inside and the ouside of the box "walls" with a small offset. Once he slices the lid off at the offset, the lip and recess are perfectly cut. See the attached pic...

24853

[Lee DeRaud]

John,
I saw Bob on "the router workshop" use this trick for lidded boxes...

He makes the sides out of one piece of material. He then routes just past half of both the inside and the ouside of the box "walls" with a small offset. Once he slices the lid off at the offset, the lip and recess are perfectly cut.That leaves a lip-sized discontinuity in the grain on the outer face, which John's method avoids. Pick your poison, I guess.