Cherry Shaker Oval Boxes with qs Sycamore

[Jason Tuinstra]

I've been quite busy lately and haven't had much time at all to spend in the shop. I did manage to get these done today for our neighbors Christmas present. Nothing special, but they turned out pretty good. I built a number of these years ago and forgot that they can be tricky if you don't want any gaps!

In the past, I bought my stock from John Wilson, but decided to cut my own with some cherry and qs sycamore I had in the shop. I'm pleased with how the Performax worked on this task and would do it again this way.

For the pic's, I just threw them up on my bench and made sure I shot the pics at a high aperture to burn out the details of the melamine. I hope they look okay on your screen, you might see some spots where I had to burn out the wall/bench joint digitally.

Have a great Christmas everyone!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Jason they look great. Beautiful. They look good on my screen.

[Rob Millard]

Very nice.

The sycamore almost looks like lace wood. I've never seen such highly figured sycamore.

I'm looking forward to seeing your cabinet in Fine Woodworking, it should be on the stand any day now.
Rob Millard

[Gene Collison]

Jason,

As always, beautiful!!! Question though, I am working with some QS Sycamore right now. I notice the flecking really stands out, what did you use for finishing? Thanks for the reply....

Gene

[Jason Tuinstra]

Jason,

As always, beautiful!!! Question though, I am working with some QS Sycamore right now. I notice the flecking really stands out, what did you use for finishing? Thanks for the reply....

Gene

Gene, all I used was lacquer. I normally apply BLO first, but I wanted the cherry to stay lighter than it does with Lacuqer and BLO (I also didn't want any oil finger prints on the inside :p ). So this is just straight lacquer - two coats and waiting to have some wax applied when I get to it. Have a good one.

[Vaughn McMillan]

Very pretty boxes, Jason. I'm sure your neighbors will be very pleased. The cherry has beautiful grain, and the sycamore is unlike any I've seen before. Of course, what you did with those great materials is excellent, but I've come to expect that from you.

The pics also look great...almost as if the pieces are floating off the table.

- Vaughn

[Reg Mitchell]

Hi Jason
Those are beautiful boxes. I always wanted to make some of those, any tips for a hacker. :)

[Jason Tuinstra]

The pics also look great...almost as if the pieces are floating off the table.


Vaughn, I've had this piece of sycamore for years and figured I should get around to using it. I remembered that John Wilson likes using this for tops and thought it would be a nice stable wood for this application.

About the "floating" boxes, I put one of the shapers from building the boxes underneath the biggest box so that there would be some shadow effect to the picture.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Beautiful work as usual Jason! We have come to expect that from you. Your neighbors are very lucky, indeed! Merry Christmas to You and Yours!

[Jason Tuinstra]

Hi Jason
Those are beautiful boxes. I always wanted to make some of those, any tips for a hacker. :)

Reg, when I first built a set of these I bought all my supplies (copper tacks, forms, shapers, finger templates and materials) from John Wilson (www.shakerovalbox.com). You can get his complete class booklet online in .pdf format. This gives you a pretty good idea about what you need to do and how you need to do it. Because I had all the stuff already and milled my own stock, I didn't need to go through him this time. But check out his catalog which is also in .pdf format and you can get everything you need. He's one stop shopping when it comes to Shaker boxes. Have fun and be sure to post any results. If you do build and get stuck, feel free to PM me or post a message. A number of guys have built these - they make nice gifts.

[Reg Mitchell]

Thanks Jason
Tose look like they will be going for presents next year. They are so nice looking, but looks like i have some way to go to produce the quality you have.

[Jay Knoll]

Jason

Those are wonderful! Something else to add to the "someday list"

Have a wonderful Christmas

Jay

[Corey Hallagan]

Those are cool Jason. Nice work!

Corey

[Roger Myers]

Beautiful work Jason. That Cherry looks superb and the tops are so elegant.

Did you use a sled on the drum sander for thicknessing the bands?

Roger

[Jason Tuinstra]

Did you use a sled on the drum sander for thicknessing the bands?
Roger

Thanks Roger. No sled here. I just ran them through. I did have some issues with burning which I've never had before, but I don't know if a sled would have done anything for that.

[David Pettibone]

Hello Jason


The ever-talented Mr. Tuinstra continues to show his versatality! Nice job Jason, aka Mr. I get things done ahead of schedule (or am I just molasses(?)) . How long did this project take ya, 2 hours???? Your killing me! My wife is now banned from this site after looking up your projects and looking at the dates they were posted, now I'm toasted!!! Seriously, nice job, those aren't easy to make and have them coming out looking that good. Keep it up dude and congrads on gracing the pages of finewoodworking. Take care.

Gratefully, David

p.s. If you kick out a Steinway $ Sons piano next week, I quit, I'm selling my tools and moving on to scrapbooking (not there's anything wrong with that):eek: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Martin Shupe]

Very nice job, Jason, and I can't believe you made the bands yourself. Tops and bottoms I can understand, but the bands must have been a lot of work.

How thin did you resaw to start? Then you used a drum sander, correct? I took the class last summer, and made a few so far, but none as nice as yours. That QS sycamore looks fantastic!

Hmm...maybe when I get caught up, I'll try to make some bands and see how long it takes. I am thinking buying them from John might be worth it, for me.

[tod evans]

very nice jason! first class work

[Tom Hamilton]

Let's see, how does one qualify for "neighbor" status. Same street, same zip, same country, oh, I win!

Once again lovely to look at and, I'm sure, lovely to hold. :D

Your versatility is amazing and inspirational. Chests, desks, chairs and shaker boxes.

What's next?

Merry Christmas, Tom

[Jason Tuinstra]

David: LOL Thanks. On and off, it took me a week and a half to build - very slow actually for only four boxes :o .

Martin: Because John Wilson slices his bands, you have to be careful with the edges as they split and check. When you sand them down, you don't have this problem. How thin did I cut them? Thin enough so that I wouldn't have to be at my drum sander all day. How's that for an answer? I used a dial caliper to bring them to the thicknesses that Wilson recommends per box. I probably didn't use as much straight grain as I should have, but this is what I had.

Tom: Thanks! Ah, the address has to be current to get in on the offer :p Next? I have some built in's that I need to put up which really has me nervous. We'll see how it goes.

Everyone: Thanks so much for your kind words. These boxes are a long way from "perfect" but they were fun and I hope it inspires some of you guys to tackle a set of your own.

[Jim Becker]

Yum!! Those are GREAT, Jason!!

I have a friend in Colorado who enjoys making these boxes, too. They really are nice to make and give as well as have!

[Christopher Pine]

Very nice boxes.. I have some quartersawn sycamore also and I have used some of it for a box (square box not shaker box) The key is it being quartersawn... Looks wonderful. I do not see it around these parts much..do you recal where you got yours?



Chris

[Jason Tuinstra]

do you recal where you got yours?

Chris, thanks. I got mine in Indiana somewhere. Sorry, I don't remember much beyond that. I think it might have been Woodcraft.

[Pete Harbin]

Amazing Jason. What a wood combo!
I've had John's website bookmarked for a long time, the Popular Woodworking article earmarked, and his class booklet sitting on a shelf in my shop for some time now. These are definately on my learn to do list, once time and $$ allow.

Really great job!

Pete