Sycamore and Cherry Box - A Neaderish Experiment

[Jason Tuinstra]

Well, there is nothing special about this box except that it is my first project in which I cut the dovetails by hand - a long way from perfect. I like my Leigh jig, but there is nothing like the look of a hand cut dovetails IMHO. I'm really proud because, while this is a nothing-special box, I used mostly hand tools in its production.

Anyway, here is what I came up with. I didn't want to buy hinges so I designed these after a little inspiration from our deep freezer. I could probably downsize them a bit, but I'm content with their overall look. I used the LN dowel plate so that I have round "tenons" going into the top and square pegs where it goes into the hinge part. I used copper nails to hold them in place and act as a pivot point.

It's not totally finished yet. I have a piece of leather cut for the bottom and some dividers for me and my wife’s watches. A few trays will ride on top of this for her earrings etc. I couldn't install them yet as I'm waiting for the BLO to dry and to spray with a coat of lacquer. Close enough for some pics though :D I don't want anyone thinking I'm slacking. :p

Thanks for looking.

[Brian Lindenlaub]

Beautiful box, Jason. The dovetails turned out great, and I really like the hinges you came up with. Brian

[Jim Becker]

OUTSTANDING, Jason!! The LOYL is very lucky to have a woodworker in the house that practically "walks on water". :D And the dovetails are wonderful...as is the QS sycamore.

[Alex Berkovsky]

...while this is a nothing-special box...Jason,
You're kidding, right? Someday I hope I can produce a box as nice as this.

[Jack Ferrell]

I hope my hand cut dovetails come out that bad. Geesh, I don't really see anything wrong with them. Cool idea for the hinges too. I think it looks really good Jason.

[Brian Knodel]

Impressive all the way around … a real eye catcher. I’m still trying to figure out how the hinges are made.

Brian

[Brad Kimbrell]

Very nice work Jason. I think your dovetails are done well - I don't see any caulk or wood putty in there! :D

I really like the hinges that you made - much better than store-bought and they certainly make the piece interesting and one-of-a-kind.

I don't think a jig could have cut those nice looking closely-spaced tails!

You should be very proud. :rolleyes:

[Tony Ward]

Nice work. I've taken the initiative of sharing it with my Australian friends at

http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=41283

"woodwork, internationally, is one community"

[Joe Unni]

Very nice Jason.

I especially love the gentle curves around the bottom. Elegant, subtle, beautiful!

Thank you for sharing,
-joe

[John Fry]

Very nice Jason,

Now I'm going to have to try some wooden hinges!

[Martin Shupe]

Jason,

It's about time you started hand cutting your dovetails!:D

Seriously, they look great! You are a quick study as usual.

[Rick de Roque]

Those are your first hand cut DT? They are great. The box looks great also.

Rick

[Roy Wall]

Jason-

Your craftsmanship shining thru again......terrific work!!!! The DT's look great!
The hinges are a great idea......keep paying attention to the freezer!:D

What are the dimensions of this little guy......?

[Zahid Naqvi]

super job with the dovetails, but why did you post this here it needs to be neander side, we could use some more traffic :rolleyes:
The hinges look neat.

[John Michaels]

Very nice! Those dovetails look great, and the grain is superb.

[Jason Tuinstra]

Everyone: Thanks so much for all the kind words and encouragement. I’m glad the hinges were not booed off the stage. I still think they could be refined a bit and tweaked to make them that much better.

Brad: No, there’s no caulk or filler in the joints, but I did use plenty of those little wedges to fill the gaps ;)

Tony: Post away. Thanks.

Martin: Yea, I have to study quick, I’m trying to keep up with you and all your “professional” help :)

Rick: Small correction – my first hand cut’s for a real project. I have plenty of mahogany scraps (aka fancy firewood) that I practiced on before this point. But I think I’m confidant enough now to tackle dt projects with my saw instead of my jig.

Roy: Yea, the good ole’ deep freezer. What more inspiration do you need for a box with hinges? :) The problem is, my wife might find as much inspiration to fill this as she does the other. That could be bad.

Zahid: My bad. Old habits die hard. Maybe we should have a gallery section where both sides can post their furniture. I know I’ve missed stuff that has been posted over there that wasn’t here. Everyone’s loss IMHO. But the last thing you guys need is another forum to monitor. Thanks for the encouragement.

[Hans Braul]

Jason,

I'd like to add my compliments to those you've already got. Your post is especially timely, as I am just now half way through a box of cherry and bird's eye maple that is to be a Christmas gift for my mother. The cherry I chose is very much like that on your box. I am also just learning to do dovetails, and I sure hope mine turn out half as good as yours. I will post when I'm done - should be in a couple of weeks.

I am finding that with a lot of patience and persistence, I can get the dovetails to fit pretty closely, EXCEPT at the scribe marks (at the base of each tail). To get them to close tight on the outside, I pare down some material on the inside, leaving small gaps. My box will look a LOT better on the outside than on the inside. Have you had a similar experience? How many hours do you estimate you put into this box?

A great job - thanks for showing.

Hans

[Rennie Heuer]

Well, there is nothing special about this box except that it is my first project in which I cut the dovetails by hand - a long way from perfect.

Not that far!

Looks great. Very nice - well done!

[Jason Tuinstra]

Hans,

Yea, I pretty much have way too much time into this piece. Much of it was spent figuring out how I would not have to put an order into Horton Brass for hinges. But more of my time was spent paring the bottom of the pins to get the tail board to lay flat. Regardless, I've been messing with this box for the last week and a half or so. I have to finish it up today as I have the day off.

Regarding your problem, all I can say is that I had gaps in these spots too. Wedges took care of any noticable mistakes. My assumption is that in time I'll refine my technique and have less clean up work to do. You might consider putting a guide block on top of your tail board so that you are cutting perfectly square and that you use a well sharpened chisel. I realized that my chisels don't hold their edge very long in this kind of work. The Christmas list gets longer... :p :D

[Mark Valsi]

Dovetails are fantastic !!

Damn, man !!

[Jake Helmboldt]

once again proving that if you ain't Dutch, you ain't much!

(and making me realize I need to get more shop time.)

Those hinges are very cool Jason. I'm getting into boxes and that is a really neat twist on the usual suspects in terms of hinges.

I really dig the sycamore as well. I only recently discovered that it comes with such figure. Nicely fared front "apron" as well. All in all, a very nice piece.


Jake