Some Jewelry Boxes

[Joe Jensen]

I made a set of 8 jewelry boxes, 6 as gifts, and 2 as a donation for a charity auction. As my skills have matured, I've gravitated to using really nice wood for my projects. I bought this curly maple on Ebay and I was very happy with it. I used mitered corners, and then I splined them with dovetail shaped Wenge keys. I used the same shape Wenge keys for drawer handles. All of the drawer parts and dividers are curly maple as well. The toughest part of the project was making the black velvet drawer bottoms. I ended up using spray adhesive to adhere the velvet to thin stiff card stock.

I thought that doing a mini production run would save time, and it did for many steps, but the shear number of parts made it a little monotonous at times. Especially sanding all of the drawer dividers.

Here are some pics.

[Dennis Peacock]

Very beautiful Joe!!!!!!!!!!!!! Totally awesome work and some gawgeous wood. :D

[Corey Hallagan]

Nice work those are real beauties! Love the compination of the wenge with the curly maple. Great job, that had to be a lot of work making that many boxes at one time!

Corey

[Roy Wall]

Outstanding work JOE!!

Those are beautiful.......way to go!!!

[Jameel Abraham]

Lovely work and wood...

[Joe Jensen]

I tried French Polishing on these, my first time.

I really like the wood property known as chatoyance. Here is a link to the wiki definition of chatoyance. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatoyancy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatoyancy)
I find that clear finishes really accentuate the chatoyance. If you need to color the wood, only use wood dye, stains are comprised of ground up minerals and will obscure the chatoyance. Many like to use BLO on the bare wood to "Pop" the grain. I find that this just makes the lively grain in the wood dark and contrasty with the rest of the piece. I find that BLO obscures the chatoyance as well. I prefer laquer or shellac. On this project I tried french polishing for the first time and it set me back at least a month. I must have redone them 10 times. It was too windy and cold to spray laquer outside so shellac was my only option.

Do an experiment. Buy a really nice piece of figured veneer. Sand and prep as usual, and then finish 1/2 with a clear finish, spray can of laquer from the home depot will work. When you move the piece around under the light, you will see chatoyance. Now hit the other side with BLO and then clear finish. Most of the chatoyance will disappear as the BLO soaked into and darkened the most figured areas. IMHO BLO makes the grain pop for a picture, but when you walk around a piece with chatoyance it's magic. I'm pretty passionate about this, I'm not trying to caues any fights.

[Fred Gross]

Very nice work. Those boxes are beautiful!

[Gary Warren]

Joe, can you tell me how you handled the drawer slides? I cannot see anything on the sides of the drawers so must be underneath or some other fashion. Very nice work!!

[Tim Lynch]

I like how the drawer faces are sawn from one board... really keeps the busy look of the grain organized -- a very pleasing effect. Terrific work.

I'd say making 8 beautiful boxes at once qualifies you as talented AND crazy. :D A winning combination, for sure!

[Jim Becker]

Outstanding! And the grain continuity on the drawer fronts was the right thing to do. Wonderful piece!

[Tom Hamilton]

Beautiful pieces and very timely as I'm in the planning stages for a similar project for Christmas...hopefully 07, but maybe 08 or 09!

Would you mind sharing how you cut the dovetail keys. I'm guessing a strip cut on both sides with a dovetail bit and then sliced into the short length to fit the cavity, but you probably have figured out what works and what does not.

Thanks, Tom

[Mark Singer]

Joe...what can I say? That is beautiful! Design, workmanship...excellent!

[Bill Arnold]

Beautiful work, Joe!!!

[Don Bullock]

One box like that would be outstanding, but eight is phenomenal!!! Those are amazing. Your choice of wood is beautiful and the execution is exquisite. Whomever ends up with those will cherish them forever.

[jason lambert]

Grate Job Love the wood and the contrast

[Mike Zozakiewicz]

Beautiful work! I love curly maple, and ditto on the drawers fronts from same piece, that really works.

I build a shoe rack for my daughter that would house 24 pair of shoes, and it got monotonous working on those dividers, I can't imagine working on the number you dealt with. Good work!

[Rich Torino]

Great work Joe,
the curly maple is one of my favorites...

[Peter Stahl]

Awsome work Joe! I guess after the first six it was all down hill huh!

[Hans Braul]

Absolutely gorgeous! I love every detail.

Congrats on a great project. The hours of sanding will soon fade into the distant past but the boxes will remain for a long time.

Regards
Hans

[Charles Bruno]

Wow! Fantactic! really like the contrast, the Maple looks great.
They will be great gifts. Nice job!

[Jack Ganssle]

Only problem I see is your phrase "as my skills have matured." That level of maturation I can only dream of. Stunning. I'm in awe.

Jack

[Joe Jensen]

Thanks for all the kind words. It's fun to finally post a project here...joe

[Tim Martin]

Top job Joe! They are beautiful, and you have done a great job of getting the most out of that awesome Maple. :cool:

Wish it grew here.:(

[David Cramer]

Who can't love a jewelry box made of curly maple? Fantastic Joe and thanks for posting them. Yes, you've given me some ideas! Kudos to you on a job well done.

Dave

p.s Nice job on the flowing grain pattern you incorporated. Trust me, be proud of your work, you did good.

[Mike Weaver]

Beautiful Joe!
That grain really pops.
Thanks for sharing.
-Mike

[Martin Shupe]

No one can argue with the quality of your finish.

I have used BLO in the past. Perhaps it is time for me to only use shellac.

Someday I'll have a shop, and I hope to have a spray room. Then I can use spray lacquer.

[Joe Jensen]

Someone asked me how I did the drawer slides. I routed 3/16" slots in the sides of the drawers and 3/16" slots in the sides of the case. I then glued small strips of wood in the slots in the case, made them out out dark wood for contrast. They were then waxed for smooth action.

Here is a picture of the drawer sides...joe

[Jim Becker]

Wow....I'm glad you posted that last picture. I didn't really read your original stuff as closely as I should have...multiples of these boxes! Wow! Incredibly beautiful!

[Don Bullock]

Either someone you know has a lot of jewelry or you're planning to break up that set of beautifuly matched boxes. I'd have a hard time doing that.

[Rick Dragovich]

What can I say that hasnt already been said. Those are great. And to do that many in a run and that nice...wow.
I do have one question on this style of box. What did you do for the back panel (wood used, joints, ect)?

[Charles Jackson III]

Very nice Jewelry Box!

[Chris Fetting]

I love your work Joe.

Can you give me an idea of the scale? Overall dimensions and thickness of the wood you used. The proportions are very much in relation to each other. I always struggle with when to use thinner boards.

[Joe Jensen]

The sides and drawer fronts are 5/8" thick. I resawed all of the stock from 1 3/8- 1 1/2" thick stock. The tops measure about 16" by 11" and the boxes are about 8" tall. these dimensions are approximate as I don't work from plans, I just try to maximize the wood yield and keep pleasing proportions.

I really struggled over whether to make all 4 drawers the same height, or to vary them. I like to use Fibiconni series to determine the drawer heights, but doing so, and keeping the drawers functional, would have meant only three drawers. After some drawings, I settled on 4 equal drawers.

Here is a link to some design proportions.
http://www.mcs.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/R.Knott/Fibonacci/fibInArt.html

[Matt P]

Beautiful.. if you could post any step-by-step notes (e.g. on the dovetails) or tips/insights on them it would be great.

[Tom Cowie]

Beautiful work Joe,

I'm sure all who receive those will treasure them for years.

Quality wood with a craftsman's touch makes for a work to be admired.


Tom