First-Project-Ever Gloat

[Nathan Odle]

It's not fancy, but here it is...my first real woodworking project ever! Well, besides that cutting board in the 7th grade anyway :) It's not totally finished yet, so please excuse the lack of a lid (finishing it tonight).

This is a simple little jewelry box for my wife, who doesn't own/wear much jewelry at all.

I had to make this out of a cherry board salvaged from the scrap pile at an acquaintance's cabinet shop since there's no non-Borg retail hardwood where I live. I had just *barely* enough wood, considering that after I sawed out the split down the middle (!), I was basically left with just a little 3" square piece. It was pretty stressful to say the least, considering I had no extra wood in the case of a screw-up :) It was a fun challenge though to design the box around what the board offered, split and all.

Anyway, hope you all won't laugh too much at a newbie's efforts (click the picture to see full-size):

http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/2104/jewelryboxyv7.th.jpg (http://img135.imageshack.us/my.php?image=jewelryboxyv7.jpg)

Oh and thanks to all of you for the great help I found here while searching through old threads on finishing (shellac over BLO), et cetera!

[Peter Quinn]

Beautiful. I like the finger joints. i built a simular box from quarted white oak to hold a Lie Neilson plane...please don't tell my wife!

[Roy Wall]

You are a wise man to keep the jewelry box small.......:)

Nice work!!

[keith ouellette]

first projects are the best. Nice job.

[gary Zimmel]

Nathan

Congrads on the first project.

You did a great job. Now to start the second one.....

[Nathan Odle]

Update: Finished the lid!

I would be lying if I said that the carving of her initial wasn't stressful, considering I had neither the material nor the time to make another lid if I screwed up AND it was my first time trying such a thing :)

Anyway, here are the pics:

http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/3200/jewelryboxwithlidty9.th.jpg (http://img261.imageshack.us/my.php?image=jewelryboxwithlidty9.jpg)
http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/364/jewelryboxlideg2.th.jpg (http://img183.imageshack.us/my.php?image=jewelryboxlideg2.jpg)

http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/7987/carvingcloseupmu4.th.jpg (http://img252.imageshack.us/my.php?image=carvingcloseupmu4.jpg)

[Danny Thompson]

Really nice. Impressive first project. My guess is that many more will follow.

[Todd Bin]

Really nice box. You gotta love that cherry. How did you make the finger joints (some kind of jig or hand cut)? They are a nice touch.

[Nathan Odle]

I did the joints with a table saw and a jig. I'm not all that satisfied with how they came out though. I think part of it was slop in the jig, and part was the dado set.

The jig is the Craftsman one that sells for $60 or so. It's actually a decent miter fence, but not so hot as a box joint jig. In particular the adjustment method leaves a lot to be desired. Next time, I will definitely make my own.

Where the dado is concerned, the bottom of the cuts were really rough compared to other dados I have seen, and it showed through. At first I thought it was chipout on the back side, but then I remembered that I took off over 1/8" from the thickness after the fact which wouldn't have left any of that. The dado set was a 6" Craftsman stack which I only bought because it was the only thing available locally. It's going back very soon, and I plan to order in a good quality 8" stack. Any suggestions for something moderately priced?

Thank you all so much for your kind words. They make for good encouragement :)

[Dave Watkins]

Real nice job. That carving part would have really stressed me out. I go down to the last fraction of a boardfoot of lumber too. Not fun.

Thanks for sharing.

[Anthony Anderson]

Very nice Nathan. I really like the clean, simple lines. Reminds me of a shaker piece. Functional and beautiful. You should be very happy with the finished product.

[Brent Ring]

Nathan,

I have the Freud $90 +- dado set from the Borg, and as long as it is clean it does pretty well. Nice Box!

[Jeffrey Makiel]

Nathan...not bad, not bad at all. In fact, it looks pretty darn nice with the lid now. The worksmanship looks good with a nice detail on the lid. Well done.

You should have seen my first woodworking project. Thank God that the internet was not yet invented. You've quickly surpassed me in my early years and now I'm looking forward to your next project!

By the way...there are always problems with equipment. Either it doesn't work as expected... or one lacks better tooling. Technique is also learned, but, still, you've done well. Welcome to the club!

-Jeff :)

[Roy Hatch]

Nathan, Looks like you're off to a good start and I think as a result of this project the wife will be more agreeable to more tools as the need arises.

Roy

[Duncan Potter]

Nice Job. The later into a project I get the more nervous I am that I am going to screw it up. You were brave with the engraving and it paid off!