First completed project!

[Brian Kerley]

Well, after trolling around here for a few months and building some shop furniture, I've finished my first project. My fiance's birthday is coming up and figured that it would be a good time to make something. So, I built a box for her. She could put her jewelry, keepsakes, anything she wants into it. The dark wood is Pilon and the top and keys are "pooled" maple, which is comes from a quilted log, but is more flatsawn than quartersawn, so you get pools instead of a full quilted figure. Thanks for the inspiration guys!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2411/2411694399_75ea813044_o.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3064/2411694407_a70496604e_o.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2160/2411694417_e1b022d32e_o.jpg

[J. Z. Guest]

Very nice Brian. I bet she'll love it. (and if she doesn't, it's time to start shopping for a new girl, hehehe)

[gary Zimmel]

Brian

Very nice.. I like the contrasting woods

[Pat Germain]

Spiffy, Brian. Very spiffy! It looks like a very well made piece and the contrasting colors are beautiful.

[Mike Heidrick]

That is an awesome gift.

If it was me I would go buy something shiney (something small like earings or something special in a stone she likes) in a small box and put that inside the box. She will love the box but will love it even more if there is something "for her" in it. It is hard to personalize a WW project to the recipient if they are not a lover of woodworking themselves. That is OK for other people in your life but the significant other probably deserves more. Just an idea.

You will know I am right if she opens the box and immediately opens it to look inside without appreciating the box and its beauty. Watch for this.

[Mike Heidrick]

My above advice holds true if there are no other gifts. My wife said gift certificate for a massage or mani/peti (or both) are good choices or nice dinner reservation/menu wouuld be other good items to place in the box.

[Rob Will]

Very nice work Brian,
And yes, you had better put something in that box.
Rob

[Joe Chritz]

Buy her a shotgun.

Women love shotguns. Espeically turkey model shotguns around this time of year.

Nice box, I like the figure on the maple. I may look for some of that for a chess board I am starting.

Nice work

P.S. I would shop for women advice elsewhere than me. I have been told mine needs some, well, refining.

Joe

[Bill Wyko]

Thank you too Brian. Your work is an inspiration as well. Very well done.

[Larry Fox]

Brian, that is very very nice - thanks for posting the pics. What finish did you use? Your finish looks flawless - very well done.

[Mark Valsi]

How do you get the lid off ? I didn't see a handle.

Nice box, but . . . I think it's a bit "heavy" for a lady, to my eye, it's a bit more masculine than feminie. Proportions seem to be a bit "heavy" as well.

beautiful woods

[John Thompson]

Excellent.. that about says it all.

Sarge..

[Brian Kerley]

Thanks for the feedback guys!

Mark, I read your comment before coming into work and I know exactly what you mean. Unfortunately I have no way of thicknessing stock at the moment (planer is at the top of my list), so I was stuck with 4/4 :-( But, as I thought about it on my drive into work, it hit me something I could've done and used the thickness to my advantage. I could have slowly raised the saw of the table saw blade with each pass and ran all sides across the blade at an angle, to slowly nibble out a cove on the faces until the top bevel and bottom of the box were joined with one continuous curve. That would've shrank the box in the middle, adding some curves and some feminity to it. As far as the lid goes, it just lifts off. I sanded the inner walls of the lid to reduce the friction required to lift it off, but still keep the lid from rattling around, so it does liftoff fairly easy. That's another thing that I was struggling with quite a bit. I was wanting a handle, but I couldn't figure out something that would look ok, everything I thought of wouldn't have looked "right" with the box.

That's one thing I like here is criticism, because I feel that it pushes us to work harder and advance our skills and make us better craftsmen.