help me put feet on this box

[Ted Calver]

Tom,
I think you made a good decision. The end result looks great!!

[Tom Sontag]

It's a beauty Tom.

The wood and the corners especially are phenomenal. What are you going to put in it?

Is that an inlayed string near the top and bottom? Did you attach the bottom and top pieces, then use a scratch stock to make the space for that? How did you make the string?

Thank you Ted, John and Ralph. I soak up compliments like a sponge.

Right now the box holds a walnut interior liner going up maybe 1.5" for holding a tray. Currently, in lieu of the tray, it holds the promise of one. LOML decides what goes in when complete.

As for the "stringing", it goes all the way through (see it upper left second picture?). Love the drum sander for this kind of stuff. The easiest way to do this is to laminate the edges of the main board before resawing it. I did not do it that way this time.

[Daniel Doe]

The handle is oversize making the box feels top heavy and to make it work it needs a leg that has more weight or bigger scale to balance out. The handle is just overpowering that you're eye is forcing you to focus on it instead of the box which is the focal point. Personally I would use a small finial that is silver plated or turned using a semi precious stone and would bolt in a deco style bracket or bun foot to finish it off. The graining on the box really looks nice and would hate to add something that will distract from it.

T

[Daniel Doe]

Pardon my bad drawing but I think it's enough to show my suggestion.

[Tom Sontag]

It may be true that my handle is a tad large. It is also true that the drawing you show has very nice proportions. Problem is your drawing is not to the scale of the piece in question. This thing is maybe 18" long and only ~5" wide and relatively tall; your beauty is an overall flatter and more traditional jewelry or cigar box shape. I like what you show but I think this long lid needed more than ball handle.

Just my opinion of course. I thank you for yours. Nice drawing.

Where would you source that kind of hardware?

[Daniel Doe]

John- I wasn't paying attention to your dimension that's why my drawing is off scale and my eyes is used to that kind of proportion that's why I drew it that way.I don't know how special this project of yours is and how you're going to use it. Any foundry that specializes in lost wax casting method can make the legs for you. I made the legs square and taper so that it mimics the shape of the top cover. You can try ebay for the semi precious stone.... or any exotic mexican marble will do.... or cut glass.....depends on you. This difinitely needs leg on 4 corners to give it a sense of floating in space. Your box design already has two bandings (top and bottom) and any addtional banding or layer of horizontal lines on the bottom is redundant (busy) and will make the rectangular proportion more elongated. I hate to see this and if this thing is not going to be raised from the ground ,it will look like a coffin because of how the rectangle is proportioned. This is a novelty peice and needs some jewelry (finial and leg) to help finish it off.

[Tom Sontag]

Thanks Dan for the input. Check the bottom of page 2 for pictures of what I did after the initial back and forth of the first page and a half of the thread.

You make good and valid points. As for use, this box is a midpoint in a longer line of experiments I foresee for special pieces of wood. I just make 'em and give them to LOML for ultimate disposition.