Some time ago, a good friend mentioned he would like to give jewelry boxes to his three granddaughters for their birthdays. Since I’m only in the middle of two other projects right now, it seemed a good time to build them. After getting quite a way into the project, the thought of documenting the build came to me. His granddaughters might like to know what it took to make their boxes. Alas, I was too far along in the process, and so gave up on the idea. But it kept nagging at me, so I started a fourth box to capture the process from the beginning.
The first step was to gather together all the diamond shapes for the parquetry that were hiding in various places in my workshop. I milled them myself, but will not go into that process here.
Building the design.
The design is complete.
I used hide glue to affix the tiles to a piece of 1/4” plywood. The advantage of hide glue is it has a long open-time which allows more time to make adjustments.
Glue-up continues.
Finished, glued-up parquetry panel. Used a wet paper towel to wipe off as much glue as possible without disturbing the alignment. Let sit overnight to dry.
Preliminary sanding with a random orbital sander (ROS).
Trimmed to size on a table saw.
Since I’ll be building the box to fit the top, the exact dimensions of the parquetry panel are not crucial.
Panel trimmed to final dimensions.
Since the center diamonds are taller than the others, a sanding-mop was used to reach the areas the ROS could not.
Hand sanding was needed as well.
No matter how precise I try to be when milling the diamond shapes and gluing them together, there are almost always some small spaces or gaps between them.
The solution is to fill the gaps. I use a mixture of sanding dust and shellac. Mix a small portion of each together until they have the consistency of thick mud. Then, rub the mixture into the gaps.
Shellac dries quickly and would probably be ready to sand in a few hours. I like to let it sit overnight to be safe.
With the panel nearly complete (just a lot more sanding), it’s time to move on to the frame for the lid and sides of the box. The lid is really just a picture frame with a parquetry design in it. The parts for the frame will be 1 1/2” wide which is pleasing to my eye. The box parts will be 2 1/2” tall because that’s the maximum height the jig used to mill the mitered (45 degree) corners can handle.
Milled parts for the frame and sides. Before mitering the corners, there are a couple operations to do first. They are 1) saw a groove in the frame parts to receive the mosaic, 2) route bevels on all the corner edges for decorative purposes as well as easing sharp edges.
The groove in the frame parts is cut on a table saw with a 1/4” dado blade. The first cut is centered and additional cuts are made by moving the fence away from the blade until it is wide enough to snugly fit over the panel.
Before any more milling is done, arrange the parts in the order you like best; which side up / which end out. The wood used here has a fairly consistent look so this step is not as important as it would be if highly-figured wood were used.
Align the fence to center the dado blade.
The groove fits snugly over the panel.
A router, whether installed in a table or not, is an incredibly versatile tool which can mill an infinite number of profiles. For these boxes, I chose to use only a 45 degree router bit and have kept the lines simple and clean.
The first step is to route a small bevel on all corners of the frame and sides.
The bit is raised over a few passes to reach the desired height.
Final frame profile.
Next, we move on to cutting the mitered corners to form the frame and box. A miter (at least in woodworking) is a 45 degree angle. Two mitered parts will fit together to form a 90 degree, right-angled corner. However, it is quite difficult to cut a perfect 45 degree angle and if they aren’t perfect, there will be gaps. There are a few solutions. Here’s the one I use:
The concept behind this sled is that the two joining parts do not need to each be exactly 45 degrees, their angles just need to add up to 90 degrees. The fence, the darker wood, is a right-angle (90 degrees) and it’s aligned to the blade so as to cut as close to 45 degrees as possible. One of the joining parts is cut on the left side and the other on the right. So, if one side is 44 degrees, the other will be 46 degrees and they will form a 90 degree corner.
To keep the parts organized, a piece of tape is adhered to one end of each part and the first cut is made on the left side of the sled.
The approximate length of the part is determined by placing it on the panel.
The other end of the part (without tape) is then cut on the right side of the sled. The first cut is long, and a series of small cuts are made until the part is the right size.
The right size has been reached when the frame part is slightly longer than the panel at both ends. Once that is reached, the opposite frame part can be cut to the same length.
The two adjoining sides are milled in the same manner.
The finished frame. Ready for sanding and then glue-up.
The box sides are mitered the same way as the frame, except that they stand on end. They also need a groove on the inside for the bottom piece of plywood. I should have done this when milling the groove in the frame parts, but didn’t think of it then. Oh well. Just another blade switch-out.
First miter cut on the left side of the sled.
The second miter is cut on the right side of the sled.
I want the box to be even with the back of the frame (to facilitate attaching hinges), and 1/4” shorter than the three other sides. Instead of measuring, I just used 1/4” set-up blocks to find the right size.
All four sides cut to size.
Using set-up blocks to set up the blade for cutting the groove in the sides. 1/4” deep and 3/16” from the bottom.
The grooves.
Before gluing up the frame and sides, sand them with the random orbital sander and hand-sanding blocks starting at 120 grit, then 150 and finally 180. Also need to find a nice piece of 1/4” plywood and mill it to size for the bottom.
Lid frame and panel ready for glue-up.
Apply a smooth coat of glue to all the mating faces and a drop of glue in the groove of two opposing sides to hold the panel in place.
There are many ways to clamp something like this. I prefer band clamps.
When measuring for the bottom plywood, allow about 1/8” of clearance. This side will be cut to 8 3/8”. The adjoining side is 8 9/16”.
Dry fit the box together. The bottom should move slightly in all directions, but not enough for an opening to show.
As with the lid frame, put a drop of glue into two opposing sides and then an even coat of glue on all mating surfaces.
Assemble and clamp the box with the band clamp and remove any glue squeeze-out on the inside with a straw or a wet cloth. Use a wet cloth to remove any other squeeze-out from the box.
Allow the lid and box to dry overnight.
For many woodworking joints, glue is sufficient by itself to hold them together. However, miter joints need additional support because they are joining end grain to end grain of the wood. End grain is porous and absorbs glue, weakening its ability to hold. There are, as always, a few solutions. My preference is using “keys” which are thin strips of wood that fit snugly and are glued into slots cut into the corners of the lid and box.
This is the jig used to cut the slots in the lid and box.
The lid is secured in the jig and each corner is passed through the saw blade.
The results.
Here, the box is secured in the jig.
For this box, two keys are are sufficient to hold it together. However, for decorative purposes, more could have been used and even cut at an angle.
I had some thin strips of ebony on the shelf. First they were sanded to a thickness that fit snugly into the slots and then hand-sawed to length.
The keys.
The keys are glued into the slots and left to dry overnight.
Once the glue is dry, the keys are trimmed using a saw designed to cut close to the wood without cutting into it.
After sawing, the keys will be sanded flush.
Sanded keys.
And now… hinges.
I used to call installing hinges the bane of my woodworking existence. But fortunately, while watching a recent woodworking video, I learned how to build a jig that makes the process much easier.
The locations of the hinges are marked on the box, the jig is clamped to the box and the box and jig are clamped to a bench.
The notch for the hinge is routed into the box using a hand-held router with a pattern bit. A pattern bit has a bearing the same size as the blades so it will follow the shape of the notch in the jig.
The bearing rides along the inside walls of the jig.
One place a round bearing can’t reach is into corners.
The remaining wood us chiseled out by hand.
The final result. No gaps between the wood and hinge.
The next step is to transfer the hinge locations to the lid. This requires precision, so a knife is used to mark them.
The same process is used as before: routing and then chiseling.
I couldn’t be happier with the results.
The hinges used here are brass and come with brass screws. Since brass is a soft metal, a steel screw is used to pre-thread the holes.
A small amount of wax, or other lubricant, is applied to the screw before each use. This allows the screw to penetrate more easily and prevent the wood from splitting.
After pre-drilling and threading the center hole for each hinge, the lid and box are joined. If the results are satisfactory, the process can continue.
The remaining holes are drilled and threaded. It’s important to find the right size drill bit; too small and it’s difficult to thread and the wood may split, too large and the screws won’t hold. Once completed, the hinges are removed so the box can receive final sanding and finishing.
There are very many ways to finish wood, from simple to complicated. Since finishing is not one of my strong points, I like to keep it simple. These boxes will be finished with boiled linseed oil (BLO), a finish that has been used for centuries. It is a simple process: wipe on a thick coat, let sit for 10 - 15 minutes, wipe off. Allow to dry overnight and then repeat the process again until the finish is satisfactory.
Ready to apply the first coat of BLO.
The first coat has been applied and wiped off. It will sit over night and then receive another coat.
Added a chain to keep the lid from falling back and a coat of paste wax applied to the top and sides of the box … and the boxes are done.
The main wood is walnut. The diamonds are ebony, bloodwood and black limba.
The main wood is shedua. The diamonds are bloodwood, yellowheart, black limba (light brown) and katalox (dark brown).
The main wood is European beech. The diamonds are bloodwood, yellowheart and shedua.
A few things to remember:
Boiled linseed oil is not a protective finish, so the boxes are subject to scratches and damage from heat or water.
The finish will dull over time. I don’t suggest using furniture polish, just wipe with a barely damp cloth to remove dust. One of the nice aspects of BLO is that additional coats can be applied any time - even years later.
Most woods darken over time if exposed to light. Several of the woods used in these boxes will get darker. Aside from keeping them in a dark closet, there’s not much that can be done about it.
And finally, young ladies, I hope you enjoy your grandfather’s gifts.