Walnut and Burr Walnut jewellery boxes

[Hornbeam]

I had some left over strips from about a dozen sheets of burr walnut, but nothing wider than about 100mm or longer than about 200mm, Enough to make jewellery boxes but they would have to be panels. ! have made 2 boxes both 250mm long by 180 deep by 120mm high
First stage was to make up the panels. These are 12mm birch ply for the sides. Burr walnut on 1 side, maple on the other. The joints between the walnut burr didnt have to be tight fitting as this was then grooved to take a walnut bar

This was then cleaned up but not finished. It is also essential to identify the panels as all the burr is matched but not identical

The reverse side of the panel was grooved with a 4 mm cutter to take the supports for the internal trays and the internal divider. I forgot do do this on the first box and just managed to reach with a long groover but its was not ideal

The base is 4mm birch ply veneered with maple on both sides, This is framed with 13mm by 10mm walnut. Once cleaned up a 4mm groove is routed on the router table in all the lippings. This will take the loose 4mm ply splines that hold it all together

The top panel is 9mm birch ply veneered on both sides which brings the finished thickness to just over 10mm. A 4mm groove is routed into the edge of the panel all round and a 10mm lipping with a tongue is fitted. Once cleaned up a groove similar to that on the base is routed all round

The sides and ends were then grooved all round to take the corner posts and the splines
The corner posts were fitted with tongue into the ends. Once set these were trimmed to exactly 10mm wide and then everything rebated so the remaining post was 10mm square. The posts are then grovved for 4mm splines. It difficult to explain but the pictures should show this and how the joints go together

Because the veneer is only 0.6mm thick I made very small adjustments on teh router fence at various stages so that the lippings all sit about 0.1mm proud of the panels.
Assemble. This could have been done in 2 stages (sides and ends first then top and base) I chose to do it in 1. I dont have any photos during glue up but made sure everything was labelled and laid out in order before I started

To be continued

 

[Hornbeam]

Everything glued up well and once set I cleaned up all the lippings and then set up to cut of the lid.
There are lots of different methods for this. For larger boxes I do this with a hand saw. For this I used a 1.5mm groover on the router table. To minimise the risk of any damage to the veneer from breakout I wrapped the cut line in parcel tape (it really is a workshop essential)
I did the cut in 3 passes. I only had a 40mm groover which wasnt quite deep enough so had to cut the last 1mm by hand. For the last cut on the router table I supported the cut by fitting veneer pieces into the already cut sided

Once separated, there is minimal clean up needed. You can also see the cleaned up corner post joints

Its also a relief when you cut the lid off to see that you havent misoriented the front/back and the grooved panels are the right way up
Next stage is to cut a 4mm groove all the way round the lid and base where they meet. This will take a walnut lipping which is 5 mm thick. I know its work and I could probably have just planted the lippings on, but I find this stops everything moving

Gluing the lippings on I cut some melamine chip clamp bock. I find this is really good as they are almost non stick and then clamp up

The central divider is 12mmm birch ply with maple veneer on both sides and a walnut top lipping. It is fitted with loose splines at the ends and adjusted so the top of teh lipping is flush with the bottom of the groove for the tray support

With everything roughly cleaned up it was now time to fit hinges. I was using smart but hinges from Andrew Crawford. It is the first time I have used these. They are expensive but ooze quality. There is no leeway for any lateral movement so marking and fitting must be spot on' I really like the extra thickness of the leaves which means that the screws fit really well into the countersunk recess

As you can see from the photo there is less than 2mm left of the lipping so you have to be careful. I also thing the minimum side thickness is about 13mm unless you want hinges cut right through which I dont like.
Another image of the fitted hinge from the outside

This is as far as I have got. It is now final finishing and internal trays. I hope to write that up in a week or so
Ian

 

[Fred48]

Everything glued up well and once set I cleaned up all the lippings and then set up to cut of the lid.
There are lots of different methods for this. For larger boxes I do this with a hand saw. For this I used a 1.5mm groover on the router table. To minimise the risk of any damage to the veneer from breakout I wrapped the cut line in parcel tape (it really is a workshop essential)
I did the cut in 3 passes. I only had a 40mm groover which wasnt quite deep enough so had to cut the last 1mm by hand. For the last cut on the router table I supported the cut by fitting veneer pieces into the already cut sidedView attachment 157350
Once separated, there is minimal clean up needed. You can also see the cleaned up corner post jointsView attachment 157351View attachment 157352
Its also a relief when you cut the lid off to see that you havent misoriented the front/back and the grooved panels are the right way up
Next stage is to cut a 4mm groove all the way round the lid and base where they meet. This will take a walnut lipping which is 5 mm thick. I know its work and I could probably have just planted the lippings on, but I find this stops everything moving
View attachment 157353
Gluing the lippings on I cut some melamine chip clamp bock. I find this is really good as they are almost non stick and then clamp up
View attachment 157354

The central divider is 12mmm birch ply with maple veneer on both sides and a walnut top lipping. It is fitted with loose splines at the ends and adjusted so the top of teh lipping is flush with the bottom of the groove for the tray support
View attachment 157355

With everything roughly cleaned up it was now time to fit hinges. I was using smart but hinges from Andrew Crawford. It is the first time I have used these. They are expensive but ooze quality. There is no leeway for any lateral movement so marking and fitting must be spot on
View attachment 157356
As you can see from the photo there is less than 2mm left of teh lipping so you have to be careful. I also thing the minimum side thickness is about 13mm unless you want hinges cut right through which I dont like.
Another image of the fitted hinge from the outsideView attachment 157357
This is as far as I have got. It is now final finishing and internal trays. I hope to write that up in a week or so
Ian

Beautiful design and craftsmanship
Thanks for sharing
Fred

 

[mwinfrance]

Gorgeous box

 

[Blackswanwood]

Looks great - thanks for sharing your process.