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Canarywood Box

rgdaniel — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 21:48:40 +0000

A small elegant box, the sides are canarywood and the top is purpleheart. First time I’ve built anything with the canarywood, I was quite impressed, I must get more of this. The box is about 5″x7″ and about 4″ tall.

Canarywood Box – closed

Canarywood Box – open

Another Swivel Clock

rgdaniel — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:09:36 +0000

(Click to view large on Flickr)

I made a couple of these just over a year ago, and then realized the other day I still had one clock mechanism left. It wasn’t doing anyone any good sitting in a drawer, so I made the clock to go around it. This one is purpleheart with curly maple.

This is one of the older ones I did. Pretty much identical except for the wood choice (wenge and curly maple).

(Click to view large on Flickr)

From a design by The Wood Whisperer.

Two New Jewelry Boxes

rgdaniel — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 19:46:43 +0000

Just finished the third of three large jewelry boxes, which have occupied most of my summer and fall, off and on. Also included here is a tiny little box that took only a day to construct (but then some time on the finishing and flocking). The large box is finished just in time to qualify for free shipping to the client (my wife is driving down to the city next week).

As always, click any photo to view larger on Flickr.

“Say hello to my leetle friend”

A tiny bit larger than the last two large jewelry boxes in this series, this one measures about 9″ x 15″ and about 5″ tall.

Two pieces of bookmatched quilted maple, divided by a walnut strip, make a simple lid design that lets the wood do the talking.

Lots of scope with this large box containing 30 separate compartments of various sizes. The blue flocking sets it off nicely.

Shown here with the upper tray removed.

About 4 1/2″ square by 4″ tall, with the lid. From a test piece I cut while building the larger box, I thought this would make a sweet little box of its own.

Zebrawood lid is just rabbeted to fit, shown here removed to display the blue flocking inside.

All of my recent boxes have employed mitred corners with mitre keys for style and more importantly to improve the glue bond at the corners. Other similar construction techniques were used on all of them, like the way the lids are made, and the way the hinges are attached. Think I need to shake things up for the new year, but not sure how yet.

Thanks for looking! And remember, click any photo to view larger on Flickr.

Tea Light Candle Holders

rgdaniel — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 19:39:01 +0000

(click photo to view larger on Flickr)

This is a pair of small tea light candle holders, based almost entirely on a design by Steve Ramsey of “Woodworking for Mere Mortals”. You can see the original if you click here.

The only thing I changed was that I cut a bit of an angle from the ends of the maple pieces, rather than leave them just square and straight. The other thing I changed, somewhat reluctantly, is that I made the shallow holes for the candles a bit wider, because the “right-sized” holes seemed a bit unsafely undersized for these candles. The wood species used are maple and purpleheart.

Lacewood and Purpleheart Jewelry Box

rgdaniel — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 18:38:28 +0000

Just finished this new jewelry box (finally) made of lacewood and purpleheart. Lacewood is also known as Australian Silky Oak.

(As always, click any photo to view larger on Flickr)

Overall view of the box with the lid closed.

Detail of the top of the box… The plugs were cut using a plug cutter, from the same lacewood that forms the rest of the box.

Open view of the box. The tray slides back and forth, providing access to the lower compartments on the side, or may be lifted out to access the central compartments.

Showing the tray removed, for full access. The blue stuff is called “flocking” – it’s like tiny blue fibres blown onto some colour-matched adhesive applied to the box. It’s not a hundred percent cured yet, so some final “grooming” will be needed in a couple of days.

This shows the Brusso hinges, or one of them, and the purpleheart mitre splines that strengthen the corners as well as providing accents matching the lid.

Walnut Jewelry Box

rgdaniel — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 15:04:24 +0000

I finally completed this walnut jewelry box. The top is made of pine, and some hard maple was also used for the handle and dividers. The box is finished with Deft Danish Oil Finish, with a few flakes of beeswax melted into the mixture using the microwave. I’m not yet sure what will become of this box — I have another in progress, and I will offer Lynda her choice when they are both done.

As always, click any photo to view larger on Flickr.

Top view: The five dots are just small segments of dowel tapped into shallow holes. A nice easy way to give the otherwise plain top a bit of style. I give credit to my wife for this variation on that theme. I had something else in mind, but this is better.

Inside view: The sliding tray is sized to allow access to the six small compartments on each end of the lower section. The tray may be lifted out to access the larger central compartments underneath it.

Inside view, tray removed: The central compartments in the lower section are sized for larger items. The blue flocking gives it a posh look, kind of. The Brusso hinges are certainly posh.

Corner view: The mitre keys inset into the corners are both decorative and practical, serving to reinforce the glue joints.

Cherry iPad Stand

rgdaniel — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 17:33:37 +0000

This is a stand for the iPad2, made from Cherry. That is, the stand is made from cherry. Not the iPad.

I had previously made, and deployed, a very similar stand for the original iPad, but the iPad 2 has buttons on the side that made the old stand problematic. This new one addresses that by having a shorter support piece. The switch just hangs over empty space now.

The joinery is stop-routed mortises and offset tenons. Offset because I routed the mortises in the wrong place. But you’d never know that, so I’m not sure why I mention it.

The iPad belongs to my wife. Actually so does the stand, as soon as she pays me for the wood.

We Stand For Plants

rgdaniel — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 15:40:00 +0000

These are some outdoor plant stands, just made out of contruction lumber and pine shelf boards from Home Depot. They still need to be painted – my wife will take over from here. She doesn’t hate painting.

A single coat of Benjamin Moore’s highest quality outdoor paint, should stand up to weather and watering for a couple of years at least…

Daisy Box

rgdaniel — Sun, 01 May 2011 16:38:24 +0000

Daisy Box, originally uploaded by rgdaniel.

A tiny little box with a daisy on the lid. The box is made from Lacewood, also known as Australian Silky-oak. The lid is Padauk. For the painted daisy, I used a stencil based on a printed design and cut with an X-acto knife,

Heart-Shaped Cutting Boards

rgdaniel — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 00:42:01 +0000

Heart-Shaped Cutting Boards, originally uploaded by rgdaniel.

Heart-Shaped cutting boards, now featuring cheesy radial blur FX… B-)

The boards are about 10” across and about 7/8” thick. They are made of hard maple with purpleheart racing stripes for extra speed. (zoom zoom)… I made these by request for a favourite client. One has the stripes at a slight angle for a hint of jauntiness, without quite being sassy. Nobody likes sassy.

Just in time for Valenti…. er, Easter, I guess…