Nice job: Makes it so much better when you can show it. I have tried it, and i don"t do to well, Mine end up boring people, Not yours. I like the can clamp. I have a few of those as well. Last glue-up, rubber bands were great. Thanks, Joe!

 

Joe, that is sheer magic, only a moving video could beat that! I'm sure that we'll all be eagerly awaiting the next exciting instalment.

 

Great shoot Joe.

 

This is great, Joe! Nice work.. and inspirational!

Now that I'm fixing to start fabricating the first few pieces for my RT cabinet, I need to get my cam charged up. After all, I promised Harry... <g>

I look forward to seeing your purpleheart work!

 

A really nice photo essay. Good photos, clear text. Brilliant. Looking in your gallery, you build the jewelry box as a collection of frames. Nice simple, logical and some real beauties. I look forward to the next installment. A great instructional package. Good use of tools.

 

Good job man, you can give many of us lessons in how to do a presentation.

 

Excellent! Keep it coming!

 

NIcely documented. Looking forward to the final project.

Thats a mighty big brad point bit. I guess you do not have a forester bit or do you just prefer to use the brad point?

 

Thanks for the nice comments. Please feel free to offer any critiques, positive or negative.
As for the bit, yeah I have a set of brad points that go up to 1". I got them as a set a few years back and they're always the first one I reach for. I do have Forstners as well. These Brad points have a similar cutting style as the Forstners and leave a nice clean hole.

 

Part 2 The Carcass

My Purpleheart arrived so I got started constructing the carcass. Using the dimensions of my base and figuring a 1/8" reveal from the chamfered edge I calculated the lengths of the four sides. Once again I used my power miter saw to cut the pieces.

Thought I would show how I transfer my marks accurately to make the 45deg cuts. After I size my first piece I line it up end to end with the next piece and mark the length.

Once I have the length marked I use a square to scribe a line at 90deg.

With that done I use a combination square and draw my 45deg line where the perpendicular line meets the bottom edge of the wood

Here's a look at the dry fit after the four sides are cut

There are three machining tasks to perform before the sides can be glued. The first is to route a cove into the front piece to be used as a finger relief to open the cover. I mark the center of the front piece and use that mark to scribe the edges of the finger relief.

I use a piece of wide scrap to give me extra support to hold the router level while I make the cut

Then I use a 3/8" cove bit to make the cut

The next step is to mortise out the material in the back of the carcass and top frame for the hinges. For this operation I'll use a 3/16" straight bit in my router.

The first step is to mark the outside edge of the hinge. There are two reasons why I use a marking knife here; first a pencil line is two wide. I need the hinges to fit perfectly and a pencil line has too much dimension. Secondly I will use the knife line as a guide for my chisel when I clean up the mortise.

Next I'll set the depth of the bit to approximate the thickness of the hinge. I'll make a test cut in some scrap to check the depth and make any adjustments I need.

Here's the mortise after routing.

 

Part 2 The Carcass Continued


And here's me cleaning up and squaring the mortise with a 1/2" chisel

A perfect fit

The last thing I do before gluing up the carcass is to sand the insides of the four pieces. Much easier to do before the box is assembled.

I use the same taping and gluing technique as I did on the base frame.

That's it for this installment. I'll be working on the carcass and top frame splines next along with making a few veneered top panels as options. Thanks for looking and as always any comments are welcomed.

 

First class workmanship and first class photo shoot Joe. Hopefully one day all members will SHOW us how THEY do things, the photos don't have to be as professional as yours for us to understand.

 

That's coming along beautifully Joe.

 

Great work Joe.

 

Thanks for taking the time for such a well detailed presentation...

off topic, quite impressed with your dust collection...... PVC is nice.... real nice!!!!

 

Great pics and write well done. You sure do nice work.

 

Very nicely done work, Joe... and as Harry has said, great photo shoot of the work in progress!

 

A most excellent post Joe!

Thanks for taking the time to share it with us.

 

Carcass Build Part 3

Today I continued with the carcass work. When the glue set up on the frames it was time for the splines. I'm making the splines out of clear Maple, 1/8", so I'll set my slot cutter up with the 1/8" cutter

I made this simple sled to use on the router table. Nothing more than a piece of MDF for the base and two scrap pieces cut to 45deg on the miter box. I screwed them on, no glue, this way I could easily replace them if needed.

I located the splines on the frame and made my cuts

Next I ripped some Maple strips to 1/8". Not as simple as it sounds. It took 3 or 4 passes to get the splines the right thickness. This step can make a big difference in the final look. If the splines are too thin then there will be gaps that will never look right. I nailed it on the 4th try.

Next up was cutting the splines. The bandsaw is the easiest way for me

Then just a little glue and set them in place. They should be snug.

Once the splines set up overnight I sand them flush with a belt sander.
Before gluing the frame to the base there is one more operation to perform. Where the top frame meets the carcass I need to route a 45 degree microbevel. Several reasons why I chose to do this, first, while the Purpleheart is a dense wood it is also a very brittle wood and a crisp flat edge could easily chip. Second it makes the seam clearence between the top frame and the carcass top less critical. Lastly it adds visual interest by causing a shadow line

Here's a pic of the detail

Finally the base is ready to be glued on

Next up I'll be working on the dividers and removable tray for the interior of the box. The dividers will be made of clear Maple and the tray assembly made from Curly Maple. Once that's done I will focus on the top.

Thanks for following along. Any comments or questions are welcome.

 

Very nice work and your shop has to be heated. The rest of New York is below 32 degrees. Glue dose not set at that temp and my hands ake.

 

Thanks for the great tutorial... please do more when you are finished this one!

~Julie~

 

Update

I continued working on the jewelry box by working on the interior. I fabricated the lower level dividers by planing down some clear Maple to 3/8" Just some simple lap joints to construct the grid

Once that was done I started work on the interior top tray. This is nothing more than a box within a box and the same techniques were used as I used on the carcass. I started by planing down some curly Maple to 3/8"

The pieces were cut to size

And a 1/4" groove was routed into the sides to accept the bottom

Here's the glue up

While the glue was setting up I got busy fabricating the top panel. It consists of a piece of 1/4" plywood sandwiched between two pieces of figured Sycamore veneer

I just rough cut the veneer using a sharp utility knife

It's a pretty simple procedure, just apply contact cement to both the plywood and the veneer. Be sure to pick and mark the side of the veneer you want to be visible. Make sure you apply glue evenly and completely to both pieces. Here are the tools you'll need.

Once the contact cement has a chance to dry, approx 20-30 minutes, you can carefully line up the two pieces. The two pieces bond instanly upon contact so make sure everything is lined up. Once that's done I take a j-roller and apply pressure to remove any air pockets and insure a good bond

Once that's done I trim off the excess veneer and repeat the same process on the other side of the top panel.

With the veneer done I can route a groove in the top frame pieces to accept the top. I leave more dimension on the frame peices above the panel because I'll be routing a champhered detail.

 

Update Continued

Here's a pic of the completed veneered panel dry fitted into the top frame. The contrast of the Purpleheart and figured Maple is going to look awesome

With that done and the glue set on the top tray it's time to cut the slots for the tray splines and route the champher detail

One more thing to do before I can glue up the top panel and frame. In order to really get the great figure in the top panel to really pop I'll apply a coat of a golden brown water soluable anyline dye to the top panel. This dye does two things, first it absorbs into the wood, and it raises the grain. Once the dye has dried overnight I'll sand the panel. The figured areas which are more pourous will retain most of the color and the clear sections will have most of the dye sanded out. You'll see later on in the finishing process how this makes the figure really pop out.
Here's what the dyed panel looks like before sanding

To be continued...thanks for looking.

 

This is a magazine style tutorial Joe, I'm sure that anyone following it will have little difficulty in going into their shop and feel competent to to make something similar. Thank you for taking so much time to present this project.

 

Thanks Harry. I hope I'm explaining the build clearly enough so that everyone can understand it, and that they can see there's nothing too complex about it. If it's broken down into a series of simple steps and sub-assemblies it might give others the confidence to give it a try.

 

Excellent tutorial, Joe. you have explained the process very well. I have not tried a box like that yet, but after seeing this and your explanation on how to, I'll have to make one. Very good job.