My work schedule has been a total disaster this past year, especially the past few months. This has kept me from having a lot of fun to play in the shop.
One of my trips required me to wear coat and tie (I try only to do that 2 or 3 times a year....) and I was complimented on an antique tie bar in the shape of a valve that I was wearing. I had extra, so I thought I would give one to the person who liked it, because he is one of those unlucky ones who has to wear ties all the time.
How to present it became the question. I saw a project online that made a box with a sliding dovetail lid and I thought that would be the way to go. I found some solid walnut scrap and made a shape that would fit it and did my design. I gut the pocket and profile on the CNC, and the sliding dovetail on the router table. Unfortunately, as I was fitting the sliding lid, half of the dovetail on the box broke off.
I changed gears, and sliced the dovetails off on the tablesaw. I shaped a lid to fit and glued on a thin piece of maple to index the lid on the box. A little sanding and finish.... all done! In all, the long dimension of the box is about 3 inches.
I go upstairs and show the Bride what I made, and she goes, "that's beautiful. Is that for the pin you found for your Mom?" Oops.... forgot I had another piece I had to make a box for....
This time I thought I would try a round box, and use the double sided machining technique. This box is even smaller, and was almost all done on the CNC, as workholding on a router table would have been difficult due to its size. Since I used the same piece of stock, I made it much taller and deeper than needed and cut it to height on the tablesaw. The bottom of the lid was machined first, then the top. The alignment isn't perfect, but it still looks good. I could have made the lid fit a little tighter, but I wanted it easy to open.
The Fleur de lis is cut with a 20 degree bit, and it worked very well on this small piece. The long dimension of the oval box is 1.5 inches
One of my trips required me to wear coat and tie (I try only to do that 2 or 3 times a year....) and I was complimented on an antique tie bar in the shape of a valve that I was wearing. I had extra, so I thought I would give one to the person who liked it, because he is one of those unlucky ones who has to wear ties all the time.
How to present it became the question. I saw a project online that made a box with a sliding dovetail lid and I thought that would be the way to go. I found some solid walnut scrap and made a shape that would fit it and did my design. I gut the pocket and profile on the CNC, and the sliding dovetail on the router table. Unfortunately, as I was fitting the sliding lid, half of the dovetail on the box broke off.
I changed gears, and sliced the dovetails off on the tablesaw. I shaped a lid to fit and glued on a thin piece of maple to index the lid on the box. A little sanding and finish.... all done! In all, the long dimension of the box is about 3 inches.
I go upstairs and show the Bride what I made, and she goes, "that's beautiful. Is that for the pin you found for your Mom?" Oops.... forgot I had another piece I had to make a box for....
This time I thought I would try a round box, and use the double sided machining technique. This box is even smaller, and was almost all done on the CNC, as workholding on a router table would have been difficult due to its size. Since I used the same piece of stock, I made it much taller and deeper than needed and cut it to height on the tablesaw. The bottom of the lid was machined first, then the top. The alignment isn't perfect, but it still looks good. I could have made the lid fit a little tighter, but I wanted it easy to open.
The Fleur de lis is cut with a 20 degree bit, and it worked very well on this small piece. The long dimension of the oval box is 1.5 inches
