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by
Ken Tunnard
photos: Roger Yip
illustration: Len Churchill |
JEWELRY BOX |
Create
a modern yet elegant case for a
loved one's special adornments |
I have a couple of rules in my shop. “If a gift is not
complete two weeks before the occasion, stop woodworking and
go shopping.” That’s No. 1. The second is the “two-foot”
rule: “If a piece of wood is less than 24" long,
toss it out.” I must admit that I do break my own rules.
Some gifts have been built right up to, and even past the due
date. And it’s not uncommon for me to save a beautiful
piece of exotic wood, even if it’s small. This is where
my jewelry box comes in.
If
you need a last-minute gift idea and you have some beautiful
small boards on hand, you have all you need to create this box.
Its simple design won’t take long to build, but it’s
attractive thanks to the appearance of the wood itself.
I chose
yellowheart from Brazil and padauk from West Africa for their
contrasting hues, but any striking combination of hardwoods
will do nicely. Start by rough-cutting a piece of padauk to
1" x 6" x 36". You’ll slice this into thinner
components later. Next, select two yellowheart boards. Rough-cut
one to 1" x 9" x 18" for the lid, and the second
to 1" x 2" x 16" for the legs.
Joint one side of each of the yellowheart boards to create flat
surfaces, then plane them down to the thicknesses listed. Next,
joint the padauk on both faces and one edge, then head to the
bandsaw to resaw the board into two pieces. Plane the resulting
halves down to about 3/8" thick. I suggest you make a sample
groove with your dado blade to use as a thickness gauge, allowing
you to plane down to the exact thickness required for a good
fit of the sides into the leg grooves.
With all your wood roughed out, rip the boards 1/8" wider
than listed, then clean the edges up on the jointer to bring
them down to final size.
I recommend you prepare the legs from one board for both safety
and efficiency. Start by milling a 3/8"-wide groove along
the length of your wood, using a dado blade tilted 45º
from vertical in your tablesaw. Orient the wood so the surface
that will become the inside face of the leg rides against the
fence. Repeat the process so there’s an angled groove
on both sides of each leg. These grooves will form the joints
that create the corners of the jewelry box. With both grooves
complete, cut the legs to length.
Shape the curve of the leg using a bandsaw, then sand the cut
surfaces using a belt sander. If you don’t own a stationary
sander, no problem. Simply invert a portable model and clamp
it to your workbench.
Next, scribe a line along the curved portion of the leg 1/4"
in from the edge on both the sides and faces of the leg. Then
cut off the corner on the bandsaw with the table tilted to a
45º angle. Sand these newly created facets on the belt
sander as well.
While you’re still near the bandsaw, cut a small scallop
out of the back edges of the bottoms of the legs. This creates
a visual transition from the bottom of the box to the surface
it sits on.
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Next, cut
the padauk that forms the front, back and sides of the jewelry
box. As you work, saw pieces from the board in sequence to ensure
the grain is visually consistent as it runs around the corners
of the box.
Saw some support cleats for the bottom of the box from padauk
and plane them to 3/8" square. You’ll need more padauk
for the dividers, planed down to 1/4" thick. Cut half-lap
joints to connect the long and short divider pieces using a
dado blade and a mitre gauge. It’s essential you place
a piece of scrap wood behind the dividers as you work to prevent
splintering as you saw the half-laps.
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1 | PART 2 |
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