Wood-pile find

[Kenny]

Since I'm too slow to figure out how to upload to the gallery...I'll put it here.

Found a small piece of spalted{?sp} maple right as it was about to be tossed into the fire...

Now it seems I inspect every piece of wood before it goes to the stove{LOL}

Happy Holidays Everyone...enjoy & be safe!!!

[PaulMarcel]

Very nice box, DogHouse! I like the inset feet and diamond inlay on top.

[jhl.verona]

I'm very happy you posted here - that's a very impressive box. I'm currently reading up on boxes (not allowed to make sawdust for a while), and I'd been pondering on how to make some...

From those tantalising photographs, it seems you've put every idea I could think of into practice. Sooo, you get a lot of questions ...

The corner splines look very large. Did you cut them deeper than the thickness of the sides, so you get an interesting effect inside the box too? If so, how did you trim the splines on the inside?

Did you inlay the spalted Maple on the sides too?

How did you prepare the vertical edge trim for the sides? Mitred the corner joint, then rebated (rabbeted)? Did you cut the rebate before or after glue up?

Size? About 10" by 6"?

Finish? Danish Oil?

Do tell all, Ken - I for one am very interested

John

[Kenny]

Hi John, thank you for your interest and the comments{thanks to you as well Paul Marcel}!

I'm pure amateur, so fair warning{lol}

The splines 'are' large and the intended thought was like you mentioned, I was hoping for a nice effect

on the inside. However, I had quite some tear-out I didn't anticipate. I think on the next attempt I'll

try using a backer block to see if that will help, this one will get the complete interior flocked in hopes

of hiding the damage...aw well, live & learn they say

Yes the sides were inlay-ed as well, simply via shallow dado. The box is joined by mitered ends, & glued up, then the

splines were cut in using the table saw and a corner spline jig. The spline jig straddles the fence. With the vertical

splines, I simply reversed how the jig sits over the fence, leaving somewhat of a sliding flat faced auxiliary fence

{one could say?} and I carefully clamped the box so the vertical angle of the corner being cut was aligned with the blade.

This was a little nerve wracking as my clamping system would of benefited with more support from a proper jig, and...

once again the tear-out was awful{depth set do deep and broke through in places}, even with a new thin kerf blade, but all

in all it worked and I kept what's left of my fingers. The vertical splines themselves were hand cut using the vise, handsaw

and chisel work to finish to size by trial and error{there must be an easier method?}.

Size - box-6&7/8" X 3&1/2" top-7&1/4 x 4" Total height{including feet}-3&1/4"...no plans, all seat of the pants using scrap

materials...one of these days I'm going to force myself to actually plan in advance and 'hopefully' see problems 'before' they arise.

These photos are with only the first coat of danish oil, some fine sanding and another coat or two followed by some wax, should make me happy.

Hoped this helped in some manner, or at least bring about some experienced thoughts from those more advanced than this noob.

Happy Holidays!

[TomP]

Great looking box DogHouse. Love the corner splines and the diamond inlay on top.

Happy and safe holiday's to all

[jhl.verona]

Thanks for the detailed reply, Kenny. Just shows you can learn from other people's mistakes experiments. I agree that a sacrificial backing piece will make those 'Kenny' splines a success next time. Great idea, they can act as supports for an internal tray, perhaps a false bottom ... Just proves that there's no such thing as a 'simple' box

Seasonal greetings to you and yours,

John

[mn pete]

Nicely done! I like the corner treatment, and the wood is amazing!