Raven inlay Jewelry and Make-up Boxes-Part 3

Hi Everyone!

In this part I will continue to cut out the dovetails. At the end of this part we will have great fitting dovetails that are not only great to look at, but also very strong.

I ended part 2 with cutting the pins with a dovetail saw, making sure to stay well away from the scribed layout lines. Now I continue to cut out the waste in between the pins by using a coping saw. I opt for a coping saw instead of my scroll saw because now I am dealing with angled sides.

After the waste has been removed I reach for my chisels to pare away the rest while using the scribed knife lines as guides. I also square the shoulders by using the same method as seen in part 2.

And voila! The finished dovetails on both boxes! These are perfect fitting dovetails. Although the paring method is time consuming it surely leaves you with exceptional results!

A close-up of the dovetails. Also notice how the grain of the walnut continues consistantly around all sides of the box.

In the next part I will be tackling some grooves and shaping the bottom of the box sides for a nice design detail.

Thanks for looking!

Roshaan

Raven inlay Jewelry and Make-up Boxes-Part 2

Hi Everyone!

Welcome back to part two of the box duo! We ended the last part by carefully marking out the dovetails. Today we will be cutting those dovetails by a combination of the table saw and by hand using a hand saw especially made for cutting dovetails, appropriately named a dovetail saw. To clean up the dovetails we will be using various sized chisels and a wooden mallet.


I start by cutting the tails first. I use the table saw to quickly and accurately cut the angles of the tails. I simply tilt the blade to the appropriate angle of the dovetails, in this case I went with the 1 : 6 ratio to get that angle. The stop block is a great way to get accurate and repeatable cuts. Now from these cuts everything else will follow, so I take extra care to be very precise with this operation.

After all the tails are cut at the table saw I then look toward my scroll saw to remove the waste in between the tails. I make sure I stay far enough away from the the scribed line of the shoulders. This will be cleaned up later with the help of a guide block and chisel. Who says a scroll saw can't be used for fine joinery!

At my bench I clean up the shoulders of the tails. I use the aid of a beefy guide block to help guide the chisel at a perfect 90 degree angle as I chop out the waste.

After all the shoulders of the tails have been squared up, it was time to mark the pin board. I carefully line up the tail board on the end of the pin board. I steadily hold the pieces in place and with a very sharp marking knife, I carefully trace the angle of the tails onto the pin board.

Before I can cut the pins however, I make sure to scribe the thickness of the tail board onto the edge of the pin board by using a marking gauge. I also use a machinist square to carry the lines of the angles onto the face of the pin board. Then with my fantastic Veritas dovetail saw I cut the pins, staying well away from the marked lines.

Well that's it for now folks! Please join me next time to see how the dovetails turn out.

Thanks for looking!

Roshaan

Raven inlay Jewelry and Make-up Boxes

Hello Everyone,

Please join me for another custom request. My client requested a jewelry box to keep all her large beaded jewelry and rings & things, so this box is going to be larger than usual. She also requested a custom make up box so that she could have easy access to all her make up.

With these boxes I will try something that I haven't tried before and that is an inlay technique. I will be inlaying a raven design onto the lid of the box. This raven image has special meaning to the client, since she took the the photo of the raven herself.

As usual and with good practise, I start out with the design process by first making a few sketches of what the box will look like and a drafted drawing. I also made a very quick and rough mock-up of the box, to easily visualize the proportions of the box. I gave my client three choices of box styles and she ended up choosing the more traditional prairie style box design. This design will have a shaped bottom, dovetails for the joinery and a lock. The make up box will essentially be the same design, but instead of a lock, this box will have a simple latch.

After I have made all the necessary drafting and was happy with all the proportions of the boxes, I jumped right into preparing the boards for the construction of the boxes.

After all the boards are broken out into the final dimensions I prepared to make the dovetail joinery, by laying out all the necessary lines. Accurate layout of the lines are very important, because all your cuts will be determined by these lines. An easy way to lay out these lines is with the aid of a dovetail marking gauge. The beauty of this gauge is, is that you can mark out the angle of the dovetail as well as the 90 degree lines in one motion, so no more fumbling with your bevel gauge and square. A marking gauge easily marks the thickness of the corresponding piece.

In the next part I will be cutting the dovetail joinery by cutting the pins by hand and I will also use the table saw to cut the tails.

Thanks for looking!

Roshaan

Double Twelve Domino Set - The Reveal

Hi Everyone!

Well here you have it! The completed double twelve domino set! I had a great time building this one-of-a-kind project.

I used nicely figured Eastern Maple for the box. Notice how I carried the figure to the front of the box? This also complements the walnut I used for the divider and the domino backs quite well.

I added a divider to the box, thus creating a pencil "niche". I think it is a great way to keep the pencil at hand for keeping score!

Since the dominoes will get a lot of wear and tear, I decided to finish them with a harder finish such as a spray polyurethane. To the box however, I simply applied about 5 coats of Danish oil finish to bring out the beautiful grain and depth of the maple.

Thank you for looking!

Roshaan

Double Twelve Domino Set - Part 3

Hi Everyone!



Here are a few more in-progress pictures before I reveal the finished domino set.

Fastforward to the glue-up of the box. Since I used finger joints for the box I have employed the same method of glue-up as seen in the Alberta Rose recipe box project.

A detail shot of the finger joints.

The glue-up of the lid. I have used a bridle joint which is a very strong joint since the joint offers many glue surfaces.

A detail shot of the bridle joint.

Please make sure to come back next time for the reveal of the domino set!

Thanks for looking!

Roshaan

Double Twelve Domino Set - Part 2

Hi Everyone!

Here are a few more pictures of the double twelve domino set.

91 domino tiles!!!

Here I have set up my Dremel rotary tool in a router table attachment to cut a v-groove in the center of each domino tile. You definitely can't do this operation safely on a full sized router table.

The v-groove routed in a domino tile. The Dremel set-up is a great way to go with a close-fingered operation such as this.

Here I'm using the same router bit to put a slight bevel on all the edges and corners of each tile...uhum...that's 91 tiles!

A close-up of the routered tile. Again, the Dremel and router table does a great job of it!

Thanks for looking!

Roshaan

Double Twelve Domino Set - Part 1

Hello Everyone!

First I'd like to wish everyone a very healthy, happy and prosperous 2011!

Like I have promised before, here are a few sneek shots of the double twelve domino set.

All the parts layed out to make the maple top and contrasting walnut bottom. I have grouped 4 tiles together on one rectangular piece of maple.

Using my right angle alignment jig (as seen in my book Simply Wood) to make sure the paper pattern is pefectly positioned on the maple as it is glued down.

At the drill press drilling many, many holes!

Still at the drill press! This time I'm using a countersink bit to champfer the drilled holes to add some dimension to the plain hole.

My gluing station. Gluing the maple top to the walnut bottom using my trusty right alignment jig.

Please return for more sneek shots!

Thanks for looking!

Roshaan