Diamond Boxes

Aromatic Cedar, Maple and Purple Heart

After I finished Fran's box, I decided that I wanted to make boxes for some friends. I had found this really pretty Aromatic Cedar at a wood store and I decided to make a number of boxes from it.

People have asked how long it takes to make these boxes. It usually takes three to four days to make a box. But since a lot of the time is setup for the saw, router, etc, it is nearly as fast to make several boxes as it is to make one. I started these boxes on a Sunday morning. I finshed them on Wednesday that same week.

Instead of inlaying the pattern, I thought about it and instead decided to make a geometric pattern directly from 1/2" wood. It was harder than I thought it would be. The boxes are made with 1/2" dados on the front, back, and sides. The bottom is solid 1/2" cedar. The tops were made by cutting out all the pieces and assembling them. The woods used are Maple and PurpleHeart. Unlike inlay, when you open the box, you can see the pattern on the inside as well. It turned out to be quite a bit of work to get all the angles to match up fairly well in the 1/2" wood. I then epoxied the tops together and sanded them clean before assembling the boxes.

The pictures really don't do justice to this wood. There were some really nice deep grain patterns in the Cedar, from whitish bands to deep purple and red. The Maple is slightly figured, and came out nice and hard and shiny. The PurpleHeart almost looks brown next to the redness of the Cedar, but I'm told the Cedar will brown with time. Below, on the back of one of the boxes you can sort of catch the idea.

The boxes are assembled with stop hinges and lined with red velvet. After I took these photographs I made dividers and trays for all of the boxes. The trays are nicely figured and finished maple lined with red velvet.