Poplar and Oak Pattern Boxes

Poplar and Oak, with Mahogany

After I had made the Diamond boxes, I decided that I'd like to make boxes for some other people. So I made these boxes. I used the same "laminate-inset" techinque that I like so much as I did with Fran's box.

The boy's boxes are 1/4" Oak on the outside and 1/4" Poplar on the inside. The girl's boxes are the opposite.

On all the boxes, I used 1/4" Mahogany as the third wood for the top pattern. I cut the geometric pieces and inset them into the top after assembly, before cutting the top off.

It took a while to make all the trays and dividers. The boy's have a tray with four dividers lined with black felt. The girl's have a tray with six dividers, and the bottom is also divided into four sections, all lined with red velvet. One thing I learned from Fran's box, that I applied here, is that it's much better to cut and insert the lining before the dividers.

Instead of stop hinges I used regular brass hinges and a small piece of nylon string to provide the stop without interfering with the tray. All in all I think they came out fairly nicely.

As with all the boxes I've made, there was the special moment when I first applied the oil and the boxes came to life, and I could imagine what the owner would feel when they saw it the first time.