That's a heckuva score, for gratis even. Can't beat that.
Box pictures-everyones!
- Thread starter Mike1950
- Start date
Congrats! Can’t imagine anyone throwing that away! But then I saw my son pitch a perfectly good Keurig coffee maker into the dump a few years back. Chuck
Finished this one this morning. Tried a new technique and learned something about milo on this one. The box itself is made from koa thins I got from Rob ( @rob3232 ). The lid is made from inlaying a mesquite thin I got from Jerry ( @Nubsnstubs ) into a rainbow poplar thin. Then I framed that in milo I got from Chris ( @Kalai ). The finish is a mix of satin wipe-on poly and just plain old paste wax.
The new technique I tried involved inlaying the mesquite thin into the poplar. I posted a picture earlier when I started this process ( https://woodbarter.com/threads/what-did-you-do-in-your-shop-today.9770/page-615 ). I laid the mesquite on the poplar and traced around it with a sharp pencil. Then used an Exacto knife to carve a knife kerf along those pencil lines. Then I used my Dremel with a 1/16" spiral bit to trace that line, free hand. I set the depth to about 75% the thickness of the mesquite thin (around 0.125"). I used the same bit to widen that groove, especially around tight corners. That gave me a little leeway when I changed to a larger bit to carve out the inside. I used a 0.25" spiral bit in my trim router to remove all the inside poplar. Once I had the mesquite fit as best I could I epoxied it in place. First I applied some shellac on the poplar around the edge so the epoxy wouldn't soak in. I ran a bead of epoxy around the edge and spread a coat around the bottom and glued the mesquite in. After gluing the mesquite in, the epoxy around the edges of the inlay had flowed deeper into the inlay so I had to mix a little more epoxy and carefully dribble it into the low spots using a toothpick. Once that all dried, I used my belt sander to flatten it all out. I am happy with how that all worked out.
I built the box from the koa I got from Rob, the pieces determined the size of the box. Nothing fancy here, just beautiful wood.
Then I fit the lid to the box. I decided to use hinges. I also decided the lid needed a frame to look finished. I didn't have any koa long enough to frame the lid so I decided to use milo I got from Chris. Koa and milo both being from Hawaii. Anyway.... I cut the poplar / mesquite panel to size and framed it with a 0.75" milo strip. I initially tried to use wipe-on poly and quickly discovered that is wasn't setting up properly on the milo. I traded a couple messages with Chris and he confirmed that the problem is milo is oily wood that "doesn't like finishes". Since I'd already started with the wipe-on and it was fine on the mesquite and poplar, I tried a couple things. I tried to wipe down the milo with alcohol and then apply wipe-on. I also tried to apply a couple coats of shellac and then go to wipe-on. Neither worked very well. So ultimately I decided to just sand it all down to 600, maybe 800, can't remember now, and just paste wax it. It came out fine. But when I do make something from the rest of the milo board I got from Chris I'll not even try to finish it. It sands really smooth anyway so probably don't need a finish.
Thanks to Rob, Jerry and Chris for the beautiful wood.
The new technique I tried involved inlaying the mesquite thin into the poplar. I posted a picture earlier when I started this process ( https://woodbarter.com/threads/what-did-you-do-in-your-shop-today.9770/page-615 ). I laid the mesquite on the poplar and traced around it with a sharp pencil. Then used an Exacto knife to carve a knife kerf along those pencil lines. Then I used my Dremel with a 1/16" spiral bit to trace that line, free hand. I set the depth to about 75% the thickness of the mesquite thin (around 0.125"). I used the same bit to widen that groove, especially around tight corners. That gave me a little leeway when I changed to a larger bit to carve out the inside. I used a 0.25" spiral bit in my trim router to remove all the inside poplar. Once I had the mesquite fit as best I could I epoxied it in place. First I applied some shellac on the poplar around the edge so the epoxy wouldn't soak in. I ran a bead of epoxy around the edge and spread a coat around the bottom and glued the mesquite in. After gluing the mesquite in, the epoxy around the edges of the inlay had flowed deeper into the inlay so I had to mix a little more epoxy and carefully dribble it into the low spots using a toothpick. Once that all dried, I used my belt sander to flatten it all out. I am happy with how that all worked out.
I built the box from the koa I got from Rob, the pieces determined the size of the box. Nothing fancy here, just beautiful wood.
Then I fit the lid to the box. I decided to use hinges. I also decided the lid needed a frame to look finished. I didn't have any koa long enough to frame the lid so I decided to use milo I got from Chris. Koa and milo both being from Hawaii. Anyway.... I cut the poplar / mesquite panel to size and framed it with a 0.75" milo strip. I initially tried to use wipe-on poly and quickly discovered that is wasn't setting up properly on the milo. I traded a couple messages with Chris and he confirmed that the problem is milo is oily wood that "doesn't like finishes". Since I'd already started with the wipe-on and it was fine on the mesquite and poplar, I tried a couple things. I tried to wipe down the milo with alcohol and then apply wipe-on. I also tried to apply a couple coats of shellac and then go to wipe-on. Neither worked very well. So ultimately I decided to just sand it all down to 600, maybe 800, can't remember now, and just paste wax it. It came out fine. But when I do make something from the rest of the milo board I got from Chris I'll not even try to finish it. It sands really smooth anyway so probably don't need a finish.
Thanks to Rob, Jerry and Chris for the beautiful wood.
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Doug, that's a downright good looking box, especially the lid. The Mesquite is outstanding. And I'm not praising this box because it has some of my wood in it, but because you utilized all the wood into making something beautiful.
I'm gonna see if I have more of that Mesquite. It's a piece of root limb that was at above and below ground level.
Most root wood I've gotten does not have the sapwood this piece has. ............ Nubs
I'm gonna see if I have more of that Mesquite. It's a piece of root limb that was at above and below ground level.
Most root wood I've gotten does not have the sapwood this piece has. ............ Nubs
Thanks Jerry. It is a really nice, beautiful way to use that mesquite that might not otherwise be use.
Absolutely gorgeous box on many levels! Discovered the same thing about Milo wood on a bowl I made recently — WOP is a no go on it. Chuck
Beautiful box! All your effort paid off! and I bet you learned a lot in the process....
Thanks Barry. And yes, I did learn a few things. Primarily the milo / finish thing. But the inlay of the mesquite thin was also a learning experience. I had done something similar on those table lamps I made with the agate slices inlaid into curly maple that Mike sent me. This was a little different and the epoxy fill was another first for me. I'd do it again though, wasn't so hard to put me off. The key is to have the right piece to inlay. Also, with the live edge of a burl slice, it's almost impossible to get a good match for all the tiny ins and outs. I had to make some decisions where I would round off the inlay edge and fill the void with epoxy rather than try to use that Dremel bit to get a tight fit. Also, the epoxy around the edge of the inlay burl almost disappears due to the darker edge, which is kind of nice. I was worried it would show like a clear ditch around the burl. I guess using a dyed epoxy would also help that appearance.
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Very simple design as usual, but I really like how the endgrain showed up at the end. I used Louro Faia and Wenge.
In addition, Louro Faia (panopsis spp.) is way more chatoyant than leopardwood (roupala spp.), even if this can't be seen from the pictures.
In addition, Louro Faia (panopsis spp.) is way more chatoyant than leopardwood (roupala spp.), even if this can't be seen from the pictures.
Those are mesmerizing! Love the louro faia. I didn't realize it has a similar pattern to leopardwood - the piece I had did not.
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Thank you. I had to go through the stack at the lumber yard, and only one board was about quartersawn. Now I am using it sparingly!
Quartersawing works a treat on several woods! Not the least that one!
What did you say? :D
Pure decadence!