SMC Collaboration 01: Keepsake Box

[Jim Kountz]

Ken, just popped on to see the progress and I have to say your work looks GREAT!! It compliments the rest of the box so well, now that I see it I cant imagine anything else!! Very well done and thanks for the pics and the "other" work you have put into this!!

I had to add Ken that I chuckled a bit when you said how nervous you were worrying about ruining someone elses work. I guess I never had to think of that since I was lucky enough to be first!! Dont worry you did a fantastic job!!

Jim''

[Belinda Barfield]

Ken, I have no idea what was involved in production, but the end product looks fabulous!

[Cody Colston]

The handle looks great, Ken and really compliments the rest of the box well. Ya done good.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Okay folks.....some opinions here. Look at this picture. The "secret" drawer actually resides underneath the main drawer. In this picture you can see a small "handle" made of blue painters tape so one can get it out.

I'm going to make a handle for that secret drawer. Here's the catch and my solution. You have to reach through that narrow horizontal opening to grab on to the handle to remove this secret drawer. A round knob might look okay and be conventional but my meathooks are large enough that grasping a round knob through that hole is cumbersome at best.

So here's my suggestion. I will turn a disc out of blackwood.....cut it in half and screw/glue it to drawer in the vertical plane just like the little piece of blue painters tape except it will be thicker. Thus you should be able to grasp it easier since the thumb and forefinger will both be in the horizontal plane.

Any suggested alternatives?

What about materials? I have a small amount of blackwood, plenty of walnut and maple. The drawer is made of maple. The main "box" is walnut.

Give me some opinions please!

[Kyle Kaldor]

Ken, I like your idea. To take it a little further and complicate your life a little. Maybe if you had some indentations on the knob where your thumb and finger would grasp it, that would make it easier to grab and class it up a little.

Okay folks.....some opinions here. Look at this picture. The "secret" drawer actually resides underneath the main drawer. In this picture you can see a small "handle" made of blue painters tape so one can get it out.

I'm going to make a handle for that secret drawer. Here's the catch and my solution. You have to reach through that narrow horizontal opening to grab on to the handle to remove this secret drawer. A round knob might look okay and be conventional but my meathooks are large enough that grasping a round knob through that hole is cumbersome at best.

So here's my suggestion. I will turn a disc out of blackwood.....cut it in half and screw/glue it to drawer in the vertical plane just like the little piece of blue painters tape except it will be thicker. Thus you should be able to grasp it easier since the thumb and forefinger will both be in the horizontal plane.

Any suggested alternatives?

What about materials? I have a small amount of blackwood, plenty of walnut and maple. The drawer is made of maple. The main "box" is walnut.

Give me some opinions please!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Kyle,

That actually isn't hard to do at all and a nice suggestion!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Intially I turned several different knobs of different shapes, sizes, materials and material combinations and round just didn't seem to go with this handle already on the box.

kb5.jpg

So here's the what the box looks like now with the main drawer handle attached. The handle is on standoffs that are recessed and epoxied into the handle itself and recessed, epoxied and screwed into the drawer.

kb1.jpg kb2.jpg kb3.jpgkb4.jpg

I turned the prototype first, making standoffs from some scrap I had handy that was already ready to put in my chuck. I got Steve Schlumpf and John Keeton's opinions. They liked it and I believe John suggested connecting in the middle with maple burl.


So I drilled and turned the maple burl cyclinder first.



Next I went through a series of failures. the first one split.....one was going great until I experienced a split second lost concentration.

The trick was to square up the blank....turn both "cones" at the same time.....then using the square ends....drill the holes for the standoffs so they would be perpendicular to the central plane of the handle. Then turn the connecting parts to the two cone shaped pieces to fit the hole in the maple burl. Getting the angled ends on the cones was pain. Saw blades inevitably cause the thin wood at the outer edge to splinter ruining that attempt. In the end, I made a jig for the handle and sanded the ends off using the jig and my 12" disk sander. kb6.jpg

Then I got scared....got to drill the holes in the drawer front. Only get one shot to get it right. Finally got the idea to make a jig. Then I put it off for another couple days. I didn't want to ruin someone else's work. So....after spending an afternoon perfecting and practicing with my jig, I drilled it.



The next part won't take that long.

I'm firmly convinced I should make a crate for this and pad it and strap it in place so nothing gets damaged in shipment ever if it's thrown upside down.

Thanks for listening.

[Matt Walton]

A crate seems like a good idea, especially at this point. And if anybody doesn't want to pay for the shipping, they can transport it themselves.

[Belinda Barfield]

A crate seems like a good idea, especially at this point. And if anybody doesn't want to pay for the shipping, they can transport it themselves.

I'm with Matt. I think from this point on it should be hand delivered to the next craftsman in line. Good excuse for a visit.

[John Coloccia]

Maybe this is silly, but it would actually be cool if Creekers would get involved and hand delivered this thing, relay style, from here on out. There are enough members that nobody should have to drive more than 20 minutes to get'r done.

It would be a nice excuse for creeker to meet creeker too. If it ever gets to anywhere around Hartford, CT, I'll be the first the volunteer to deliver it from and to anywhere within 1 hour's driving distance.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

John....the nearest Creeker to me might be in Lewiston but the next guy would probably be in Spokane, WA 110 miles north or near Richland, WA 130 west or Missoula, MT 215 miles east or Boise, ID 260 miles south. We have a lower population density out here and towns are much farther apart.

Interestingly enough, I was in the shop this evening working on the handle for the hidden/secret drawer. I should have it completed tomorrow. I would have been done but the last 2 weeks I have been cleaning out 28 years of home office and shop stored electronics parts for CT and MR scanners, packaging them and shipping them to a recycle center and returning specialized tools and test equipment. I shipped the last box today via FedEx. My apologies for not having it done.

Your idea might work back east but out here....it's a little different.

Driving times vary a little more here depending on the terrain and weather.

I wish I did live closer to more Creekers. I haven't met one face-to-face I didn't like.

[John Coloccia]

I haven't met one face-to-face I didn't like.

Well you haven't met me yet. If you're ever in New England, I'd like to get to dislike you over a beer, my treat.

By the way, that handle came out just right.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I finished the handle for the hidden drawer this evening though it's in the mockup stage, it's should be done.

I am bushed as I moved about a ton of manuals out of my office and into the trash. I should have done that a couple of decades ago as we went to microfiche and then to pdf and other file type media used on laptops.

Photos in the morning for your approval. In this case, form followed function. I am undecided about it. I need some other opinions.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Okay folks I need some opinions here. I will apologize up front for taking so long to get to this. The last month and a half has been stressful as I had to manage a lot of details for the LOML and out retirements that finally happened one week ago today. Even now there some details that the beauracrcy hasn't corrected yet but at least it's down to a manageable size.

So here are photos of 2 suggestions I have for the handle on the hidden drawer. Keep in mind, the drawer is NOT in public view unless the main drawer is removed. Then you have to reach through the 1 1/4" opening to grasp the handle and the hidden drawer is located below the main drawer. Thus you have to reach in and down. For that reason and because I have big meat hooks, I turned a disc with indentions in both sides so your forefinger and thumb have something to grasp as you lift the drawer up and out of its recessed location.

I will show two options and I would like your opinions please:

The first photo is the box with the main drawer partially extended/removed.


hd7.jpg

Option 1. The disc screwed and glued into a blackwood bracket which in turn would be screwed and glued to the side of the hidden drawer....see the 2nd-4th photos.

hd2.jpghd1.jpghd3.jpg

Option 2. The disc screwed and glued to the side of the drawer. See the 5th-7th photos. Note...this method leaves very little surface area for the epoxy and I feel while it looks better, it would also be prone to failure.

hd4.jpghd5.jpghd6.jpg


Option 3. Give me your ideas. I will start making the plywood container for this thing to get moved to the next person.

Thanks!

[Heather Thompson]

Ken,

Nice looking work and my personal preference would be option one, it just seems to flow better with the other hardware on the box. I too like the clean look of option two but it does not work with the rest of the box. Good luck with the bureaucracy stuff, it took over three years and ended up in court for me to finally cut the ties and they still pester me on occasion, until I break out the legal paperwork from the last court case.

Heather