Zebrawood Boxes - In the works

[Peter Harbin]

Hey gang,

I used to hang out on several of the woodworking forums a while back and then just let life get too busy. Nobody here has that problem, right?

It's good to be back, in the shop and on-line!

I'm working on some Zebrawood boxes, based on a Doug Stowe design, and I'm hoping to get enough shop time this weekend to finish up the lids. This is a project that had been sitting in a box, after our move, for some time and I've just really started getting back into the swing of things.

I chronicled the process up until now in a blog post (with lots of pictures!) if you'd like to take a look. {moderator note: Peter's BLOG can be reached by clicking on his name and selecting to view his home page}



I've enjoyed digging into the old project posts and seeing the amazing work that folks are doing. Very inspiring stuff! I'm also enjoying the Shop forum and seeing how everyone is setting up their workspaces. I've had to make quite a few adjustments in moving from New Mexico to Minnesota.

Pete

[Doug W Swanson]

Nice little boxes. You did a great job lining up the grain, too....

Where in Minnesota are you? i live just north of St Paul....

[Jay Allen]

Nice write-up and pics, but I can tell you from experience...."Brushing out" your glue will give better results. It gives much better coverage than depending upon the squeeze to do it. This also results in less "squeeze-out" and higher "initial tack". The higher stickeyness means less of a tendancy for the parts to slide on each other.

[Peter Harbin]

Thanks guys.

Doug, I'm in Maplewood, just at the line for Woodbury...Lake Road and the Interstate. You going to the woodworking show in December? Last year was my first time going to one. We never got a show down in Albuquerque.

Good tip Jay. I'm planning on making more of these boxes and I'll definitely give brushing a try. I did get a lot more squeeze out than I would have liked with the little bottle.

Pete

[Al Navas]

Very nice, Peter - and in the true style of Stowe, box maker extraordinaire! I love making boxes, too.

Al

[Don Bullock]

From Peter's Blog: Then you can pack them in a box, move across the country, pull them out a year later, and then finish them up. I don’t know why, but Doug failed to include this step in his book.

Welcome back to woodworking Peter. You're not alone. It took me more than two years to get back into the shop to work on my woodworking projects after our recent move. Last week I finally "officially" completed all the "carpentry" projects that I've been working on around the house and cleaned up the mess that my contractors and I created around the miter saw. The shop is finally coming together and I've actually been working on a table that I started two years ago before we bought our new house. BTW -- I still have some carpentry projects but I've decided that they can wait until I at least have the table finished.

Good luck with your box project. I'll be interested to see the finished boxes.

[Peter Harbin]

Hey gang,

I made some more progress on the boxes this weekend. The lids are now fitted for each box. Next up are some of the more decorative elements and the final sanding and finishing.

The pics and all the gory details are at my blog (find it in my profile) in the "Put a lid on it!" entry.

Pete