The Baileigh Industrial "build us a box" Woodworking Contest, Win $1,600 !!!!!!

[Bill Wyko]

That's a cool little trick, I'll be putting that to use in the future. Thanks for the tip.


I knew someone would sneak up on us. Craig you sly dog, an excellent entry & very creative.

I'll be submitting mine tomorrow, nothing like taking it down to the last minute.

['Jacques Malan']

This is my entry for the Baileigh "build us a box" competition.

"The Toolbox"

The only wood I had available was Eucalyptus, and I knew that making intricate little things with a fancy finish were not going to be easy using that, so I went with a more rustic design.

The first part that were made were the coopered top and the rest were made to fit around that. The curve of the top were made after the box were assembled, using a block plane.

The tenons of the dovetails at the ends were cut by hand, the rest were carefully milled out with a router. The logo and the handle blocks is made from mahogany and were engraved on the cnc machine. The handles were turned from rosewood.

The box were stained by hand and then sprayed with a lacquer sealer. The metal parts were painted, the t-hinges is the only pieces bought for the project. It was then screwed to the box, and final touching up of the black paint were done by hand.

The inside were painted by hand, I think a lighter green would have been better. Then the box were sprayed again with satin lacquer, and finally the handles and the logo were screwed to the box from the inside.

I tried a few new things, and made a few mistakes but in the end I am happy with the result.

Total time were about 20 hours, thinking and worrying not included.

Comments and critique will be appreciated.

Box 1.jpgBox 2.jpg
Box 4.jpgBox 3.jpg

[Keith Outten]

Craig, the gun is very cool. The way you disguised the box was truly thinking outside the box

Hayes, thanks for the pictures and for sharing your chatter technique. I'll give it a try.

Jacques, the finish is what makes your project pop. It looks just like a very old wooden travelers chest.
.

[Craig Matheny]

This is my entry for the Baileigh "build us a box" competition.

"The Toolbox"

The only wood I had available was Eucalyptus, and I knew that making intricate little things with a fancy finish were not going to be easy using that, so I went with a more rustic design.

The first part that were made were the coopered top and the rest were made to fit around that. The curve of the top were made after the box were assembled, using a block plane.

The tenons of the dovetails at the ends were cut by hand, the rest were carefully milled out with a router. The logo and the handle blocks is made from mahogany and were engraved on the cnc machine. The handles were turned from rosewood.

The box were stained by hand and then sprayed with a lacquer sealer. The metal parts were painted, the t-hinges is the only pieces bought for the project. It was then screwed to the box, and final touching up of the black paint were done by hand.

The inside were painted by hand, I think a lighter green would have been better. Then the box were sprayed again with satin lacquer, and finally the handles and the logo were screwed to the box from the inside.

I tried a few new things, and made a few mistakes but in the end I am happy with the result.

Total time were about 20 hours, thinking and worrying not included.

Comments and critique will be appreciated.

Box 1.jpgBox 2.jpg
Box 4.jpgBox 3.jpg

Great job love the rope handles and nice job with the metal strapping making it look like a belt and the finish is very nice

[Craig Matheny]

Keith is there anyway when the contest is closed to get all the entries in one area so everyone can see them? In the forum they are all over and in different legs of it so it is difficult to find them all. So far what I have seen is some great work and it seems that most techniques have been used at some point and time.

[David Epperson]

I'd like to see a separate subforum made for this effort with each entry highlighted in it's own thread. With as much "How it was done" as possible. Very interesting project.

[Keith Outten]

Craig,

I think that we can do something to isolate the posts that are contest entries.

[Craig Matheny]

Just ran across your page with the hinges very cool nice job

[Bill Wyko]

Here goes:
This box is titled "John Henry"
My friend Paul Miller who I'd like to thank for all his help & advice through out this build suggested this title. John Henry was in a competition in the 1870's to drill blasting holes for the railroad against a steam hammer. In the end, he won, but he fell down dead. Being that I'm up against so many modern machines and I do feel like I could fall down dead, I thought it was perfect. In this build every step was a hands on process, no automation was used. First I'd like you to see the final piece, then I'll take you through the process of the build. Please enjoy our journey.

[IMG]
The woods used are Tropical Walnut, Curly Koa, Hard Maple, Flame Maple, Curly Maple, Gabon Ebony, Holley, Purple Hart and Osage Orange. If you count each piece in the inlaid corners, there are over 1000 pieces of wood in this project. Fortunately the corners are cut 7 pieces at a time.

The logo is done on an 18th century Chevalet, no automation was used for any part of this build.


http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL134.../406475412.jpg[/IMG]




The tray is done in a criss cross pattern to allow long grain to run both directions. This may look delicate but it's quite strong and stable.

Now on to the build,

This device is a Chevalet, it was created in the late 1700's and is considered one of the first mass production tools known in woodworking.


The way it is used is, it has a foot activated clamping mechanisim that will allow the user to hold & release a stack of veneer perpendicular to a jewelers saw blade. The blade is held by a "D" shaped handle which can orbit but always stays perpendicular to the material. Quite ingenious.



After the different species of wood are re-arranged, the logo is adhered to a backer up-side down. That way it can be glued to the substrate. In this case, 2 were made, one for the inside and one for the outside.


The inlaid corner is done buy stacking 7 layers of wood in various thicknesses and gluing them together in the vacuum bag. Then strips are cut and mitered into 30 degree triangles and re-arranged into the desired pattern.



http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL134.../406475321.jpg[/MG]

[Bill Wyko]

The sides rails & stiles were done using a Domino then the figured Koa panel was rabbited in along with the inlay.




The miter cuts for the lid and the base are done on this razor-sharp picture frame knife miter.

Then the sides were rounded over and a sanding sealer applied to find any flaws that need to be addressed.

With the lid & box built, it's on to the interior of the box. I wanted something to really make it unique. I decided on the Curly Maple to give it a waterfall effect going down into the box.

Now on to the hinges. They are done by rounding over a 3/8" 5x5 piece of hard maple on opposing ends. then it is stood up and rounded over one more time to make a 3/4 radius round over. Then I use a fence on the tablesaw to guide the pieces over a3/8" dado blade every 3/4". I always make them over sized and make extras just in case I break one or drill it wrong. Then I can have extras for other projects if all goes well.







On to the finish, the finish is started with a 2lb cut of shellac and pumice powder. This is hand rubbed in to blend the saw dust into any minute voids. After that a coat of shellac was applied to seal the box. Next, 4 coats of WOP were applied and a last one was sprayed on. All coats were sanded between after each one to maintain a smooth surface between coats.

My total time invested in this project is somewhere around 80 to 100 hours. (I really need an edge sander to finish a 3 year project that I need to put behind me) So please enjoy, best of luck to all of us and a big thank you to everyone at Baileigh for putting on this awesome event.

[Chris Padilla]

Bill, is that a Forrest WWII you emulated there??

[Craig Matheny]

Wow that is about all I can say is wow you have done a beautiful job. Put it this way I could not vote for my box when it is up against your work it is amazing nice job.

[Bill Wyko]

Can't say, you know, copy right infringement. LOL

[Craig Matheny]

Can't say, you know, copy right infringement. LOL

What do you mean?

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

I'm truly enjoying looking at all the great photos, creativity and talent displayed in this project.

Bill, the interior of your box looks like crushed velvet!