apparently one Olympian medalist box deserves another. This is for an Aggie's wife who won a few in Athens in 2004. We wanted something custom, so we came up with the idea of using olive wood to tie the box back to the ancient Olympiad where the winners got an olive wreath. So I ordered a piece, but it in to 1/8" veneers and got started. I did a low profile lock on the piece too which I like vs the larger keyhole plate style locks.
Medal display case delivered and medals in place:
I will post some more pics when I get them from the owner with the medals in it.
A mesquite burl humidor I have been anxious to finish. This is from a moderately burled/figured piece of the log. I have a few other veneers I cut from the same log that have some much more outstanding grain I am looking forward to finishing. When I last got some spanish cedar from the lumber yard they gave me a few boards with some more unique grain, so I saved those and cut bookmatches from them for using on the underside of the lid to give the piece a little more character.
This is camphor burl and ebony. The box is empty, and I will just outfit it to whatever the future owner wants. this lets me do it as a humidor/watch box/whatever:
And finally, a pro-bono project I am doing. I had a co-worker who lost his firefighter son in a road rage accident last year. He commissioned me to make a memorial bench for him to put near a tree they planted in his honor. The slabs are walnut, and I got the graphic from his headstone which I carved in to the slab. There will be one slab for sitting and the carved one will be the back. I am working with a local metal fab shop to do a metal base. The father doesn't know it yet, but I am covering the labor for free and trying to get donations to cover the material for the slabs and for the base. I felt the guy buried his son and has suffered enough, I wouldn't feel right making money from it.