Forever Boxes Build Video

[Shiraz Balolia]

Beautiful work Shiraz! An instant classic. Thank you for taking the time and considerable effort to document the build in a high quality video.

With so much detail, I bet it took a while to get to a final design. Using the stamped red leather as a finish surface is very unique. Curious as to how you came to that decision?

Thanks!

Thanks everyone for watching the video and your great comments.

To answer the question about the leather and design - I was visiting our Springfield plant and went to Springfield Leather, a great store in town which has a huge selection of leather of all kinds. Thick, thin, stamped, different color hides etc. I saw the edge of this large roll that had a "crocodile" pattern on it and asked the lady to show it to me. She took it to the table and unrolled these two large sections that actually made up a whole hide. It was beautiful glossy red and she commented how it was rare to find hides without defect holes in them. I purchased both of them. Now, what to do with this leather? So, I came up with box idea where I could have large sections of leather without the edges being exposed. After that the design kept evolving as I was building the boxes. Turned into a rather long and detailed project that involved use of a lot of different machines and techniques.

The video turned out good, but we had to crunch over 6 hours of tape into less than one hour. This could have been broken into series, but I would call down to the video studio guys and say "taping in 15 minutes" and they would drop what they were doing and come tape whatever I was working on. Nothing was scripted and I just worked on it at leisure. I did not plan certain jobs and just went to the shop when I had some extra time. However, I think they did a great job of editing and grasping the main parts of the project. All of it was done in-house (taping, editing etc.).

I still have a lot of that leather left so might end up making unique benches with backs on them for the grandkids again. I have literally tons of figured woods that I have accumulated over the years so I better start using some of it up.

[Bruce King]

Shiraz,
please show us pictures of all your projects and videos if possible. I was wondering if all that was in your home shop or do you also have one at work?

[Justin Rapp]

Very impressive and inspiring. Your home shop is a dream for so many of us, let alone the access you have to the shop where the video started.

[Andrew Hughes]

Thanks everyone for watching the video and your great comments.

I have literally tons of figured woods that I have accumulated over the years so I better start using some of it up.

I would like to suggest some furniture design or Regular design courses. It’s very easy to take a great idea and over do it with highly figured wood. A little bit goes a long way mixing up too many design elements creates Chaos.
Good Luck

[Shiraz Balolia]

I would like to suggest some furniture design or Regular design courses. It’s very easy to take a great idea and over do it with highly figured wood. A little bit goes a long way mixing up too many design elements creates Chaos.
Good Luck

My stuff is one of a kind and not for sale. There is nothing "regular" about my stuff that I should take "Regular Design courses".

I try to build what inspires me and not what you can buy at a furniture store. The boxes that I have posted a video of have a lot of different elements, but there is nothing chaotic about them. Not for everyone, either from a design or skill level - perhaps explains a couple of thumbs down on the video.

[Shiraz Balolia]

Shiraz,
please show us pictures of all your projects and videos if possible. I was wondering if all that was in your home shop or do you also have one at work?

Hi Bruce - I have two large personal shops. One at home that I have had for over twenty years and one at work where I have been able to add large 3 phase machines as well. Obviously, I have an advantage of owning large machinery companies, and also being fluid in both metal working and wood-working.

[Jim Becker]

It's truly fortunate that you enjoy both woodworking and metalworking...and I'm sure it's really enhanced your personal enjoyment of the business you're in because you can personally understand the customers' needs and desires.

[Peter Kelly]

The video came out great. I'd dial back on the handheld cameras and mix the shots with some fixed-position ones.

[Bruce King]

Shiraz, please check notifications tab at the top for a message.

[richard poitras]

My thoughts are , All the great works in art, style, and design were not standard. They were individuals that were inspired to design things the way they see them and experiment with new ideas thru their design thoughts, inspirations and materials. That’s how one grows as an artist, craftsman, and visionary.

[Ron Selzer]

I like what you made and would like to see more of your work as you get a chance
Ron

[richard poitras]

Shiraz, you have had few positive comments on your panel glue up jig and I must agree it looks like it is a great idea on how to get flat panels. I was just wondering if you by chance could show the panel glue up cabinet better? Especially the under side of one of the clamps shelfs to see how the pipe clamps are attached and in place or just a little more insite on how they and the cabinet are assembled. As I can see most of how it is, but not the clamp shelf itself?

Thanks Richard

[Shiraz Balolia]

What?!! you want all my secrets?

Actually - it is very simple and will post pictures when I can. I also have another one I made that is low profile for gluing two 1/8" thick pieces of material together for acoustic guitar tops and bottoms. Then after gluing, I would run them through the wide-belt sander to .90" thick. Pretty finicky stuff, so the gluing had to be dead on.

[Jim Becker]

Thanks in advance for detailing that panel glue-up clamp setup, Shiraz. Suggest you do a separate thread for that so that it's embedded in the search function easier for future reference! I know I want to make one for both my guitar work (caps for electrics) and other projects that will benefit from it.

[Tim Andrews]

Shiraz, that’s some beautiful work with lots of attention to detail, and a well made video. It’s great to see the owner/CEO of a company that makes woodworking tools who is passionate about the craft.

And don’t worry about any thumbs down, that happens to almost every video on Youtube. There are always people who seem to enjoy that, just ignore them.