Vote For Your Favorite Baileigh Box Contest Entry

[Bill Wyko]

Ok, we need some pictures. While many of you will be using lasers my friend Paul has a Chevalet. This tool was created in the late 1700's for production marquetry. It has a foot activated clamp to hold your stack of veneers and a "D" shaped saw that is held perpendicular to your cut but will move front to back and in a side to side motion. You release the the foot lever that holds the veneer & you can turn and move your stack. It cuts through all your veneers at once so the pieces can be reassembled in the order you prefer. Anyway, enjoy the pics & good luck to everyone.

Then there's figuring out the veneers. Here are some I'm considering.

[Bill Wyko]

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Probably giving away some of the idea here but we need pics and post, come on everyone, lets see some teaser shots. This is the beginning of the marquetry from the Chevy posted above. One cut at a time.

[Matt Mitman]

Not entirely sure I'll have time to finish this, but figured I'd go ahead and get started and see how far I can go. The box itself wont take too long, but I still have to build the overly complex locking mechanism that'll go with it...

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[Dick Bipes]

I could use a box for my dado set. I'm thinking what says "industrial" better than diamond plate - custom Baileigh diamond plate?

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[Bill Wyko]

I have access to a laser but since it's a woodworking contest, I figured the challenge of cutting out the logo by hand and getting a learning experience from my friend Paul on Marquetry was a win in itself, he really is a master of Marquetry. Box is coming along beautifully, I have some veneer in the vacuum press flattening out so I can begin assembly. As I said before, this will bring out some heavy hitters. Looking good guys.

All cut by hand on an 18th century Chevalet. (Sorry about the dusty camera lens.)

[Matt Mitman]

Looking really nice Bill - the sawblade and drop shadow are a great touch.

Going to be a couple days before I get back out to the shop, so figured I'd post the small update since then, walls are on now, so when I get back, will dive into the mechanism that ties it all together

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[Dick Bipes]

Awesome works in progress!

I was still working on design, and got inspired to use the logo shape as the sides of a square box. Looking carefully, the sides of the logo have a subtle curve to them. It's obvious that the top and bottom are curved. This means that a box with logo-shaped sides would have no flat panels, and top and bottom would be compound curves. Not something that I've done before, but what the heck.

The attached rendering is crude and incomplete, but you probably get the idea.

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[Dick Bipes]

I've gotten a few parts cut out and am working on more. The top/cover will have a frame built around it and will be a little larger than just the inset piece. I cut some scrap plywood to roughly the shape of the sides to check my compound miter angles.

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[Dick Bipes]

I completed the sides and cut the critical miters. Looks like a good fit. Now you can see the subtle curve in the faces of the sides. With the straight edges of the boards no longer needed to cut the miters, the next step is to cut the top and bottom curves on the bandsaw.

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[Dick Bipes]

I machined the bottom but will wait until tomorrow to cut and fit it. Still working on the hinge design.

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[Dick Bipes]

Thanks!

Today I cut the bottom a bit oversize, then gradually "snuck up" on the exact dimensions by trimming a fraction of an inch on all sides, then test-fitting the part. In this photo I was nearly there - the bottom fits flush with the sides now. Starting to look like a box.

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Next it was on to cutting the curved frame pieces for the top and again making critical compound miter cuts for the proper fit. The frame is joined to the top with biscuits, and Ryobi mini biscuits are also used at the ends of the frames on the 45 degree angled surfaces.

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[Bill Wyko]

OK, more pics. This is the box all clamped up. Next I'll be rounding over the corners with the round over bit from hell. This thing is frightening to use so I take a LOT of small cuts little by little. Below are the pieces for the inlaid corners and the pieces it takes to do it. This is a technique I learned here on SMC. So now you can see where I'm going with it. The lid is almost done & I need to build the base next. Finish is my biggest challenge, I'll need the last 2 weeks to do it. With only 30 days, I have to go with what I know.
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[Bill Wyko]

Thanks very much.
The woods are Tropical Walnut, (very) curly Koa, burl Maple and hard Maple. The logo is Holly, ebony, canary and purple hart.
So far I've used my phone for pics, I'll take some better ones with my camera if I can get the 2 in the same room, I use my camera at work so I rarely remember to bring it home. Tomorrow night I'll build the base and should have a better idea of what the final look will be. I really hope I can be on to finish next week.
Here is a pic of one I did before, it's the opposite orientation of the one on this project.

[Dick Bipes]

I have a lot of sanding and finishing yet to do, but construction is pretty much done.

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I had picked out some unfinished, industrial-looking exposed hinges for this project, but because of the compound curves in the top these could not simply be screwed on. I was planning to machine some bosses into the top and back, but I decided that would spoil the looks, so switched to hidden hinges. To get the top to lift clear of the curved back before opening, I used a type of hinge often seen on automobile trunk lids. I went through a few iterations of test mules before getting the geometry correct. I would liked to have carved the hinge arms for some extra detail, but I am running out of time. I have already set aside two other projects and I need to get back at them. As is, they do add a bit of that industrial look to them in my opinion. I did spend more time on them than anticipated. You might not be able to see that the wood arms have brass tubing inserts at the pivots to act as bushings.

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[Matt Mitman]

Not quite as much progress today as I'd wanted, but at least the sides are cut and dadoed, so tomorrow can do the work on the latch setup.

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Cant really see it in the above picture, but there's a very shallow (1/42" or so) groove 1.75" tall around the bottom half that I'm going to inlay some figured veneer and maple/walnut pinstriping in. Still debating which veneer exactly I'm going to use, but probably B from below. Just figured I needed to do something to dress up that plain walnut a bit
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