It was these trays that sparked the design of the entire clam jewelry box (I designed it inside out). I wanted to create a jewelry box with pivoting internal trays and what better shape could there be than a half circle (although I already have ideas for a rectangular jewelry box with similar internal design). There were many challenges with the design of the trays....
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I didn’t think there would be challenges to the abalone dot inlays, but there was. Maybe one day I’ll make my life easy and design and build a rectangular jewelry box like everyone else. A few of the inlays had to be drilled out and redone because they got tilted in the hole as I was tapping them in. Of course they were glued in to place with a quick...
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Making the half-circle front to the clam jewelry box can be done in two ways: A bent laminate ( bending veneers around a caul) A solid wood front built up with segments. I chose to use solid wood because I wanted the lid to be flush with the body of the box and I wanted the most durable method. The laminate/veneer method couldn’t tolerate the sanding necessary to...
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My newest and most challenging jewelry box ever will be this this one, ‘The Giant Clam’. I chose to work on the lid first because it seemed like the most challenging part. I knew I wanted to make the lid segmented for reasons of both aesthetics and wood movement/stability. The lid will be 18″ long by 9″ wide. Since I didn’t have much in...
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The finger pull for lifting the lid off the leaf box is accomplished using a vertical oscillating spindle sander. I have a Jet spindle sander and it doesn’t have the ability to tilt the spindle, so I had to make a jig to hold the leaf box body at a 45 degree angle as seen in the photo. The jig slides against a fence which I clamp to the table top and is aligned...
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The first thing I do when making a new batch of leaf boxes, or any project for that matter, is to look through my previous notes. I then prepare my tools and make sure they have everything they need; such as, sanding belts/discs, router bits, finishing supplies, hardware, etc. That way, if I don’t have something I need, I can order it early in the process. Next, I...
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