Coronet Box for Baroness Catalina d'ell Acqua

   Story and Construction

I had purchased some very nice 3/4" thick cherry from a lumber company in Canada, as well as some ash.  I liked the color and patterning of the cherry better than the ash, so I decided to use that to build the box.

Based on the lengths of cherry I had on hand, I determined that a box of approximately 8" wide by 9 1/2" long by 3 1/2" high (interior dimensions) could be constructed.  There was enough wood for a solid top, provided two pieces were glued together.  Unfortunately, there was not enough cherry for the bottom, so finish grade plywood was used. 

Once the dimensions of the box were determined, Geoffrey and I went to Seamus' house to make use of his power tools.  There the cherry was cut to length, and the two halves of the top were drilled so they could be pegged and glued.

Geoffrey and I then took the side pieces and laid out the finger joints.  The horizontal cuts were made with a small backsaw.  The vertical cuts between the horizontals were made with a fine bladed coping saw.  Rough finishing of the joints was done with chisels and files.  I saved some of the sawdust from the cutting to use later, mixing it with glue to make a wood filler that would match perfectly.

The two pieces of the top were pegged and glued together.  The sides were dry-fit and fine adjustments were made using X-Acto knives and files.  Once the fit was acceptable, the sides were glued together.

The box pieces then journeyed to Pennsylvania.  I utilized my uncle's rather extensive woodshop to cut the plywood bottom to size and begin the sanding of the sides and top.  Upon my return from Pennsylvania, I pegged and glued the bottom to the box.  I used a hand-held rotary drill, sometimes called a "Yankee Drill", to make the peg holes. 

This was followed by a second trip to Seamus' house for more power-tool work.  This time, we utilized his router with a 1/4" roundover bit to finish the edge at the bottom of the box.  We used a 3/8" straight bit, set to a depth of 1/8", to do the initial cuts for the inlay work.

I then took the box and lid to do the finish work.  I took the sawdust I had saved, mixed it with glue, and created a custom wood filler to fill in the small gaps remaining around the finger joints.  I then finished the cuts for the inlay.  The inlay consisted of ebony and ash diagonals in a strip, and ebony and ash rectangular "dots."  The strips were run parallel to the sides, about 1" in from the edges.  The dots were used at the intersection of the strips.

Once the inlay was glued in place and the wood filler had dried, the long process of hand-sanding began.  It took several days to sand off the excess wood filler, sand the inlay until it was flush with the top, and sand the overall piece to the desired smoothness.  The majority of the sanding was done with 100 grit.  Finish sanding was done with 320 grit to achieve an almost glasslike surface. 

The sealant I selected was a hand-rubbed polyurethane, for durability.  Four coats of hand-rubbed poly were applied, with light sanding between each coat to maintain the smooth surface.

The finishing touches included brass hinges to attach the lid to the box and a small brass latch.  Again, the Yankee drill was used to create pilot holes so the mounting screws for the hardware would not split the wood.  Self adhesive black felt was cut to size and used to line the interior of the box. 

Credits

  Marcellus

Design and layout

Finger joints

Peg and glue top

Peg and glue bottom

Fit and glue sides

Wood filler

Inlay

Sanding

Polyurethane finish

Hardware install

Geoffrey

Layout and rough cutting

Finger joints

Peg and glue top

Fit and glue sides

Routing for inlay

Seamus

Rough cutting

Routing for bottom

Routing for inlay

George

Routing for bottom

Routing for inlay

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