Making a simple box stunning!

Thanks to the X-carve I have taken what is a simple keepsake box and made it something special with a personalized inlay

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Beautiful! Nice job.

Great job. Liking the lego touch.

Sweet piece

How did you go about cutting the dovetails? by hand or machine? if the latter, which one? I like the spacing of the pins as it does not look too cluttered…

The joinery is hand cut. They are full-pitch dovetails rather than the half-pitch. I also like the less busy look, thanks!

That is truly beautiful! :+1:

Nice box, but really well done dovetails! Those are not easy to get so crisp looking. I too am not familiar with half vs. full pitch dovetails and I’m pretty well-versed in woodworking vernacular.

What I was taught by my grandfather was that half-pitch dovetails are cut at approx .75" centers and full-pitch at 1.5" centers. That was his sizing for average sized drawer boxes. I’ve found throughout the years that regardless of the size of dovetail, I just double the spacing for full-pitch and less cluttered joints.

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Beautiful! What kind of wood is that?

Thanks for the explanation, @KenMcphee! Interesting. Is that related to using 3/4" wood?

The thickness of the wood doesn’t really come into play with the distance between pins and tails. I like to spread the pins out and have longer tails simply for the esthetics.

Great box! Love the wood… Love the H on the helmet (my boys wear H’s :smiley: )

It’s Black Walnut.

My sons name is Henderson, try to brand all the things I make for him with an “H”

not just a simple box. a nice dovetailed piece of art to begin with but made even nicer.

Love seeing skilled woodwork. Dovetails have to be one of the most difficult, “simple” woodworking tasks.

As a tradesman in the metalworking field, I used to brag tha I could disassemble a broken device and machine a new version of whatever was broken and then reassemble it. Wood always left me wondering. In metal, I can machine close tolerances and build-up surfaces that have worn away.

In wood, you either get it right, or you begin again. There’s no welding or filling of gaps.

Nicely done.

David,

Thank you! I was blessed with an amazing grandfather who had a Japanese detail saw In my hands before I could read.

I’d be very interested in your thoughts and opinion on the japanese saws - I have a flexible flush-cut saw with that typ of tooth pattern, but I’ve always used a traditional tenon saw, cross-cut and rip-saw (and the three finger, one thumb grip). I suspect these finetooth saws would produce a nice cut, but I’ve not had the $$ to buy a good quality Japanese saw to try, and I’m a little dubious about the two handed grip.