Wood: Rosewood, Birdseye maple
Finish: Super-blonde shellac, wax. Two coats of shellac brushed on, sanded to take care of the grain-raising effects, four more coats padded on, let dry for a week. Wet sand with mineral oil and 320-, 400-, 600-, and 1000-grit wet/dry paper, rub out with mineral oil and pumice, then with rottenstone. Wax lightly.
Oldtools used: saws and planes, mainly. Miter trimmer for the joints. Extensive chisel work for the hinges and handle. String and pencil to lay out the arc for the front of the lid (very high tech), coping saw, spokeshave, and rasps to shape it..
Lessons learned: I still remember enough high school geometry after 35 years to calculate the radius of a circle given the dimensions of an arc. I also remembered to finish the inside of the box before glue-up (first time ever). You can change your mind if you don't like the way a project is headed.
Remarks: This project has a convoluted history. It started because my Visa card could not immediately be processed at the lumber store. So the guy behind the counter dragged me next door to look at some wood he had just gotten in. He called it rosewood; some true rosewood is now illegal to import, but this must be one of the legal ones. I don't know what else to call it though. I found a piece that had a nice box hiding in it and brought it home, eventually deciding I would make a relatively straightforward box with keyed miter joints using the "conventional" methods I have used before. It was really beautiful wood when finished; the pictures don't do it justice. The lighter grain near the bottom wraps around the sides. I was very careful to preserve this when cutting and fitting.
The top was a bit of a problem. I first made a small rabbetted top from a curly maple offcut. It did not have very interesting grain, and it was just slightly too small to look right. I used it because I wanted to show off the box to some galoots and it needed something on top. When I got back, I immediately set it aside and decided to start over. What this needed was some visual interest, so I bought a piece of birdseye maple and decided to add an arc across the front to prevent the box from looking too "boxy." Knowing the width of the box and the amount I needed to set back the arc to uncover most (but not all) of the top of the front wall, I was able to calculate the radius of a circle that would have those characteristics. I then drew the corresponding arc on the lid, cut it out with a coping saw, cleaned up the arc with spokeshave and increasingly fine rasps, and declared it a success.
All that was needed was a way to open the box. I had a very small piece of rosewood left over, because the board had a knot in it at the start. I had cut off this end and discarded the knotty half of the offcut, but this still left me with a big enough chunk to make a knob. I pondered the shape for about an hour before deciding on the one you see here. It works well and looks good to me. The knob is attached using a mortise and tenon. The knob is actually about 3/16 inch longer than you see here, and was rabbetted to provide a centered tenon about 1/8 inch wide. A 1/8 inch wide mortise was chiseled out of the front of the lid and the knob was fitted. Of course, the back of the knob started out straight. It had to be rounded to fit the arc on the front of the lid.
The lid was then attached with some brass hinges I had in the shop, let into hinge mortises in the lid and back wall.
