Mahogany Jewelry Box

Sorry about yet another delay in my blog activity.  This time it was due to technical difficulties with uploading photos onto my computer.  I have a host of exciting new projects to post about, starting with this one.  In October, I made a dovetailed jewelry box out of mahogany with a lift out tray.  This was destined to go to a very special recipient.  It was a birthday present for Courtney, my girlfriend.

I decided to use five dovetails for the box, the outside tails are narrower than the middle three.  It serves double duty as both a design element as well as the housing for the groove that holds the bottom and lid inside the box.  

Because I used grooves to hold the bottom and lid instead of separate units, I needed to hide the grooves.  I thought of a number of solutions to this, and finally decided to rabbet the ends of the tailboard about flush with the groove's bottom.  This meant that the groove was eliminated from view, inside and out.  There were drawbacks to this solution, most notably that the tails became only about 3/16 of an inch thick.  I figured that the box will see minimal abuse; therefore, the extra thin tails wouldn't be a problem.

I used the same strategy for concealing the groove in the lift out tray

The tray nests inside the larger box, flush with the top edge.

The lift out tray nests inside the larger box, and contains the bottom with grooves and uses the same method of concealing the grooves with a rabbet.  It rests on mitered slats glued to the inside faces of the box.  These slats were carefully fitted to the inside dimensions, mitered, and then precisely fitted for width so that the tray has a continuous surface to sit on.  

The bottom is lined with felt 

The tray was intentionally sized larger than the space it occupies in order to be fitted later.  I achieved a precise fit by taking shavings from the tray's faces until it coasted down on a cushion of air.

I finished the box with shellac and wax.  My first step in this process was to lightly sand any imperfections out of the surface with 400 grit paper.  Then I brushed on a coat of garnet shellac.  The garnet shellac really brings out the depth of the mahogany.  I then rubbed the finish with #0000 steel wool in between coats.  In all, there were six coats of garnet shellac.  I followed that up with paste wax.  I place a scoop of paste wax in a rag, and work it across the surface, letting the wax seep through the cloth which coats the surface in a very thin film.  The wax enhances the texture of the wood and gives the exterior an incredibly smooth texture. 

This jewelry box was a fun, small project.  I love making boxes because they are simple, yet stimulating, and very practical.  My first project was a jewelry box, and I learned a lot from that, and each box I have made since then, I learn something new.  When all was said and done, I was very excited to give it to Courtney, and she was delighted and surprised when she saw it.  I would recommend something like this as a first dovetailed piece for anyone who is looking to put their dovetailing skills to use.  It's small and manageable, yet rewarding nonetheless!