[MikeFL]

I just finished a jewelry box for my girlfriend for Christmas. It is Bubinga and Maple. It has brass hardware and each drawer is lined with a blue velvet. The first two drawers have ring holders. The others are open but lined with velvet. The sides open for necklace storage and are also lined with velvet. The necklace doors are held shut with a small magnet in one door and a small washer on the main body.

The finish is Waterlox glossy. It currently has 4 hand wiped coats and I will probably try to beg it back from her to do a couple more cuz I'm fussy like that.

I hadn't done in woodworking in about 3 years since I went through a deevorce when I lost my garage shop and nearly all my tools and near everything else. I have an apartment now with a crowded single car garage and had to roll out other things every time I wanted to use the table saw, but where there's a will there's a way. All was left is a 1920's tablesaw that was my grandpa's and a router... and a 1/4 sheet sander. This was made using hand tools and those 3 things. The challenge of sawing 6" x 1" board down to two useable 3/8 pieces was tricky. Some of you probably have done this and know what I mean. A bandsaw, an edger, and a planer would have come in real handy.

Anyway I just wanted to make something nice for my lady friend in spite of not having a proper workshop full of tools to do it with. My hope is it is something she can use and treasure her entire life.

Thank you, Mike
Jacksonville, FL

 

[Sawdustguy]

Beautiful design, and workmanship. She should be very pleased with such a personal gift.

 

[landman]

That is a beauty Mike. Hope she has a lot of bling or you will be buying some to fill this gem.:laughing:

 

[Travico]

If you can build that under those conditions and with those tools, you don't need no TRAINING! That jewelry box is FINE looking!!

 

[johnnie52]

That is a real beauty!

I also know the pain of having to move things around to get things done. Every project is more of an exercise in moving tools than actually using them. :laughing:

 

[Carvel Loafer]

So nice. My lady wants one too but wants to design it. Some good ideas here, thanks for posting.

 

[Ostie]

I've enjoyed having the excuses that "I don't have a... (true workshop, jointed, bandsaw, etc)" as to why I can't produce truly fine furniture and projects. Thanks for shooting that down :/

 

[Masterjer]

Beautiful work. I love the bindings and maple look. Did you use plans for this, or design it yourself?

 

[MikeFL]

Thank you everyone. You all are too kind. I didn't use plans I just saw something similar on the internet after searching for images. I changed mine up a bit just trying to improve on it. I already had in my mind one with drawers and a single side for necklaces but I saw this one with two sides for necklaces and I liked it better.

But no plans, I like figuring that part out for myself. That was one of the hardest parts... trying to determine the sizing on everything for function and fit. My goal was a two playing card tolerance for the spacing between the drawers, where the sides meet the drawers, and above and below the sides where they swing out. It was tricky to get the spacing right on the drawers and end up with the the height I was committed to after cutting the back and side pieces. So a lot of time was spent calculating and testing the fit with scrap pieces. Lots of measuring and even used the mircomiter quite a bit.

To the comment about filling it with jewelry LOL I heard that one already from my coworker. She has some jewelry already in a Wal-Mart grade small box she can move into the new one and I'll work on helping her fill this one. She is a terrific lady and deserves it.

Here are a couple of photos of my "workshop". In order to use the tablesaw I had to open the garage door and push a small fishing boat and couple of bicycles out the door about 3 feet. Last week one morning it was 40 degress out so that was a chilly start to the day If you look really close on the workbench / router table you can see this project partially under a towel. I always covered it so it would be a suprise on Christmas Day. It was a tight space to work in for sure and having more tools like I use to have would have been nice. But it got done.

Thank you all for your kind words. I could only hope to aspire to be as good as you all are one day after a lot of practice. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas.

Mike

 

[robert421960]

thats a beautiful jewelry box :yes::yes:

 

[Burb]

Mike, this is absolutely beautiful and very similar to the one I have partially designed to build for my daughter. Would you mind posting some up close shots of the side hinges for the doors and the washer/magnets? Also maybe the drawer slides. And thanks for sharing the project. Very inspiring to me. I hope I can make mine look half as sweet as yours.

BTW, where do you get all your velvet?

Mark

 

[Carvel Loafer]

OK Mike, I will not complain about my small shop any more.

I hope you can rebuild your tool inventory soon.

 

[aaronhl]

Yea so if you have limited tools and space but can make a piece like that, I SHOULD NOT complain about what I have (or don't have) and not worry about not having what I need to do what I want.

 

[chsdiyer]

Mike, that turned out great! But what's with all the bubbles in the finish? Just kidding, glad you got that all worked out. I was fed up last weekend with having my yard for a shop and all my tools crammed in a 6x6 shed, but seeing what you've been able to do has inspired me to get over it. Nice job again!

 

[MikeFL]

Ha-ha! I'm still fussing with the finish trying to get all of the bubbles out the thick coats. My girlfriend is being patient and letting me putz with it a few more days. She's a gem like that.

Good deal on your 6 x 6 shed. You know when there's a will there's a way. It was very challenging with limited tools but she was thrilled with it on Christmas day and is showing it to everyone on Facebook. That makes it all worthwhile. You all know there's nothing better than to have folks appreciate your work after you put all of that time into a project.

To the fellow that asked for the close up shots let me work on that. I just got back from my Mom's house where there is no internet or cellphone signal so running behind on emails and internet posts.

I got the velvet from Rockler.com as they guarenteed that the ring holders and adhesive backed velvet were the same color... and they were. Very high quality stuff to work with. Not cheap but easy to work with. I ended up wrapping the top of the drawer with it and it's 1/8 inch and it stuck to it well. So very nice stuff to work with.

Here is the site I got the idea from. He even has a YouTube video that shows more detail. I changed mine up from his on the top, adding the velvet, I recessed my side pieces and butt joined most everything, the wood obviously, and the brass knobs. But this gentleman deserves the credit for the design. I only tried to make something similar from his photos and video and make it more appealing to ladies with the brass and velvet.

http://www.artistic-wooden-boxes.com/hanging-jewelry-organizer.html

I hope you all had a great Christmas.

Mike

 

[Burb]

To the fellow that asked for the close up shots let me work on that. I just got back from my Mom's house where there is no internet or cellphone signal so running behind on emails and internet posts. I got the velvet from Rockler.com as they guarenteed that the ring holders and adhesive backed velvet were the same color... and they were. Very high quality stuff to work with. Not cheap but easy to work with. I ended up wrapping the top of the drawer with it and it's 1/8 inch and it stuck to it well.

No hurry. I appreciate your willingness to help me.

Mark

 

[MikeFL]

Mike, this is absolutely beautiful and very similar to the one I have partially designed to build for my daughter. Would you mind posting some up close shots of the side hinges for the doors and the washer/magnets? Also maybe the drawer slides. And thanks for sharing the project. Very inspiring to me. I hope I can make mine look half as sweet as yours.

BTW, where do you get all your velvet?

Mark

The magnet and washer I got from Woodcraft. It was just a smaller magnet that seemed to have enough holding power to some smaller washers they had. I drilled holes for both and glued them in with regular wood glue. Here are a couple of photos. I tried to mount them up high as to not be as unattractive. For sure there is probably a way to do it so it looks better.

 

[MikeFL]

The hinges are just 6" brass hinges with a 45 degree stop. If you look at the photo of the magnet above you can see these outside pieces are just a box shape with 4 sides and a center, and simple butt joints. So the hinge screws to this one "box" like piece. The wood I used for the back of the overall jewelry box has a rabbit cut of 1/8 inch so the hinge sits flush with the edge of that piece, and the other side screws to it.

You can see in the photo the hinge is a little proud on the back but I figured it didn't matter since it's on the back. Using a thicker back piece or smaller hinge would hide this. Does that make sense?

Mike

 

[Maylar]

Awesome project, Mike. And hats off to ya for working with Bubinga - that stuff is as hard as nails.

 

[Burb]

Mike,

Thank you very much for posting additional info for me. I appreciate it. The jewelry box I was planning on making for Christmas has been turned into a graduation gift, which gives me a few more months to make it since graduation is this May.