Location: San Antonio, TX

Hobbyist or Pro: Hobbyist

Experience: 0-2 yrs

Project Name: Marie’s Keepsake Box

Wood Species: Walnut, Walnut Burl Veneer, & Curly Maple Veneer

Finish Used: 3 coats of Enduro- Var

Project Description:
This is a keepsake box I made for my girlfriend. The plan is from a magazine and I decided on flocking the inside of the box instead of just using felt. This is my first time using veneers and inlay banding. I am pretty happy with how it turned out and am learning a ton. After making many of Marc’s clocks, I am getting the mitered splines down! Thanks for all you do!

Location: LaFollette, TN

Hobbyist or Pro: Hobbyist

Experience: 10+ yrs

Project Name: Jewelry Box

Wood Species: Cherry and Black Walnut

Finish Used: 3 coats of spray wet sanded Poly followed by 3-4 coats of paste wax.

Project Description:
First jewelry box I’ve built, but this was for a special granddaughter graduating from High School. Fairly simple joinery was used to make it sturdy. Top was made and then fitted to the rabbet in the top frame. Legs were made like a corner molding and glued to the box. Slider inside was made from 3/16 thick walnut and was spray-flocked inside. Divider was made from some blond maple I had laying around.

I don’t know about you, but I just can’t get enough woodworking content. You’d think I’d be sick of it after all these years of making my own, but there is just something about a well-produced woodworking show that puts a smile on my face. I was thrilled to see a new offering from retailer Highland Woodworking. The show is called “The Highland Woodworker” and is hosted by Charles Brock, a well-respected furniture-maker who recently produced some of the best sculpted rocker plans I have ever seen.

This is not a typical project-based show. The first episode includes an interview with Roy Underhill, a visit to Whiteside to see how they make router bits, a look at workbenches, a visit to a lumber supplier to learn about walnut, and a look at a new finishing system. The show will be released quarterly and is every bit as good, if not better, than anything you might see on television. Kudos to Highland Woodworking and Charles Brock for producing a great show!

I do have to mention that the show is heavily ad-supported with significant time given to commercial messages. After all, the show is provided by a retail store. There is also an unexpected religious proverb plopped right in the middle of the video that seemed out of place. All in all, a super high quality production from a well-respected source. I can’t wait for the next installment! By the way, if you look closely during the Workbenches segment, you might see my signature from when I taught a class at Highland Woodworking. Look ma! I’m famous!

To sign up for Highland’s email list, click here!
Visit The Highland Woodworker website!

Location: Cincinnati, OH

Hobbyist or Pro: Hobbyist

Experience: 10+ yrs

Project Name: Wedding Card Box

Wood Species: Mahogany and Purpleheart

Finish Used: Clear shellac was wiped on with a final coat sprayed on.

Project Description:
My sister needed a nice box to put envelopes and gift cards into when she got married but I didn’t want to go through the trouble to make something nice only to have it never seen again once the wedding was over. Instead, I made the box so it’ll also double as a keepsake box that she can use after the wedding. To convert the box from card box to keepsake box, I made a rectangular finial that drops into the slot to hide the slot.

The joinery was miter joints reinforced with purpleheart splines. The sides were attached to the base using No. 20 biscuits. The lock is fully mortised and the hinges are half mortised.

Overall I thought this was a fun project and was well worth the effort when I saw the look on my sister’s face when I presented it to her. Even though I’d been giving her periodic updates, she was thrilled with the result.

Website: http://watkinsgallery.com

City/State: Hurricane, UT

Hobbyist or Professional: Semi-Pro

Experience: 10+yrs

Tools Used: Both Power and Hand Tools

Project Name: Heritage

Materials: Solid Wood

Wood Species: Cuban Mahogany, Big Leaf Maple, Cherry, Walnut, Wenge and Brazilian Rosewood

Finishes Used: Oil/Varnish Blend, Wax

Finish Technique: Wiping

Project Description:
I produced this box as a Christmas gift for my mother. A number of years ago I had inherited a few boards of Cuban Mahogany out of my grandfather’s shop. I have memories of asking him about them in my younger years only to be told that he was saving them for something truly special. I remembered those words over and over throughout the years and as such, have squirreled the lumber away; saving them for something that I thought he would find truly special as well. That’s when the inspiration for the top hit and the rest took shape from there.

The top is pieced together similar to intarsia and are 100% solid. It is then framed in by the mahogany and beveled to give it a light look and feel. The body of the box is more mahogany that I mitered and splined to the rosewood legs. It’s lined with tan deer hide suede on the top, bottom and on the removable tray.

I finished the box with 3 coats of Maloof’s poly/oil, sanding out each coat after it dried and then followed that up with 3 coats of Maloof’s oil/wax; burnishing with finer and finer steel wool after each successive coat. The finish is absolutely satin smooth and is a wonder to touch.

I named the box “Heritage” as I couldn’t think of a more fitting name as it is truly a piece of art from my own heritage.

The clip is very interesting as it brings attention to the whole SawStop debacle. Pretty wild that the story hit mainstream media. But the real reason for me posting this is to give Peter a shout out. I think he did great and it was cool seeing his shop on a cable channel. And as tempting as it will be to get into a big SawStop debate, let’s not. :) I hear the dead horse whispering, “No mas! No mas!”

Location: Kissimmee, FL

Hobbyist or Pro: Hobbyist

Experience: 3-5 yrs

Project Name: Palm Boxes

Wood Species: Several Exotics

Finish Used: Two coats of clear Shellac (with 0000 steel wool in between) & one coat of Bri-wax.

Project Description:
A friend designed these boxes and I made a bunch from exotic scraps I saved. They are approximately 2 X 3 X 6. They make great small gifts and they are easy and fun to make.
Just a bunch of glue ups and 1/8″ brass pins for hinges. Thanks Marc for all you do for the wood working community.

Website: Lumberjocks.com/HughReeves

Location: Birmingham, AL

Hobbyist or Pro: Hobbyist

Experience: 0-2 yrs

Project Name: Walnut Keepsake Box with Inlayed Maple Initials

Wood Species: Walnut, Hard Maple

Finish Used: A few coats of heated BLO, then 3-4 coats of Pastewax

Project Description:
This is a box I built for my new baby nephew. He is the first child of my only brother and I wanted to do something special.

Before I go into any further details about the box, I want to express my sincere thanks to TWW. I discovered woodworking about 6 months ago and this box is my first real project. Marc’s videos (in conjunction with Rob Bois’s blog) have been pretty much the sum of my woodworking education. Perhaps the most striking feature of this box is the inlay of my nephew’s initials and I learned every single step of the process from Marc’s video on router-based inlays. So from myself, my brother and his wife, and my tiny new nephew, thank you so much for this incredible resource!

The box was made from some short walnut scraps sold on sale at my lumberyard. I think if I had had a little more experience, I would have chosen different (likely straighter) grain for the sides of the box. The dovetails are handcut with a super cheap saw and my homemade 1:8 dovetail marking gauge. I took full advantage of the sawdust/glue combo to hide gaps. Actually, after doing the inlay and seeing how wood-like the gaps were after adding a drop of CA glue, I did this for all the sawdust-filled gaps around my dovetails. It made for a LOT of CA glue sanding, but I thought it looked better afterwards. The top is two pieces glued together then run through my planer. I tried to slide my boards around to find color and grain pattern that looked relatively matched. The bottom is attached by brad nails and features wedged through-tenon feet that are pretty much a straight rip-off of Rob Bois’ Bible-box project (which this project was obviously heavily influenced by). The hinges were bought at my local woodcraft (perhaps my 3rd major source of knowledge). The inlay was cut out of hard maple using a cheap Ryobi scroll saw.

This box was incredibly fun to build and a MAJOR learning opportunity for me. I made several mistakes most of which I think I was able to conceal, but you can be the judge. Thank you again for this amazing resource that has made my nephew’s gift possible.

Location: Nashville, TN

Hobbyist or Pro: Hobbyist

Experience: 0-2 yrs

Project Name: Figured Cherry Jewelry Box

Wood Species: Cherry, Walnut

Finish Used: Cherry stain, lots of spray gloss poly

Project Description:
This is a gift I gave my wife, before she was my wife, a way of showing off my beautiful colored feathers so to speak!

It is made from figured cherry, It uses sliding dove tail construction through out. Although the box construction is mitered joints with walnut splines, I wish I had used some bright white maple or something, but you can still see the splines OK, they just don’t “POP” out as much as I would like.

I used the sliding dovetail joint to attach the sides (dividers) to the bottom, and then sliding dovetails to attach the back to the sides, and the same for the top compartment. This design is a slight modification to some designs I saw online where there was no top compartment, just drawers and the side wings. The drawers use sliding dovetails for the front to side connection, and a rabbet in the back.

I mortised in some very dense, very hard, and very brown, almost black wood (I have no idea what it is) into the sides as drawer slides then a matching mortise into the sides of the drawers. The handles, or “pulls” are made of black walnut. I used a bullnose and a cove bit to shape them, actually, one long strip, then cut each off the strip, they are mortised into the drawer fronts and wings.

It was a hard job to make myself deface the beautiful wood with the router, but I just bit the bullet and did it. The alternative would have probably been some cheap-o pulls from a big box store.

Believe it or not, the wife did not like the pulls!!! Also, I have slots in the bottom for some legs I was going to put on, with the sliding dovetail, but she vetoed that as well.

Well, thanks for looking, and please speak your mind!

With the help of his father, Michael Agate, he cuts and assembles the project in the family kitchen! So awesome! To make it all the sweeter, they filmed the entire thing for our enjoyment. Does my heart good to see a budding craftsman do his thing! Congratulations Matthew and thanks to Michael for being the supportive cameraman.