Stacking Jewelry Box
Construction Details



   The sides of the box and the lid were constructed out of one long piece of 5/8” poplar.  Therefore, the grain runs horizontally from the left rear corner of the box up to and across the front, and around the back again to the same corner.  All of the dadoes and rabbets were cut while the sides were still just one long board.  Then, the board was cut into four pieces and assembled into a box.  The bottoms to the three compartments and the lid are all made of ¼” poplar.  The section bottoms were added before the box was assembled, but the lid was fitted and added later.  The four corner joints are mitered and held in place with glue only.

  

  

  


   After I assembled the box, I sliced it into four pieces on the table saw.  I would have preferred to use the band saw but the box on its edge was a little too tall for my band saw’s capacity.



  


   One I had four individual compartments, I slightly chamfered all of the edges at my router table.  This gives the box its noticeable horizontal breaks between the sections.

  


   I added two pieces of ¼” poplar to each compartment to allow the boxes to stack without sliding apart.  At the short ends of each compartment I glued the ¼” pieces in place so that they protrude about 3/16” above the edge.  Since the bottoms of each compartment are in dados that are ¼” from the bottom, this allows these protruding pieces to stick up into the bottom of the next compartment.  Because there is one at each end, the compartments cannot shift side-to-side or front-to-back; they can only be removed by being lifted straight up.

  


   The next step was one of the longest and most painstaking, but also one of the most enjoyable and rewarding: using a woodburning tool to add the design detail to the front of the box and lid.  This whole process took a whole day.  Whenever I use a woodburning tool, I always start with a pattern on paper.  I tape that pattern in place on the wood and then I use an exacto knife to trace the pattern.  I poke through the pattern along the lines making a series of shallow dots in the wood.  Once I remove the pattern, I have a dotted line of my pattern in the wood.  Then I use a mechanical pencil with a very fine lead (usually 0.5mm) to lightly connect all the dots.  I end up with a faint pencil drawing of my pattern on the wood.  That pencil drawing is what I follow with the woodburning tool to make the final design image.

  

  

  


   After a lot of sanding, I stained the box inside and out using a gel stain in the color of Honey Maple.  Then I sanded the box again using very fine steel wool.  Then, I applied a coat of clear polyurethane as a protective finish, followed by another sanding with the steel wool.



   Finally, I cut some adhesive-backed red felt to fit the bottom of the compartments and stuck that in place.  The felt adds some protection for whatever jewelry is placed inside and it also adds a nice rich feel to the box.  The red contrasts nicely with the Honey Maple color of the box.

  


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