# Walnut and Cherry Jewelry box



## The Everyman Show (Jul 10, 2009)

Hello to everybody and happy new year to all. It has been a while since I have posted anything – lots of reasons why but none that I’m happy with – but I have been checking the forum every week or so.
So I recently bought a 2003 VW GTI for my son for his 16th birthday that had 105,000 miles and in need for a major service. I know a gearhead here at work and he knows I do some woodwork in my spare time and he proposed a trade for a jewelry box for the service work. We agreed to write off the labor but pay for our respective materials. Bingo. He gave me approximate dimensions, approximate wood color, finish sheen request and he wanted to know if it could have some kind of a rose design inlaid in the top. And so the deal was struck. He had about 20-hours in the service work and I had about 25-hours in building the box. His box materials came to $60.00 and my service materials came to $185.00. A net cost of $125.00 (a local dealership wanted $1,400.00 plus tax for the same service).
The box is all 4/4 Walnut. The rose inlay and the corner splines are Cherry. Overall size is 13-1/2” x 9” x 5-1/2”. I like how it turned out, but more importantly his wife is happy how it turned out.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*beautiful work*

Top notch as usual John. :thumbsup: The inlay is really cool. I see you used the dreaded support bar type hinges that require a narrow slot to allow the bar to retract in the edge of the side piece.
I had a tough time figuring how to make the slots on my Keepsake Box. How did you make yours? Did you take any pictures as you went along? Nice barter BTW.  bill


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## robert421960 (Dec 9, 2010)

dude that is really awesome
love the inlay:thumbsup:


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## phinds (Mar 25, 2009)

Nice work & great thread. Thanks.


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## aardvark (Sep 29, 2011)

Ah.
Timing belt/water pump eh?
Doing the same with a Audi bought for my son 2 weeks ago. Belts good for 105k, and the car has 111k (overdue). Zero clearance engines, by the way.

Nice work on the Jewelry Box. The inlays always intrigue me on how they are done. I'm not that delicate in my work. Nice wood choices as well.


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## jamesrhull (Feb 16, 2011)

That is some fabulous work. Thanks for sharing.


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## rayking49 (Nov 6, 2011)

Nice box, love the rose.

Sent from my iPhone using Wood Forum


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## desertforest (Aug 6, 2011)

grreat box. the inlay looks really good. :thumbsup: yes, can you tell us if you hand carved it or used a router, dremmel, what?


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## ACP (Jan 24, 2009)

Nicely done! Nice box and nice deal.


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## backdrpaul (Dec 30, 2009)

Great job! It looks like everybody wins in this trade. Nice!


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## Kenbo (Sep 16, 2008)

Very nice work indeed, but I would expect no less from you. Great job.


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

Very nice box. Excellent detail in that inlay. 
A true master at hand.


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## aaronhl (Jun 2, 2011)

I like the levels or shelves!


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## Fsucraigk (Nov 4, 2011)

Beautiful work on the box. I love when people are able to trade time or resources to save money. Great job all around!


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## Warnock (Apr 4, 2011)

Beautiful work. Even gave me a couple of ideas.

Well done.


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## The Everyman Show (Jul 10, 2009)

Thank you all for the kind remarks and positive comments. 
Bill to answer your question I don’t have any in progress pictures for the hinge mortising. I made some similar boxes earlier last year and used the same type of hinge and I learned on those boxes that you need to remove an unusually large amount of material in order for the hinge and the arm to work and with that in mind I did all the mortising on the box and nothing on the lid. I removed all the excess material by drilling a series of 3/16” holes and cleaned it up with an ‘engineered’ gouge I made from a Craftsman awl. In fact you can see the awl/gouge in one of the above pictures, it’s right next to my hammer and I don’t think I’ll be giving Marples a run for their money anytime soon :no:.
Desertforest for the inlay detail – to make the stem I made a slightly curved template from ¼” MDF and used it to router both the cut out and the inlay piece and once the fit was good I moved onto the leaves and flower. I chiseled the leaves and the rose flower to the desired shapes and then traced them onto the lid. I removed the majority of leaf and flower material with a router. I did it freehand, hence the blue tape to show me the limit of how far to go because my pencil lines don’t show up very well on walnut. Then I whittled and trimmed all the pointy corners and tight angles with my chisels and small carving tools. It was a little fiddly and tedious but as long as my blades stayed nice and sharp and I didn’t get too impatient it really didn’t take long at all.
Aardvark you are right on :thumbsup:: timing belt, tensioner and spark plugs. The water pump had already been replaced at some point.
It feels good to be doing something productive again and to get a jump start on the new year I already have my four major projects lined out for this year : A Tallboy chest of drawers for our bedroom, a Bolivian Rosewood jewelry box for my wife, a Victorian themed coffee table with roll out storage and a long overdue overhaul of our pantry cabinet in the kitchen. Quite an eclectic mix of wood stuff so be on the lookout for future postings.


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## johnnie52 (Feb 16, 2009)

Very, very nice work o the box and very nice work on the car repairs... I am very impressed...


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## Fudwrecker (Jan 27, 2011)

I'm thinking he got the better deal - very nice work


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## Wood85 (Jan 9, 2012)

*Amazing Jewelry Box!*

Words can't express the beauty of the jewelry box that you made! I absolutely love the flower inlay. How did you learn how to do inlays? Did you teach yourself? I also think that it's really cool that you bartered with the mechanic for his services. The barter system seems to be lost these days. I'm glad to see that it's still used. I want to make one of these for my wife, she's been asking for a jewelry box. Great work.


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## BaltimoreBamBam (Jan 11, 2012)

This is pretty random, but I'm very interested in learning to do inlays. Is there a video online that I can watch to get an idea of how to do it, or maybe even someone in the Baltimore area that does it that would let me watch a couple times? I think that stuff is so beautiful, and would love to learn how to do that.


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## bigcouger (Jan 4, 2012)

Looking good keep up the great worl


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## GROOVY (Apr 27, 2008)

"It was a little fiddly and tedious" worth it.... I say!


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