Fine Wood Jewelry Boxes Blog

Part 2: Choosing your pattern and laminating your wood to form a solid block. Choose a simple pattern at first, one with smooth lines and only one drawer that is more oblong that will sit flat when you take the drawer of the box as you will need to master the band saw before moving on to the more complicated designs. After you have selected your pattern for your jewelry box, here are the next steps to follow.

1. Say your box is 5” high by 7” long or wide by 4” deep you will need to buy your wood at lease 5 ¼”-5 ½” wide, four quarter wood is usually 7/8”-15/16” thick and five quarter is about ¼” thicker but more expensive, but can be worth it. Measure the wood carefully before you buy, measure twice, cut once. You will need to buy enough wood to allow for cutting (1/8”-1/4”) the boards to correct length, adding the same to each boards length, for ex-sample your length is 7” cut your board 7 1/8”-7 ¼” long x 4 or 5 boards depending on the width of your wood and then, cut the boards 7 ¼” long.

2. Sanding your board flat on both sides, this can be achieved with a hand sander or a belt sander; which ever you choose is easier. You will need to laminate the boards to form a solid block of wood; wood-bonding glue is available through most wood or hardware stores. Use a hand roller to spread the glue evenly on one side of each board and allow to dry for a minute or so, then stack the boards with a zig-zag end pattern for an interesting look, then clamp the boards tight, using a strip of wood under each clamp with protect the block of wood from obtaining clamp marks. Set aside for about an hour or so, then remove the clamps and sand the bottom of your block flat.

3. Draw your pattern on the block of wood by placing carbon paper under the pattern and tracing the pattern on to the wood. Join me next week for the continuing series, part 3 cutting out the boxes drawer.

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