A New Build (Along)

[BrokenolMarine]

The last thing I worked on yesterday was the bare bottom of the box.... So naked.

146 bare bottom.jpg

I had tooled that nice piece of leather, and dyed it. It was glued to a foam spacer. Time to test fit IT to the bottom cavity in which it will live.

147 bottom dressed.jpg

I think it looks pretty good, and provides a space for my Maker's Mark.

[BrokenolMarine]

I plan to work on the velvet installation today, then the hinges. We are almost done. If not today, then by the end of the week.
I can't wait to get this one in the can and shipped to the doc. He knows about the knife, but not the box.

[BigAl52]

What a nice gift and made by a true craftsman. Nice job Jim it looks awesome

[markiver54]

What a nice gift and made by a true craftsman. Nice job Jim it looks awesome

What Al said!

[BrokenolMarine]

I am moving into the real pucker factor areas... gluing in the velvet and the screwing in of the hinges. those are the two remaining areas where I can mess up royally. The cutting of the mortises was the first. I'll have to be very careful drilling the pilot holes for the tiny nails to hold the mahogany trim piece in place as well. But that will just mean a steady hand and using the 123 blocks and clamps and setting the depth and going slowly.

[BrokenolMarine]

Pucker Factor Time!

I went out this afternoon after lunch and using a 1/32 bit, after carefully measuring and marking the exact locations and lightly center punching the marks.... drilled the holes for the very small brass nails for the trim ring. Then I placed the ring on the box and clamped it into place, and using the holes I just drilled, drilled the matching holes in the box. I had to do this BEFORE the lining was in place to avoid covering the lining with sawdust. After the job was done the ring and the nails were removed and set aside.

148 trim ring.jpg

Once that was done, it was time to affix the lining to the insert then install them both in the box. I got one shot, so I had to go slow and insure it was done correctly. After careful consideration, I went with double sided tape for the bulk of that installation. The tape had the side facing up still covered after it was all in place.

When I was ready, I pulled the tape OFF the piece in the bottom of the void cut for the knife and carefully lowered the center of the velvet panel into the void, wrapped around the knife... and pushed down along the length to insure full contact. Then I folded the velvet over the knife to expose the strips on the far edges of the inserts, pulled the tapes and then carefully folded the edges back and smoothed them into contact with the double edge tape.

Once I was satisfied, I put the insert into the box with the folded velvet centered in the insert. One by one I exposed the tapes on the inside edges of the box and pulled the edges of the velvet up into contact. Each was smoothed and buffed into full contact with the tape. Lastly, I exposed the tapes on the top edge of the box and folded over the velvet.

Now it was time to carefully trim away the excess and trim the corners to lay flat. Then I installed the top mahogany trim after running a bead of superglue around the top with a dab at each nail hole. The nails were put into the holes and clamped tight to insure they went fully into the seats.

149 lining installed.jpg

Next up? Installing the hinges on the top and then to the box.... REAL pucker time. Tomorrow maybe...

[BrokenolMarine]

Got out in the shop this afternoon and the first thing I did was take all the clamps off and check to insure that the knife still fit in the slot in the box. It did. Looks good in there too! The clamps left a couple smudges on the mahogany, so I taped the inside and lightly sanded with 1,000 grit, and then wiped the mahogany with a light pass with medium walnut watco oil. We are good.

150 knife fits.jpg

Now we are back to pucker time. I test fitted the hinges one last time, in the mortises I precut. A thin line of superglue and held them in place for five minutes or so. Then I took my spring loaded center punch and ... center punched them.

151 center punched hinges.jpg

I found the bit that matched the brass screws for the hinges and tested it in a wood scrap. Too small, up one, tested. Worked good. marked the depth with blue tape. A good 1/4" from coming out the top of the lid. Drilled the four holes. Using one screw, I tapped the four holes and backed the screw out, then put a drop of glue in each hole and THEN screwed in the brass screws. YOU must be careful not to overtighten these, the heads will snap off.

152 hinges mounted.jpg

I repeated the process to attach the mounted hinges to the box. Once the top was mounted, I waxed the box with two coats of beeswax. We are done.

[BrokenolMarine]

There were a few small things I wasn't happy with, and I could have gone a bit farther and taken a chance to fix them. Rolled an edge there to blend, sanded an edge there to match... I had come too far to risk it and the box looks good as is. Most of the errors aren't things the average joe will notice. They'll bother me, but not many others. I decided to leave them

Done, a look from the front....

153 DONE front view.jpg

A look at the back...

154 DONE back view.jpg

The knife is home... it fits and I like the accent of the brass nails around the top of the mahogany and the brass hinges.

155 Knife is home.jpg

It's been a long build... don't know if I will post the damascus and turquoise build.... maybe just the finished project.

[CT_Shooter]

Outstanding craftsmanship, Marine. The good Doctor will no doubt be very impressed by your work and deeply grateful for your acknowledgement of the cutting edge role he plays in your life. Really cool.

Thanks for sharing it with us. I've totally enjoyed it.

[markiver54]

Excellent build Jim! looks fantastic. Thanks for taking us along on this one.
Doc is the lucky one and I know how it must make you feel to present it to him.