Well... it's not quite speakers, but it's a box!

[cjd]

Finally got my workshop into working order, and barely in time for a little gift-making. Not done unpacking, but through just about everything we can do without said workshop to build things like bookshelves...

Anyway, a little box-making practice, as it were.

Figured purple-heart and birds-eye maple. I need more practice, but it works.






Measurements and planning for the HT are also underway. No new speakers though, at least not at the moment. Budget needs managing, and any extra is going to the "fix the kitchen" fund (it works, but it's not much fun if you like to cook!) I'm doing the HT work, but NOT the kitchen work...

C

[Face]

Looks like you scored some nice purpleheart, the boards I have here have an odd grain and chunk off on the router table. Plus, it will turn brown quickly if left in sunlight...just a FYI.

[---k---]

Pretty. The top came out nicely. It will make a nice gift. I much prefer gifts that mean something or are unique.
Does it open? What are the dimensions? Looks like 8" ??

[cjd]

8" is about right - slightly wider, maybe 8.25". It opens (whole top comes off, small magnets in each corner) and is used for knitting; the ball of yarn goes inside, yarn gets pulled through the piercing, and it keeps it from rolling away/cats getting in etc. My wife is already putting it to good use.

Purpleheart appears to be miserable to work with. It chunks - I thought I'd messed up sharpening my hand plane till I got to the maple and it produced long thin curls that were translucent they were so thin, no chunking, no grabbing... so it may just be how it is. I'm sure having curly purpleheart made the grain rougher to work with. I know it'll brown - we'll see how that goes. The inside will hold out much longer though, at least.

[---k---]

Oooh. very nice.

[wkhanna]

:agree:

+1

[JonMarsh]

Nice, Chris... Now you just need to scale that up to make a nice subwoofer cabinet! But, I agree, the purple heart is a problem to work from what I've read- a good reason to select woods carefully. We used to sell Janis subwoofers that had a parquet quarter cut top like that made out of figured maple- looked pretty nice! :T

[Steve Manning]

8" is about right - slightly wider, maybe 8.25". It opens (whole top comes off, small magnets in each corner) and is used for knitting; the ball of yarn goes inside, yarn gets pulled through the piercing, and it keeps it from rolling away/cats getting in etc. My wife is already putting it to good use.

Purpleheart appears to be miserable to work with. It chunks - I thought I'd messed up sharpening my hand plane till I got to the maple and it produced long thin curls that were translucent they were so thin, no chunking, no grabbing... so it may just be how it is. I'm sure having curly purpleheart made the grain rougher to work with. I know it'll brown - we'll see how that goes. The inside will hold out much longer though, at least.

I better not let my wife see this, she will have me making one ...... she has the same issue with the yarn rolling away, as well as the cats. Though it might give me a project to work on while I'm still job hunting, since I have some material I could use.

I found padauk to behave the same way when I hit it with a router, came off in chunks. Out of curiosity, do you have a high angle frog for you hand plane? I picked up a 55 degree frog to use over the standard 45 degree and it makes a big difference with figured wood.

[cjd]

I'm just getting started on the good planes, but have a very good stone setup so even the cheap crappy plane does OK. Cross grain was OK, flattening was my trouble spot since I had to split a board to get the book matched panels. Ended up having better luck with 60grit on the orbital sander.

C

[Steve Manning]

I'm just getting started on the good planes, but have a very good stone setup so even the cheap crappy plane does OK. Cross grain was OK, flattening was my trouble spot since I had to split a board to get the book matched panels. Ended up having better luck with 60grit on the orbital sander.

C

I'm not that much further along myself, though this past year the family pitched in and I got a Lie Nielsen #4 smoothing plane, that's when I picked up the high angle frog. Boy talk about a night and difference over my cheap Groz planes. This is definitely one of those cases of you get what you pay for in the tool department.