Box # 59

American wormy chestnut, 13 x 10 x 3.  Lined in crushed velvet.

 

Too Many Clamps?

NEVER!
Wooden clamps to clamp wood. Specifically, shop-made hand screws. Dimensions and materials are not important, however I will give some as a starting point. Do not use pine nor poplar. Quarter-inch threaded rod will work. Hardware is available at Lowes, or Home Depot.

Note on holes: Tee nuts must be a snug fit. Rod holes must be a loose fit. Handle holes should be snug and the rods threaded in. Nail holes must be snug, with rod flats up for drilling. Lightly peen nails. A drop of cyano glue might be used for snug fits. Tee nuts are of the type with holes around the rim, no teeth. Large dowels may substitute for turned handles. Use tap-tap, tap to enlarge drawing. Making hand screws is a good winter activity. Groups of three is convenient.

Box # 55

Walnut, Cuban mahogany, poplar. Four display surfaces. A place to display pins, badges and awards.

Box # 1

 

Sassafras and walnut, 12 x 6 x 2-1/2. Original intarsia design titled, Fading Dogwood: dogwood, tulipwood, osage orange, cocobolo, dyed ash. This is the box that started it all. It was presented to its owner on Valentine’s Day 1996. I have made many, many boxes with this intarsia design.

Box # 34

Cherry, Paulownia, ebony, 9 x 7 x 2-1/2. Nature from time to time presents us with fanciful scrap wood grain. I have titled this intarsia polar bear, in elm with an ebony eye, Into the Arctic Night.

Chips

Walnut, 9 x 5 x 2. This Art Nouveau work is my graduation project from carving school. Call it a pipe rack. The design is copied from a roughly scroll sawn plywood original.

Cool Colt

Walnut, 14 x 8. What better way to display a Colt Navy 1851 reproduction revolver? Crossed anchors with thirteen stars all on a sailing ship transom . Maybe the label is whale bone?

Box # 20

Cherry, elm, ebony, 9 x 5 x 3. Prairie house with wheat motif a la Frank Lloyd Wright. Inlay ebony, pink ivory, purple heart, brass.

Box # 17

Fumed white oak, 9 x 7 x 3. Torii form, wedged through tenons a la Gustav Stickley. Art glass top panel and musical movement.

Box # 21

Painted, sculpted pine, 9 x 7 x 3.

a la Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

Stenciled cabbage roses.

Box # 22

Painted, sculpted pine, 9x7x3.
a la Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
Pierced lattice with art glass glazing.

Box # 19

Mahogany and ebonized holly, 9x7x3. a la Greene and Greene. Intarsia pink ivory, cardinal wood, turquoise, brass. Concealed rod hinges.

Box # 18

      

 Cherry, 9x7x3, art glass top panel, concealed rod hinges.

Cuckoo

A rustic mountain dwelling in Japan. The traditional hourglass gourd pendulum bob tells us sake is brewed here. The ball of evergreen branches at the roof peak has turned brown, the sake is ready. When our bird emerges to announce the hour, we hear forest sounds and his call is echoed by another.

Quicky

This small clock case, 7H x 5W x 3D, is constructed from glued-up oak blocks, as few as two. The movement is an inexpensive “fit-up”, friction fit in a large scroll sawn hole. The “feet” are simply routed edge treatment. These cases are quick to make and are great gifts. Need clock movements or parts click HERE.

Arts & Crafts Carriage Clock

A carriage clock is small, designed for traveling, and developed in the early 19th century in France where they were also known as Officers' Clocks. The first carriage clock was built for the Emperor Napoleon in 1812.

This clock has an “atomic” or radio controlled movement. It receives a radio signal from WWV in Fort Collins CO which keeps its time to one second and automatically toggles ST/DT. Twice a year when Daylight Saving Time toggles, I have many clocks to reset and this clock makes the job quick and accurate.

The case is 10H x 7W x 5D and has a front and back door. Both door frames incorporate positive and negative cloud lifts.The carcass is mahogany, joined by the Japanese joint of five (three in this case). All joints are pinned with square ebony plugs. The ebony handle is distinctively Oriental. The glass in the front door is “seedy restoration”. The clock face and rear door panel are white oak with distinctive flame grain. This design is in the Greene and Greene genre.

Modified Craftsman Clock Case

The original Los Barrios clock case has a pleasing shape I call torii form. It is common in Arts and Crafts design and especially in Stickley works. It is very much like the Shinto temple gates (torii) in Japan.

  

I wanted to add more Japanese architectural design elements to this mahogany case. I curved the top with large overhangs as in a temple roof. I replaced the fixed rear panel of the original with a door. The door contains a Paulownia panel with a chip-carved grass (rice?) motif. The grate on the front door is replaced with a piece of art glass. The flush hinges on the doors are replaced with concealed rods. The cross bar at the bottom of the front door now has a cloud lift shape. All joints are square-pegged in ebony as in Greene and Greene designs. Brass door latches are replaced with sliding pegs. The clock face, also Paulownia, has hand-painted numerals in our interpretation of the shodo style. A bold chime, which would have overpowered the aesthetic, is replaced with a simple one-note passing bell.