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Finishing a wooden storage box
I'm not really a crystals person, but they seem to insist on finding their way to me, so I might as well make some nice storage for them. I found an unfinished wooden storage box, that had internal dividers. I was pleased when it turned out that they weren't really glued in, and with some persuasion I could remove them. They were the height of the body of the box, but the tumbled stones are small, so first thing I did was trim the dividers down to half height. The interlocking mechanism meant I had to remove a quarter from the top, and the bottom of each piece. The mystery wood is very soft, so all I had to do was score the wood a few times with a utility knife, and then snap the excess pieces off.
I took the hardware (the hinges and clasp) off with a regular electronics-sized Phillips head screwdriver. And then it was time to decorate. Intent on trying a little laser engraving, I bought a suitable svg design, and then played around with some settings on cardboard. When I was happy I marked the centre of the wooden lid with pencil, to help line up the camera, and set the laser to engrave the wood. It came out very sharp and clear. (Then I erased the pencil marking.)
Settings;
Vector
1 pass
power 70%
jog speed 3000mm/m
work speed 800mm/m
This time around I used the Sky Blue water based wood stain, and gave everything one coat. As that dried I researched finishes. This article, Selecting a Finish, explained things brilliantly for me. I selected a low VOC water-based clear matt interior varnish that was available to me locally, lightly sanded down the stained wood, and varnished all the interior parts (with a paintbrush) twice, and the exterior parts thrice.
Around this time Adam Savage released his video on making a storage box for shiny things. I stole the velvet lining idea from him. A piece of navy velvet was given to me many years ago and I just hadn't found a use for it. The interior base is just under A4 size, so I cut out a just-under-A4 piece of the velvet, and ironed it. I sewed dark blue ribbon around the edges (this was very frustrating) to finish the cut edges. Then placed it in the bottom of the box and replaced the dividers. I reassembled it with the original hardware, and was done. (It was fully cured in 3-4 days.)
It turned out pretty well. The engraving is too delicate to really show up after all the finishing, so next time I'll have to make sure I thicken up all the lines. The varnish is much more even, and feels nicer to the touch than my attempt at spray polyurethane. (That display box fits nicely inside this box on top the dividers.) It did take much longer, but it was worth it.
Trimming the internal dividers with a utility knife
Photo by ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chebe
I took the hardware (the hinges and clasp) off with a regular electronics-sized Phillips head screwdriver. And then it was time to decorate. Intent on trying a little laser engraving, I bought a suitable svg design, and then played around with some settings on cardboard. When I was happy I marked the centre of the wooden lid with pencil, to help line up the camera, and set the laser to engrave the wood. It came out very sharp and clear. (Then I erased the pencil marking.)
Settings;
Vector
1 pass
power 70%
jog speed 3000mm/m
work speed 800mm/m
SVG engraved on cardboard (left) and wooden lid (right)
Photo by chebe
This time around I used the Sky Blue water based wood stain, and gave everything one coat. As that dried I researched finishes. This article, Selecting a Finish, explained things brilliantly for me. I selected a low VOC water-based clear matt interior varnish that was available to me locally, lightly sanded down the stained wood, and varnished all the interior parts (with a paintbrush) twice, and the exterior parts thrice.
Around this time Adam Savage released his video on making a storage box for shiny things. I stole the velvet lining idea from him. A piece of navy velvet was given to me many years ago and I just hadn't found a use for it. The interior base is just under A4 size, so I cut out a just-under-A4 piece of the velvet, and ironed it. I sewed dark blue ribbon around the edges (this was very frustrating) to finish the cut edges. Then placed it in the bottom of the box and replaced the dividers. I reassembled it with the original hardware, and was done. (It was fully cured in 3-4 days.)
Interior of the finished box, with velvet and ribbon fabric beneath half-height dividers
Photo by chebe
It turned out pretty well. The engraving is too delicate to really show up after all the finishing, so next time I'll have to make sure I thicken up all the lines. The varnish is much more even, and feels nicer to the touch than my attempt at spray polyurethane. (That display box fits nicely inside this box on top the dividers.) It did take much longer, but it was worth it.
Exterior of the finished box
Photo by chebe