Sapele Memory box

[mark2]

This memory box / small chest was made at the request of my daughter to give to friends that lost their 2 year old son and his grandfather in a tragic swimming pool accident earlier this summer in Dallas TX.

The box is made of sapele with maple accents, 11" deep x 17" wide and 11" tall. Coves for the top were cut using table saw and scrapers. The miters were a struggle to get close to accurate (next project might be a shooting board so I don't have to freehand them with a plane)
Finish is 4 coats GF ARM R SEAL

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[Ken Massingale]

That's a really nice piece Mark, well done.

[Randall Kepley]

Mark2 , that is a beautiful box ! Sapele is by far one of my most favorite woods out there ! In the past 10 yrs I bet Ive run between 9 -11 thousand BDF of ribbon Sapele. No thats not a typo thats thousands not hundreeds. Ive probably used 7-8 hundreed in my own house and right now in my shop Im building a lady a 7.5' L x 5" w Kitchen island out of it the island is huge ! I still have a semi steady demand for it , but when I first started using in yrs ago my customers fell in love w/ it. Great job, R.K.

[pviser]

That's a beautiful piece of work. You really made the grain come alive. Did you use a water-soluble dye?

[Canuck]

Very nice work!!!!

I especially like the way you incorporated the feet and the matching splines.

Wayne

[ehpoole]

I'm very impressed with your work. Sorry to hear of your daughter's friend's loss, that is just awful -- I know all our hearts go out to them. The memories -- and the your box -- will be treasured for life.

I hesitate to ask, for fear of asking a potentially dumb question, but, if you have a table saw, why were you free-handing your miters? I ask because accurate miters are easily made on the tablesaw (unless one is a die-hard neander, in which case you have my well-deserved respect).

Though one can make do with the factory miter gauge for occassional miter cuts (though they require considerable fine tuning with each change in angle), an accurate after-market miter gauge (the Incra 1000SE being my personal favorite) or a DIY miter jig make accurate and repeatable miter cuts almost fun and are well worth the investment (in time or dollars) if you make miter cuts with any regularity (or just don't care for the fuss).

For miter cuts made by angling the blade, it takes just a few test cuts to dial-in a perfect miter joint after initially setting the blade with a 45deg triangle.

[mark2]

Thanks for the comments - its great to do for others but SWMBO still doesn't appreciate the dust......

Randall - my first work with Sapele but will use it again for sure, as it is good to work and looks great finished. I did have some extra effort with scrapers and sandpaper to get past tear out from the mill and my own planing efforts.

Paul - the Guys at woodcraft talked me out of trying to tint / stain the sapele after the box was assembled because the maple accents would be difficult to keep clean - the end grain on the miter splines plugged enough with dust from the sapele to change color - glad I listened, which might not be a normal trait.

Ethan - the miters on the top turned out good from the saw but try as I might, I just didn't get the saw (blade tilt) close enough for the 10" miters on the case - I made test cuts ( on 4" scrap), checked em carefully thought I was good to go but when dry fitting I saw maybe .015 gaps on the outside of each corner - at that point I felt more comfortable tuning them by hand than trying to cut them again on the saw - not much the neander but I do find using handtools helps my accuracy, reduces dust, is quiet and maybe even speeds the process.

[LeftyTom]

Most excellent example of you craftmanship.

[Randall Kepley]

Mark2 , if you havent tried it yet, try some good quality stains and dyes on the sapele. I think you will be quite pleased w/ the results. It truly is and amazing wood. R.K.

[cskipper]

You did a beautiful job on that and I am sure it will be cherished.

[Cato]

What a great looking box!!

I am sure the family will treasure it for many many years.

Sapele is a wood I have never tried, but will have to add to my list. Love the way the maple contrasts with it.

[jdulaney]

Way beautiful, man. That's just groovy.

[red]

Beautiful box and workmanship.

Red

[Jeff Mills]

Real Nice Mark

[dr50]

Mark, very nice.