Finished this two days before Christmas.
Frame and panel construction built from maple plywood and curly maple. Legs are hard maple from Kyle. Top and bottom are 1/2" ply, sides are 1/4" MDF core ply. Top frame is attached with plywood splines in the edge of the 1/2" ply.
Unfortunately, none of the easy-close hardware works for this, since there's a rim on the top of the sides that the lid rests on. Apparently all of the easy-close lid supports are made for a box with a 3/4" back wall and no rim. I've got one last try coming from Lee Valley right now, otherwise my kids get to learn to be careful, just like we did when we were kids.
Finish is Transtint alcohol dye base, then danish oil that was wet sanded with a maroon scotchbrite and allowed to dry several days. I ran out of Deftoil, and had to switch to Watco, which is a mistake. I do not like the Watco brand at all, but unfortunately Klingspor was the only place in Charlotte that carried it.
Following the Danish oil were several coats of sprayed shellac, then sprayed pre-cat lacquer as the final coat. I'm waiting a few more days before I wax it down for the final treatment.
The Danish oil penetrated and increased the contrast of the curl, and also helped to remove some of the excess dye. The wet sanding process pulled out a lot of the dye which helped the figure.
The shellac really increased the chatoyance of the wood. The lacquer actually decreased it, which surprised me. However, being that it's a toy chest, it needs the extra protection that the lacquer provides.
The panels were not sanded to a fine enough grit before dying, resulting in splotching. Surpisingly, the b-side of the plywood looks much better than the a-side, but my wife voted on the a-side due to a little less-crazy figure.
The curly maple was sanded to 320 before dying, which really helped with the splotching.
Frame and panel construction built from maple plywood and curly maple. Legs are hard maple from Kyle. Top and bottom are 1/2" ply, sides are 1/4" MDF core ply. Top frame is attached with plywood splines in the edge of the 1/2" ply.
Unfortunately, none of the easy-close hardware works for this, since there's a rim on the top of the sides that the lid rests on. Apparently all of the easy-close lid supports are made for a box with a 3/4" back wall and no rim. I've got one last try coming from Lee Valley right now, otherwise my kids get to learn to be careful, just like we did when we were kids.
Finish is Transtint alcohol dye base, then danish oil that was wet sanded with a maroon scotchbrite and allowed to dry several days. I ran out of Deftoil, and had to switch to Watco, which is a mistake. I do not like the Watco brand at all, but unfortunately Klingspor was the only place in Charlotte that carried it.
Following the Danish oil were several coats of sprayed shellac, then sprayed pre-cat lacquer as the final coat. I'm waiting a few more days before I wax it down for the final treatment.
The Danish oil penetrated and increased the contrast of the curl, and also helped to remove some of the excess dye. The wet sanding process pulled out a lot of the dye which helped the figure.
The shellac really increased the chatoyance of the wood. The lacquer actually decreased it, which surprised me. However, being that it's a toy chest, it needs the extra protection that the lacquer provides.
The panels were not sanded to a fine enough grit before dying, resulting in splotching. Surpisingly, the b-side of the plywood looks much better than the a-side, but my wife voted on the a-side due to a little less-crazy figure.
The curly maple was sanded to 320 before dying, which really helped with the splotching.
