In the past year I have begun making a variety of keepsake boxes, experimenting with different joints. I ended up getting an Incra iBox jig and a Freud box joint cutter set. I have used this pair up on about three projects so far, working with Pine, Red Oak, and most recently Marblewood. I'm still a novice really, but I have had some good initial results, and find that, when you follow the instructions for set-up and use, you can get some pretty impressively square, uniform, and tight cuts.
My most recent project has been a keepsake box made out of Marblewood. I have never worked it before, and only discovered it while at a Woodcraft store in Raleigh. I was captivated by the amazingly beautiful grain and streaks of chocolate color swirling through the yellow wood. This wood is hard, dense, tight grain, and did I say hard?
The piece I started with was 1 x 5 x 36. I ended up re-sawing it to split into roughly 1/2 inch thick using my 10-inch table saw (Bosch 4100-09). I had to do multiple passes, flipping the wood end on end, before finally getting through. While this was hard to cut, my first realization that it is truly rock hard, was when I picked up my plane to knock down the small ridge down the middle left from the re-sawing. My plane just skipped across the wood surface and could not get a bite on the wood. I went lengthwise, cross grain, at a diagonal, and still had difficulty. Since I did not yet (I do now) have any cabinet scrapers, I used a pocket knife to spare it down, and then sanded like crazy.
I eventually made the box with the Freud box cut blades arranged for 1/4 inch (you can flip to do 3/8 inch), and used the Incra iBox jig. I sanded, put on sanding sealer to keep the glue squeeze-out from staining, and then assembled with Titebond-II. I made a flush fitting bottom (inside) out of Baltic birch plywood. For the lid, I used a 1/2 inch wide strip of cherry in between two halves that I edge glued, for contrast. I also face glued the two upper lid and lower lid (smaller dimension to fit flush inside the box), and ensured the grain directions were opposing to cancel out cupping, which I have experienced with other projects. The lid has 45 degree down bevels and the handle is 60 degrees, to sort of give an Asian design appearance. It is all glued and one screw helps secure the handle from under neath (no hinge hardware).
I used natural Watco Danish Oil, and then after drying, topped off with three coats of acrylic poly finish, lightly sanding in between. Yesterday at the Woodcraft shop one of the guys there told me it was not generally good to use oil-based and water-based on the same project. I had not even thought about that, but hope the Danish Oil was sufficiently cured/dried and that it does not cause the poly to fail.
Lots of challenges working with this beautiful wood. One thing I know is that I need to learn more about the wood in question before I start a project, and not base selection just on it looking pretty. I have not tried to cut any curves, or plane it much (beyond my initial futile efforts). I am a novice at knowing how best to finish it, but feel it needs no stain, as the grain is already so amazing and deep. I tend to like natural finishes that are durable and cure hard. I have had a couple less than awesome experiences with BLO remaining tacky (on other wood) for extreme periods of time.
I would appreciate any comments and suggestions on personal experience working Marblewood. What techniques work well for planing, scraping, sanding, finishing?
Cheers,
Lance
