After some fussing yesterday to get it to fit together properly without glue, decided to glue it up today after church, will let it cure all night and do more tomorrow.  need to cut the top off, and then add some horizontal corner splines out of wenge and cherry.  the vertical splines are of cherry, same wood as the rest of the box.  they will get cut off and sanded smooth.

 

This will be for my wife's, and later mine too, cremation remains.  have a plot purchased, and a marker stone ordered.

 

My wife Linda loved everything i made for her, I think she'd love this too.

 

You can bet she’s smiling down from heaven. 

A labor of true, enduring and eternal love DAB. Blessings to you for sharing and continuing this story.

Edited January 9, 20233 yr by Grandpadave52

top cut off, excess vertical splines cut off and sanded smooth, some general sanding, large kerfs cut and horizontal corner splines added in. let this glue up overnight again.

these splines of wenge are 1/4" wide, so i'll later sand them flush, and then cut another kerf in their centers to add a contrasting spline inside a spline. this is for both top and bottom pieces. the bottom will also get two more narrower splines, also of wenge, one at 1/4 way up, one at 3/4 way up.

this is why these kind of builds take several days.

blue tape is just to make sure they don't wander out of the kerfs while the glue sets.

 

little hint:  glue up the top and bottom together, that way the top will be the same size and shape as the bottom.

Splines sanded flush. More, smaller ones later. 

more splines:

 

better view tomorrow when the glue dries and i get things sanded flush again.

Hardware next

Love it!

She probably guided your thoughts. You know she loves it.

now you can better see all the splines.  Wenge and cherry, body is also cherry, all out of one board, so it should color shift consistently.

Beautiful work!  A few years back I let a couple of my students use my shop to make a similar box for (a parent of ) another Professor of theirs.  They also did an amazing job.  Better work than they had done when in my class, but did demonstrate that they had certainly learned a few things.   

15 minutes ago, 4DThinker said:

Beautiful work!  A few years back I let a couple of my students use my shop to make a similar box for (a parent of ) another Professor of theirs.  They also did an amazing job.  Better work than they had done when in my class, but did demonstrate that they had certainly learned a few things.   

everything i learned i learned in Jr. HS.  after that, a series of trials and errors and thinking.  and observing some things here and there.  you can observe a lot just by watching.

 

just talking with my sister, she's coming out in mid-March with a friend for a short visit.  the friend thought it might be a good idea to design some stuff while here, and let me finish it up (if it can't be done before they leave) and then ship it to them.  little box stuff perhaps.  as you can see, a box like this takes several days to do, as you have to wait for glue to set before you can do the next step.  patience is not a strong trait in this society.  "i want it now!!!"  sure, be done in 4 days....

Beautifully done.   Thanks for sharing.   Danl

Beautiful DAB. Your choice of wood and the amazing attention to detail shows your inspiration is from the heart. Blessings to you for sharing with us.

wowza, like the spline inside the spline, great detail, and the tops relief, nicely done, thanks for sharing, 

Rj in az

DAB that looks absolutely fabulous! I am sure she would give a big smile and hug! 

Hardware located and holes drilled, first coat (3 planned) of finish applied.  the spar urethane was a bit old and thick, so had to thin it out a bit.  seemed to work fine.

Beautiful!

As a novice, I'm wondering what you do between coats and after the final coat.   Thank you.

2 minutes ago, JimM said:

Beautiful!

As a novice, I'm wondering what you do between coats and after the final coat.   Thank you.

 

a very light sanding with 220 between coats.  by hand, not the sander.  just want to knock down any high spots, and rough it up a bit so the next coat has something to grab onto.  after final coat, normally nothing, but you can knock down any high spots by rubbing with that same craft paper.

Absolutely beautiful DAB! Your wife would be quite proud of your craftsmanship. I'm quessing she would have created a special cross stitch to compliment and perhaps line the box. God bless you for sharing this journey in your life.