Walnut Sculpture Display Boxes
| This is a long story and I have tons of photos. To make your choices a little easier we have some page navigation here. Select your area of interest below. Page Navigation: |
 |
I received an email inquiry about making some boxes. Initially that inquiry seemed of little interest as I don't want to make simple things. But ... upon discussion with the gentleman, it was very interesting!
He wanted 10 boxes, each 8 inches square, to mount on his walls to display sculpture pieces. The boxes were to be VERY NICE. Made from exotic wood, a nice clean, contemporary design and he wanted excellent craftsmanship. The boxes were designed and made in a fashion I had never done before so it was a challenge and interesting. We came to agreement and the project was on!!!
|
 First Prototype |
First, I made a prototype of pine (see photo to the right & more photos below) attempting to make all edges invisible by having all edges a 45 degree angle. But, as such, I could not clamp them together with any reliable precision. I would have had to make about 20 boxes to end up with 10 which had nice edges (best I could guess) but with the boxes being made of exotic wood - that additional wood cost would have been extensive, plus all my extra time and effort. That idea was canned.
|
 Second Prototype |
Plan B: I made a second prototype (see photo to the right & more photos below) with 45 degree angles on all the "front" faces. The tops and bottoms were made nearly invisible by insetting them with grooves in the top and bottom edges. This box was made with a quality pine wood called "Kimberly Pine", very nice. With this design, if you look from the top or the bottom, you see the nature of the joint but viewing the boxes from the front or sides, you do not see any edge joints. The view from the front or side is the normal view on these boxes and thus the client and myself were happy with the second prototype.
This second prototype turned out great, and as planned all along, became a part of my daughter's room. To see more of these Kimberly Pine Display Boxes, Visit My Daughters' Display Boxes Section, Click Here.)
The Real Boxes:
Next, the boxes were made. Walnut was chosen for the wood to create the dark look the client wanted. A special order was placed with my local lumberyard and to our extreme please and surprise, they found walnut wide enough for the 8 inch square boxes. Originally, we figured I'd have to glue a couple pieces together to achieve the 8" widths, but that was avoided with the beautiful wide walnut which we received.
The mounting of the boxes was to be flush with the wall. I found some angled aluminum mounting hardware and ordered it. The hardware was designed for single, long mounting of items. Here, I cut the aluminum into 4 inch strips and drilled new mounting holes. The mounts worked great and the boxes are mounted flush to wall with no visible means of support.
The walnut was first planed to a achieve nice top and bottom surfaces. Next, the individual sections of appropriate wood was marked out for each of the ten boxes, making sure each box front and 2 sides were a continuous piece allowing the wood grain along the surfaces to line up and match perfectly. All pieces were trimmed to proper end height. The marked sections of 3 matching pieces were cut to a little longer length than needed. Then the individual panels of those sections that make up the boxes were cut to slightly oversize the final required lengths.
All of the individual sides were next cut to exact proper length at 45 degree angles which would allow the final assembly to be void of edges. Next, the grooves were cut into the tops and bottoms of all the sides at proper depth to allow for the later insertion of box tops and bottoms. Biscuit slots were then cut into the 45 degree edges to allow later strong glue up of the boxes angled sides.
All of the sides and tops were then sanded rough to the point of removal of any flaws and blemishes. Final sanding would occur after glue up of the boxes.
Glueing the boxes together was the next step. It can be difficult to glue 45 degree angles together. I did some research and found a good technique involving some jigs to hold such items (see production photos below). I made the jig pieces up and began glueing the sides of the 10 boxes together, 1 box at a time as that's all the clamps I had. After the 10 boxes of sides were all glued together I glued the top and bottom to each box. The tops had already received the aluminum mounting piece prior to glue up as attaching such to the underside of the tops after assembly would not have been easy. Completely assembled, the boxes were next sanded extensively.
Finally, each of the boxes received a semi-gloss tung oil finish. Normally, when I use tung oil on furniture, 5-6 coats does the trick. Here, there were some lighter grain patterns in the walnut which was beautiful but very absorbent. The lighter areas took up to 18 coats to finally seal and achieve the desired tung oil semi-gloss finish that was desired.
When completed, the boxes were shipped to the client in the Cayman Islands. I shipped them to a shipping handler designated by the client in Miami who then sent out the international shipment.
The client and myself love these boxes. They are absolutely beautiful. The client mounted the boxes for their intended purpose of displaying his sculpture and sent me photos of the end result which you can view below. As the photos show, he mounted them in 2 areas. 1 area has 9 boxes in a square pattern while the last box was mounted on a separate wall displaying one piece of sculpture alone. Very nice!
Tests of various finishes applied to walnut samples were performed and one (Tung Oil) was chosen, click above to see finish tests.
| Kimberly Pine Sculpture Boxes Second Prototype Photos |
||
 Second Prototype Pieces Cut |
|
 Second Prototype Being Glued |
|
||
 Second Prototype After Glue |
|
 Second Prototype Completed |
| Pine Sculpture Boxes First Prototype Photos |
||
All Edges Cut to 45 Degrees |
||
|
||
 Edges Put Together |
|
 Edge Problem Detail |
