Giving a go at cutting a box entirely on the CNC Router. Check me out on Facebook: / rbwoodcreations and on Etsy: www.etsy.com/s... Music by Allison and Vexento "Banana Breeze"
Cool, I just finished a batch of 6" x 1.5" cedar boxes. Carved from 7"x1.5" straight grained cedar. All the lids were recarved on the top with an assortment of designs. The project was done for a local flower shop that also sells nick nacks. Fun stuff to design and carve. You can use cheap 2x4s or larger. Top and bottom carved at the same time with the same bit. Thanks for the video!
Nice looking box, but I'd put a pattern on the end pieces, and maybe cut them possibly a bit deeper but with a foot profile at each bottom corner. Perhaps you can scale the whole thing down in size, you may be able to sell more, if that is the idea.
Shellac? That's a pitifully poor finish to put on a good piece. Urethane's are much more durable, especially when it comes to water. Shellac just melts. I love Urethane's in light coats with 0000 steel wool prep between coats, plus if you steel wool the final coat it comes up a beautiful satin finish like fine furniture. Don't be afraid of stains, the secret is to cut them way down and layer them up. Linseed oil or mineral spirits works great for this, then test it on cheap plywood... With pine and soft woods you get too much absorption in the soft and end grains, so reduction is needed to slow that. Then you need to look into Aniline stains. Most come in concentrate and basic colors you mix to get what you want. They can be in oil or alcohol suspension which makes them spray-able!! This way you can layer or shade the area to make a smooth even tone. Yes Alcohol will raise the grain some but only if you saturate. And you can knock it down easily with ultra fine sand paper or steel wool. I have used them in an air brush and shaded areas to get a real beautiful tone and shading on pieces. This is an old cabinet makers trick for restoring damaged pieces, since you can address just the damage and make it like a paint repair on a car. There is also melt-able lacquer for dents!!! I used this to stain all the wood work & raised panel doors in my house on cheap pine, poplar was an expensive upgrade. I was able to get a pecan tone without the wild tiger striping that pine typically does with oil stains. Like trying to stain plywood a dark color, look, it's a high school shop project!! I hate that look! You are cutting some good looking pieces, it's time to research finishing like a pro.
