I like them as they are. I think other nice variations would be sanded drawer fronts with rough cut pulls. It would break up the plane of rough cut across the front and show the work of the cuts of the drawers against the rough cut. The other would be completely sanded pulls against the rough cut face. It is all very nice work.
I found another box in the same piece of wood the last one came from. I used the charcoal felt for the drawers. I like the contrast to the oak. Both of these boxes are going to the guy I got the wood from.
That looks really hard to do! I think I'd get awful frustrated trying to build one of those little things! Nice work!
...so, I'm kind of sappy when it comes to being sentimental. I live in the house that my dad built and I grew up in. Since we moved back, there is not much of this house that I have not touched for one reason or another. It has all been a labor of love and I think my way of earning it. Last May we had a damaging hail storm. We had to have the roof replaced. Which was a good thing, it needed it. When they pulled up the old roofing, there was some of the roof deck that was damaged and had to be replaced. It is all 1x8 sugar pine. I'm guessing that my dad laid this down some time around spring of 1950. I wasn't even a twinkle in anyones eye, yet. I have no idea where the wood came from, but was probably milled some time in the late '40s. I looked at those pieces of the house, all covered w/tar from the tar paper and full of nail holes and thought, there's stuff hidden in there. Can't just throw it away. ...so, I pulled a few pieces out of the dumpster. After being baked and frozen in the attic for 60 some odd years, it seasoned. It has that heavy pine sap smell along w/the smell of age. So, I cleaned the tar off w/the sander and ran it through the planner. Cut it up and glued a few pieces together. This box is for me. It's for my Dad and all his hard work. When I'm gone, where ever this box goes, no one will know what it is. ...but, for now, I do. I'm not going to put finish on the inside of the case....so I can always pull the drawers out and enjoy the perfume of that old wood.
Beautiful work justdraftn ! It makes it even more special that your dad handled it first 60 years ago and now you gave some of those pieces a new lease on life.
Know just what you mean by that old smell...our place was built in '40...and it has that same roof too...
A while back there was the discussion on growth rings. That piece of wood that I cut to make those pics was a gnarly piece of the 200yr old oak beam. I picked it to cut because it looked like I would probably just use it for fire wood. ....well, the cut piece lay down in my shop all this time. I would kind of eye ball it now and again.... I was cleaning up and set it on the bench. I was standing there just thinking, what is in that piece of wood? It had bad spots on adjacent corners. ....so, it could not be squared up. ...and out of the deep abyss of my mind, I saw a guitar. By cutting at a slight diagonal to the grain and all the different cuts, exposed some amazing grain. Finish to come.
I wish I could take credit for it .....but, as long as I have been working w/wood, you never really know until you cut it. Cutting wood w/a band saw opens up a whole new dimension.
Beautiful work, justdraftn! I love how you turn them on their side and make little drawers instead of lids. Very cool. I also love the stories; that’s the best part of it for me as well. You feel a much more intimate connection with the material, knowing about its history and the stories that it has to tell.
I have come to the realization that no piece of wood should be over looked....without some exploration. Spring of '16, we got a chinese elm. It's really good fire wood. Always just thought of it as that. It's an ugly tree, gnarly bark and when green....stinks. If it needs to be split, better do it when it is wet. When it drys.....it is a full body workout. I have been pulling pieces out of the back of the shed to burn at night w/the oak. It is great over night wood. I pulled out a twisted piece that was a fork for one large and two small branches. I decided this will be the piece I will explore. I found a kitty in this piece. It has proved to be a very difficult box. More than once, I was going to give up on it. .....but, like life, if you are patient and have the time, additional answers to our challenges will be presented, everyday. It is the first box I have tried a hidden drawer. It just happened to be a really bad part of the junction of branches and had to be abandoned. So, I used the front and made a new drawer out of fir. Just another little character of this box. I left all the "flaws" of the wood to show. To me, they are the character of the box. It really is a beautiful piece of wood. There can never be a duplicate of this box. Well worth the effort. Never give up. I'm going to give it to my niece. She lost her beloved kitty last summer.
