Small projects

When my sister got married, my wedding present to her and her husband was a project yet to be determined.  I should have known better, but my heart was in the right place (or at least that’s what I tell myself).

The project for a while was a coffee table, but that never worked out.  I just didn’t have the time to take that on.  Over the years (I’m embarrassed to say how many) the topic of the wedding present would come up.  My sister would mention it in passing, just a little reminder of a promise unkept.  A little (well-deserved) jab.  Nothing malicious, but I knew she hadn’t forgotten about it.

Last year, in a span of a few months, two of their cats died.  Both had had long comfortable lives, but their passing was a big loss, especially to my brother-in-law; they were his cats prior to their marriage.  My sister saw her opportunity.

Two urns to hold the ashen remains of two beloved cats.  I could do that.

She gave me the dimensions of the little plastic boxes that held the little plastic bags of ashes, and I was set.  The boxes were about 2″ x 2″ x 4″.  My idea was to make veneered urns.  To make them special, the edges would be a contrasting color.

I started with 1/2″ MDF and veneered one side with walnut.  That would be the inside of the boxes.  I then constructed the box sides using rabbets in the corners to keep things aligned.  The tops and bottoms were then just glued on with no special joinery…I think.  I started the boxes last fall and don’t remember exactly how I constructed them.

Once the boxes were glued up, I sanded all the outside surfaces flat, then cut 3/16″ x 3/16″ rabbets on the four long edges.  I glued ebony into the rabbets, sanded things smooth, then cut eight more rabbets in the remaining edges.  More ebony (no, I didn’t miter the corners), more sanding, and I had MDF boxes with black trim on all the edges.

I then veneered all the faces.  One box got redwood burl, the other myrtle burl.  More sanding to get everything flat, then the edges were shaped.  The redwood burl box got rabbets; the myrtle burl box got chamfers.

The boxes were then cut into two parts, and I glued 1/8″ ebony to the cut surfaces, mitering the corners.  More sanding.

I spent a lot of time figuring out the next step:  locating and attaching the tops to the bottoms.  I finally settled on a mortise and tenon (maybe tongue and groove is more accurate) solution.  I cut mortises in opposite corners of the tops and bottoms, then glued ebony tenons into the mortises on the bottoms.  The parts were all shaped by hand to fit nicely, with mitered corners and rounded ends, and the tenons in each corner were different lengths to ensure alignment.

After final sanding, gel poly was applied, then waxed.  The tops fit snugly but are removed with a little effort, just right for something that needn’t be opened much if ever.   I was very happy with how they came out, but more importantly, so were my sister and brother-in-law.