Watch Box Project.

[rodwc]

I realised that with the collection growing, somewhere was needed to store the watches.

This is just a project, I am sharing, as I go along.

Had seen some nice storage boxes on the net, around $350 for one of a decent size ( 20 ).

Problem was they could only be ordered in quantities of 300 !

Also, importing anything made of wood into Australia is somewhat difficult, owing to quarantine

laws, and restrictions.

I have had a number of distressed music boxes,hanging around for years, which I was going to get round , some day to restoring.

Being realistic, I realised that, this fact , wasn`t about to happen,any time soon.

The box I am working on measures 18" x 10" x 6" high, with the top veneered in Rosewood.

( big enough for a 2 story storage box )

The size was perfect, but realised that this was going to take quite a bit of time, and costwise

doing this myself was going to cost a small fortune, mainly in time, effort and materials.

No matter what the outcome, the actual box could still be used to re-house the music box movement,

should I ever decide to do the movements, as nothing was going to be cut out.

This may serve as some help, to anyone considering the same thing, with any box.

I decided to finish the box in Shellac, as it is quite versatile in use.

Started sanding the top and ebonised edges, with 200 grade paper.

This has to be done with a cork sanding block, as the rosewood veneer is paper thin.

Instead of filling in any missing veneer with some of the exotic woods, ( kingwood,satinwood,fruitwood,ebony etc)

I used colored filler,.... quick easy, and able to be color matched with the original.

Being a little impatient, I wanted to see what it would look like with a coat of shellac over.

Used a rubber to apply the shellac, ( a very fine haired brush could be used ).

Then I went over the Orange shellac, with a few coats of Blond de waxed shellac,this is clear, ( also thicker,and fills the voids in the grain fairly quickly, also it dries faster.)

The final finish will be a cut back satin finish, finished with a coat of wax.

As the process of "french polishing" is a time consuming affair, some pics were taken of the progress so far.

This is not going to happen fast, so I will post each stage as I go along.

The shellac has to dry at least overnight, and even then it is still "settling" into the grain.

Just the top has been worked on here,and as you can see there is HEAPS more to do yet.

If there is anyone else done this kind of job before , would be most interested to see it.

Will post more as I go along.

[Guest carlsbadrolex]

That is simply beautiful!

[Shundi]

Wow... I completely agree with carlsbadrolex... housing anything short of pure platinum bars would be an insult to that box!

[DaveF]

Here is a picture of my watch box.

[owdeguy]

But wheres the Lume!