Keepsake Box: Episode 5

Posted 21 June 2017

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With the box construction complete, it’s ready to be finessed. Paul refines the shape of the feet, and scrapes and sands the surfaces in preparation for applying a finish. Shellac is then applied with a brush for an even, durable finish. The last few finishing touches are to fit a stay, in this case using epoxy, and fit a leather lining in the bottom of the box.

Previous: Keepsake Box: Episode 4

51 Comments

  3. What a great project! I love making boxes.
    Two questions. What was the name of the brush you use for applying the finish and
    did you use an amber shellac for the finish or was that a clear shellac.

    Thanks for this great project!
    Peter

      1. I use liberon 0000 wire wool, and find it very dusty. It often leaves residue on the wood. Am I supposed to prep the 0000 in some way first, or do I need a different brand? Thanks, Darren.

        1. If you ask in Leather Furniture stores; they often have swatches of Leather Colour Samples showing last season’s colours, that you can have. Each colour sample is relatively small, but good for small projects.

  13. Great project! I tried using 0000 steel wool during the finishing process of a project and I found that metal filings from the steel wool would come off the steel wool and remain on the surface of the wood and in turn get stuck in the finish. Is it just a case of poor quality steel wool or would you have other suggestions to improve finishing?

    Thanks!

  14. would it be beneficial to apply boiled linseed oil to box first before the shellac? or is that only an either or finish? meaning that if you use linseed oil you don’t use shellac.

    1. It depends upon the wood and the effect that you want. People used to put oil under shellac, feeling it deepened the grain. I think there are better oils than BLO and I’d use one of them instead. Try a scrap and see if you like it. If the oil dries, the shellac will stick. Some woods will react with oil in a way you may not like. For example, oil (even without color) darkens cherry, so clear oil will likely cause cherry to blotch. I probably wouldn’t put oil onto cherry under shellac, not because of incompatibility, but because there’s a good chance it won’t look good. If you want to ask, “which oil,” just see what is available and look into whether your candidates really dry. I’ve had good luck with Arm-R-Seal (General Finishes) and Waterlox in the US. The Arm-R-Seal is more than just oil. There are a lot of solids that build a substantial, tough finish. But it would be fine wiped on and then wiped back to deepen the grain. Both Waterlox and Arm-R-Seal like to harden in the can, so buy as little as possible or put some bloxygen (which is really argon, I think) into the can or find some other witchcraft to keep it from being wasted.

    1. Hello Marc-Andre,
      Generally you aim to register the flat face of the chisel on a surface as you carefully pare into the corner with a slicing action. If the area is hard to reach, a knife can be used or a chisel with the bevel down and handle raised used to carefully cut into the corner. Does that help?

      1. On the topic of excess glue removal, isn’t better to wipe off most of the squeeze out during glue up than wait for it to solidify? I used to use a wet towel to wipe off (Paul seems to discourage that practice) as dry wiping leaves a thin layer of glue in the vicinity which shows up when finished.

        That said, my pieces always show a patchy line at the joints when finished, presumably due to glue left behind, especially visible on light wood. How do others deal with squeeze out?

        I mostly use GF2002, sometimes Titebond III — the latter is more sandable when dried, but sanding is not always and option particularly at tight corners. And try to remove any remaining squeeze out with a cabinet scraper — that’s done best when semi cured as the glue gets too hard otherwise. Works well but not perfect.

    1. I’ve just put the chain stay in my box and I didn’t use the little bobble thingies but because the chain links were quite a bit bigger than the ones Paul used, made do with gluing one of the links into the holes at each end.

  19. I thought at the start that I may have been biting off more than i can chew with this project but I have very much enjoyed making my box and am very pleased with the outcome. In fact I’m rather amazed as from a young age I have admired such things and wondered at the magic of the craftsman that must be involved to produce out of a plank of wood and now find myself capable of making this. Thanks Paul, im very grateful.

  20. Having a hard time sourcing #3 brass screws of quality. Brusso hinges come with good screws, but I would sure like to have some spares. Any ideas? I know most prefer common heads, but a square Robertson would be tops. Many thanks to Paul for a great project!

    1. Pete: https://www.rockler.com/shop?w=brass+screws
      There are a whole bunch of options.

      Also,,,to the the query of oil and use of shellac… Forget the oil as it is not needed at all in order to pop the grain of any of your species of wood prior to the use of dewaxed shellac. Also, and very importantly, a cote of shellac will dry in less than thirty minutes as the denatured alcohol liquid in the can flashes off and leaves the dissolved flake of the Lac bug on the wood. Wood oil finish will require at least a day and depending on the product two or three days not to mention the safety of hanging the oil rags til dry. De-waxed shellac enables the creator to apply either water based OR oil based topcoats IF a durable layer of resin is needed/preferred.

  22. my feeling regarding being rushed , this shouldn’t make any difference to the pupils/viewers as you will work at a speed your comfortable at . in some ways in my opinion paul is demonstrating how much quicker you can work after gaining more experience. any pupil watching and making any of his projects will undoubtedly keep referring back to the video to recap and double check what they are doing or how they have marked the components , hope this helps , Peter

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