Pocket boxes day 5

This is our fifth day of making pocket boxes at the Eureka Springs School of the Arts. We will put hinge pins in tiny boxes and make inlaid lids for others. Students will finish the projects' they've started and at some time during the day we will clean the shop to have it ready for the next class.

I will bring home the various tools I took to ESSA, and begin preparing for my next class which will be at the Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking beginning August 7. There are still openings in that class. https://www.schoolofwoodworking.com/class-schedule/37-week-long-classes/630-creative-box-making-with-doug-stowe.html  Join us if you can.

I had a chance to play with new designs during this last week. I made some band sawn boxes that look like chunks of wood. The use of pop rivets hidden inside allow them to pivot open. The others are tiny shaker-style bentwood boxes.

In addition, I've been playing with making my own furniture finish based on Sam Maloof's formula that he used on his famous rocking chairs. It is one part urethane finish, one part mineral spirits, and one part boiled linseed oil. It is a simple formula that does not smell as bad as most. Followed by paste wax, and preceded by attention to fine sanding, it can give a lovely finish to a fine box. An additional benefit is that the ingredients to make a quart cost much less that a quart of Danish oil, and you can buy everything you need at your local hardware store.

Make, fix, create, and remind others of the effectiveness of learning likewise.