School box and some MWA gratitude

First off, I want to give a HUGE thanks to the guys at MWA for the mention of this blog on their latest podcast.  I was listening to the podcast while piddling around in my shop.  When I heard my name mentioned, I froze.  I literally couldn't move or think or speak for at least 10 seconds.  What a surprise!  I am thrilled to death that these guys gave me the spotlight for a minute of their show.  I met Tom and Dyami at WIA this year and they are both what I consider good people!  Echoing my last post a little, the woodworking community are just the best people I have found.  Again, thanks so much guys!  You made my day!  Oh and Dyami, to answer your question, I live in a suburb north of Indianapolis, IN.  :)

So now that the holidays are over and settling back into the groove, I am going to focus on finishing a few projects that I started during the last half of the year.  For one reason or other, these projects just didn't get finished.  Now that I am in between projects, I will be working on finishing these up.  This school box is the first in line.

So, I am a big fan of Lost Art Press.  I have only bought a few books and only read one from cover to cover, (ATC) but I just like the idea of supporting the "little guy" and the craft in general.  I received recommendations from several people to buy the book "The Joiner and Cabinet Maker."  It looked like a decent read, so I took a chance and bought it.  Well, I am a little ashamed to say that I still have not read it, at least not all of it.  But I did get about halfway through it and I am picking it back up right now.  I hope to finish it within the next few weeks.

Anywho.....the point is that I read about this little school box in the book and I was intrigued.  It sounded like a neat little project.  I had been thinking about doing some boxes for a while and this fit the bill.

Now, I am also a HUGE fan of the Marc Adams School of Woodworking down in Franklin IN....for a couple of reasons.  One, it is such an awesome facility.  Two,  Marc and their staff are top notch.  Three....well hell, it is practically in my backyard.  Well for the past couple years I have been taking a class or two down there and it just so happens that Chris Schwarz was going to teach a class to build this school box and a few other little shop appliances.  I was all over that like stink on....well you get the idea.

So the class was in September and I had a great time!  It was a week long and as always, just a lot of fun.  A lot was learned, and memories were made.  So without further adieu...here are some pics of the finished school box.  I apologize for the photo quality.  I promise I will learn how to take better photos some time this year.  But for now, my iPad does the best job.  I didn't take any photos of the build during the class, for that I also offer apologies.

The wood is cherry.  It looks like it has a large dark streak and it does, but it is because the surface is a little rotted. I did not know this when I bought the cherry, I just thought it looked really cool.  If I had known it would have given me such problems, I would not have used this piece of cherry.  I couldn't even sand the sides to get it smooth enough.  So if you ever see it in person, some areas look a little rough.  I did all I could to smooth it, but I was just making more problems than I was fixing.  So I just quit trying to "polish the turd".  But all in all, it doesn't really detract anything from the box.  I just have those awful memories....lol.

The finish is Garnet Shellac, rubbed out and waxed with just some paste wax.  The hardware is hand forged iron from Horton Brass.

The inside is left unfinished.  Never mind all of my oily finger prints there, they will dry eventually, hopefully...haha

Again, hand forged iron butterfly hinges.  I really like the looks of these.

It was a fun project.  I hope you build one and show your results!  Now I have to get ready for date night with the wifey.  I think we are gonna see "Django Unchained."  I am excited!  :)

Cheers!