Jewelry Box

Made this as a 5th anniversary present for my wife (since the 5th is wood, it just made sense). It was my first guild project and my first real fine woodworking project as well. Made a lot of mistakes along the way but I had a great time learning all the techniques that Marc uses in the videos, particularly the alternatives for joinery. The plans and instructional videos from Marc were excellent and really helped me to stay on track with the project. I used the Bell Forest kit for the box since I don’t have a jointer or planer, and it was a lifesaver for me to able to get this finished.

Overall, a great project and a great start for someone looking to delve into fine woodworking. I will definitely move on to some other guild projects now.

I made this as a birthday present for my wife. My biggest regret was not making a second for my daughter! I made mine with birds eye maple fronts/panels and cherry frame. It turned out very nicely and was a great exercise in details. I was most concerned about curving the front doors by hand and that turned out to be my favorite part of the project!

The plans and video instruction were great. It was the first time doing a few of this project’s techniques and the videos did a great job breaking down the tasks and demonstrating the approach.

I just finished this jewelry box, I used maple and sapele. Everyone who sees it, loves it, especially my daughter, who was the recipient. Don’t be fooled by the “small size” of this project, there is a lot of woodworking packed into it. This was the first time I did hand cut dovetails, and couldn’t do the double recessed half blinds at the front of the drawers, so I ended up just doing matching single dovetails front and back.

I have built a lot of big furniture, but this little guy was the most complex project I have ever done. The difference is, I am used to doing one or two operations on each piece, and then moving on. On this project you do many operations on most of the parts, which can get scary because you don’t want to make a mistake on a part you have worked on for days. Marc’s videos are great, this was my first guild project, and I watched the whole series start to finish a few times before I started. That was very helpful because Marc actually made a mistake on one operation, and later made a small change to the drawer pulls. Watching all the videos first allowed me to avoid those situations, and also use his idea to inlay a mirror in the lid which was not in the original design.

This project was a lot of work, but when you finish it, the sense of accomplishment is great, as is the reaction from people who see it.