Boxes

Listed here are the boxes I have in stock, ready for immediate delivery. For more details on each, simply click on the image.

Square boxes with overlapping lids. Made with Ash for the sides and Light Oak veneered lids. Sized at 21.5cm x 21.5cm and 8cm high. Finished in either Neutral beeswax or Peruvian Mahogony beeswax which gives a warm reddish brown colour.
Square box with overlapping lid and decorated with a carved oak leaf from a small section of Brown Oak surplus to another project but too good for the wood burner. Made with Ash for the sides and Light Oak veneered lid. Finished with beeswax and polished to a satin shine
Long Box made from recycled Elm that was cut from a large sheet destined (I speculate from the shape) for the local coffin maker. It is liberally traced with worm but no living worm is evident now. 46cm x 19cm x 14cm with a matching lid, this likes to predict the weather a little and moves with the seasons, ie it tends to bend.
Triangular box made and finished as the Long Box but cut to fit into the corner of a shelf or table or wherever you like really. The base (front side) of the box measures 28cm and the two other sides are 20cm, 13.5cm high The lid is a loose sit-on fit but this time it doesn’t bend.
Wedding cake box. Three tiers therefore three boxes for the price of one. Constructed from Ash with Sapelle lid, on the top tier, plus triangular inserts on bottom and centre tiers. The base has a mahogany beading and it is topped with an antiqued brass handle.
A more modern style of box constructed from American Black Walnut with an Ash lid. Square cut joints and through tenons show how close the end grain can be. Subtle leaf carvings coloured then waxed bring out the soft beauty of the Ash
Pentagonal shaped box, with lid mounted on twin brass butterfly hinges. The body is constructed from American Black Walnut and the lid from the same but with creamy Box wood set into the sides. Finished with beeswax and polished to a satin shine.
Sporting a Black Walnut top with an antiqued brass handle, this hexagonal shaped box produced quite a few headaches in the building. Spalted Hornbeam is a not very commonly available timber which is a great shame because it is really beautiful when finished.
Although a hard wood (believe me it blunts your tools quite quickly) Purpleheart has a tendency to show up small crumbly patches so appears blotchy when polished. The upshot of this is the interesting way in which the light is reflected from the surface as you change your view point.
Yew has to be one of the most dramatic woods for variation of colour. Most of the items I have seen for sale in other locations are finished with a plastic coating that shines really strongly. I much prefer the oiled finish, more of a subtle shine than ‘in your face’.
I have tried to keep the contours of the waney edges as much as possible with only a slight shaving from one corner, more for safety’s sake than anything else. The two ‘wings’ at the rear proved to be a perfect mount for the hinges, complementing the gentle curves at the front.

This box was made using a section cut from a length of boarding recovered from an old feed mill near Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk. Both edges were waney so it was obviously used as a single board. There was a lot of worm in it, and these have left many holes and tracks that adds to its interest.
I had two strips of Spalted Hornbeam that were too thin to make into a box, so I thought I might try and use them as a thick veneer over a piece of Cedar of Lebanon. This has a wonderful aroma when cut and when you lift the lid the waft of Cedar is very pleasant.
I had a piece of Yew 7.5cm sq and 45cm in length that is sold primarily for turning on a lathe. I like to saw these down to approx 1cm thick mini planks. From this I can make about three small boxes of the type shown above.
Is it a pill box? Yes, from the shape; or is it a hat box? Maybe, but then again I think it too small for the latter and you’d have to be taking a lot of health and vitamin tablets to fill this little number.
This has to be the largest box I have made and with the timber being 2cm thick it is quite heavy. One thing that has me puzzled is the wood itself. It looks like Oak, it is as hard as Oak (Oak gets harder as it ages) but it does not smell like Oak when it is cut.