An old cherry box, one of many made by my dad, Bill Mahan, back in the day. Still solid, time had taken it’s toll, warping the box and lid so they no longer lined up or closed. After some jointer and table saw work and quite a bit of sanding, the sides of the box and lid were thinner, but straight again. The lid ended up shorter, but I wanted to use the original hardware, so I added a bullet-nosed walnut detail to the lip of the lid to make up for the quarter inch I removed to flatten the lid again.
A few coats of spray Deft polyurethane brought the life back to the sanded cherry wood. Black flocking finished the interior of the lid and box. The restored box, with dad’s finger joinery and a new walnut accent strip, made a kind of special birthday present to Kyle … from his Grandpa Bill and from his dad. 🙂
An old cherry box, one of many made by my dad, Bill Mahan … back in the day.
Still solid, but time had taken it’s toll, warping the box and lid so they no longer lined up or closed.
After some jointer and table saw work, the sides were thinner, but straight again.
Because the lid ended up shorter, but I wanted to use the original hardware, I added a bullet-nosed walnut detail to the lip of the lid.
Fitting the walnut accent strips.
Relieving the walnut accent strips to accept the original hardware.
Stanley chisels, also from my dad, with a fresh edge on them.
Before I decided to sand off the dark patina on the lid.
Rear hinges were fitted with some spacers to make up for the width differences after all the warps were taken out.
Rear hinges
A few coats of spray Deft polyurethane brought the life back to the sanded cherry wood.
Black flocking to finish the interior of the lid and box.
Excess flocking applied and left to dry over night.
The restored box, with dad’s finger joinery and a new walnut accent strip.
Rear view of the restored box.
Some nice details of the restored box.
Dad had formed the box feet on the table saw, by removing the excess material around them. The cove area maintained the original patina.
Restored box with the circular sawmill marks on the inside of the lid still showing through the flocking.
Finger joinery, feet and flocking details.
A birthday present to Kyle from his Grandpa Bill and his dad. 🙂
