I have a practice in my workshop, or perhaps it could be called a bit of a tradition. If someone gives me raw wood in any form, logs, rough sawn or finished lumber, I try to return at least a portion of their generosity in the form of a woodworking project. Rebekah, a friend I have yet to meet in person, was kind enough to send some walnut boards home with Linda, and I decided to return a portion of them as a keepsake box.

With a new centering jig and dovetail router bits for my DeWalt palm router in hand, along with a long-time dovetailing jig, I decided to use dovetail joints for the box and a simple fitted lid arrangement. Once the pieces of the box were machined, but before assembly, I took them to Matt, who runs the Ingenuity Engine, a makerspace, at the Chelsea District Library, where Matt helped me laser engrave Rebekah’s name on one side and the image of a dove on the other side.

I mounted a laser-engraved medallion on the inside of the box’s lid to identify it as a project from the Marietta Wood Works workshop. With a little glue and lots of clamps, the box came together, and I finished it with a few coats of walnut oil. The natural oil finish darkened the walnut and brought out its beautiful grain.