Little Walnut Boxes
I’ve been making little walnut boxes over the past few months. I mean really little — they’re just 2 1/4” tall x 3” long x 2” wide — big enough to hold a special ring or two or maybe a pair of earrings.
The sides are made from 6mm (a little under 1/4”) thick walnut milled from rough lumber using the bandsaw, jointer, and drum sander. The top and bottom are 3mm thick walnut laminated to 3mm thick baltic birch plywood. A nice piece of figured walnut is selected for the top. Plywood is used for a couple of reasons. One being that it makes a nice surface for glueing on the fabric — that’s right fabric.
I use fabric on the inside of the top and bottom of the box. I got this idea from Matt Kenney, who’s written books and magazine articles on box building. I design the fabric and have it printed on organic cotton hemp by Art Fabrics. For these little boxes I designed a fall foliage themed fabric, which I think compliments the walnut nicely. The boxes are lined with 3mm thick basswood which brightens the inside of the box and serves as a lip to capture the box top.
I get a lot of pleasure building these little walnut boxes! Thank you for letting me share them with you!
