24/08/2024
I just completed the most demanding project of my 40 + years of full-time box making. The boxes (a batch of 11) were designed by a sculptor with high powered credentials who has sent a bunch of work my way for years. These are memorial gifts to the family of a successful business man and philanthropist who later in life raised race horses, including a Kentucky Derby winner. The sculptor sent me design sketches, and he made the cast horses that dominate the boxes.
The design initially called for silver banding on the lower case hinge plane, and inlay banding on top. Silver would have added over $500/box, so I suggested German silver, (a copper, nickel, and zinc alloy which I had familiarity with from antique concertina fretwork ends. I didn't realize that the German silver is considerably harder than true silver, presenting technical challenges in fabrication. My abrasives weren't able to dimension the width of the band-sawn strips, so I ended up making a fixture and trimming to width with my CNC router.
The boxes are veneered with Macassar ebony (men’s) and maple burl (women’s). Solid macassar ebony or maple burl at all vertices. The hinges are Andrew Crawford's Smart Hinges from the UK, in stainless steel, --at over $70/pair. Though I did a sample the hinge mortise in the metal, I was still terrified that the banding would explode when cutting the mortises, ruining weeks of work in an instant. I precut 85% of the mortise in the banding with CNC router and band saw (.05" thick) prior to gluing. The hinging actually went flawlessly, and having the tops sit so perfectly on their cases after the weeks of worrying was a huge relief!
The boxes are lined with pieces cut from the horse farm’s jockey shirts.
The design is very meaningful to the boxes’ recipients. Though I bid what I thought was an ample figure, the boxes took so long to make, more than I expected (not unusual for me!) that I still ended up making an hourly wage within the threshold of the middle class.
