John's Present

Dick was busy in his workshop this holiday season but I couldn't show what he was working on until now. He and Rachel conspired to make Rachel's hubby, John, a box to hold his collection of watches. It took Dick a bit of time (and some swearing) to get the cuts just so, the wood sanded to the proper finish, and the leather glued into place. He also had to cut the class to shape and custom craft a system to hold it in place. I wish I'd gotten a photo of the packaging job Dick did on this before he shipped it off to Colorado. He layered egg-crate foam under the glass, with thick cardboard on top; then a layer of wood and at least 6" of hard plastic foam all around, all of it held in place with bright red duct tape. He was determined that it would arrive intact. Rachel said it took her over 20 minutes free the box from its wrappings.

The majority of the box (the lighter wood) is cherry and the sides are Brazilian walnut; there's full-grain leather under the swirl glass top and a sliding shelf in the top drawer to hold rings. Doesn't he do nice work?