Thanks to the X-carve I have taken what is a simple keepsake box and made it something special with a personalized inlay
16 Likes
Beautiful! Nice job.
Great job. Liking the lego touch.
Sweet piece
How did you go about cutting the dovetails? by hand or machine? if the latter, which one? I like the spacing of the pins as it does not look too cluttered…
The joinery is hand cut. They are full-pitch dovetails rather than the half-pitch. I also like the less busy look, thanks!
That is truly beautiful! 
Nice box, but really well done dovetails! Those are not easy to get so crisp looking. I too am not familiar with half vs. full pitch dovetails and I’m pretty well-versed in woodworking vernacular.
What I was taught by my grandfather was that half-pitch dovetails are cut at approx .75" centers and full-pitch at 1.5" centers. That was his sizing for average sized drawer boxes. I’ve found throughout the years that regardless of the size of dovetail, I just double the spacing for full-pitch and less cluttered joints.
Beautiful! What kind of wood is that?
Thanks for the explanation, @KenMcphee! Interesting. Is that related to using 3/4" wood?
The thickness of the wood doesn’t really come into play with the distance between pins and tails. I like to spread the pins out and have longer tails simply for the esthetics.
Great box! Love the wood… Love the H on the helmet (my boys wear H’s 
)
It’s Black Walnut.
My sons name is Henderson, try to brand all the things I make for him with an “H”
not just a simple box. a nice dovetailed piece of art to begin with but made even nicer.
Love seeing skilled woodwork. Dovetails have to be one of the most difficult, “simple” woodworking tasks.
As a tradesman in the metalworking field, I used to brag tha I could disassemble a broken device and machine a new version of whatever was broken and then reassemble it. Wood always left me wondering. In metal, I can machine close tolerances and build-up surfaces that have worn away.
In wood, you either get it right, or you begin again. There’s no welding or filling of gaps.
Nicely done.
David,
Thank you! I was blessed with an amazing grandfather who had a Japanese detail saw In my hands before I could read.
I’d be very interested in your thoughts and opinion on the japanese saws - I have a flexible flush-cut saw with that typ of tooth pattern, but I’ve always used a traditional tenon saw, cross-cut and rip-saw (and the three finger, one thumb grip). I suspect these finetooth saws would produce a nice cut, but I’ve not had the $$ to buy a good quality Japanese saw to try, and I’m a little dubious about the two handed grip.