Treasure Box - Series #2 - Post #19: Finishing the insides and glueing the boxes

I have been carry on working on the boxes with a 2 weeks pause for our february teaching session at the American School of French Marquetry. Great class, here are some pictures

More here

Anyway. Before the class started I had to finish the inside of the boxes with French Polish, before the room was taken over by the students.

There is different way of holding the pieces with nails bent in places

Or with small wood blocks

I like to have it lay out in circle so I can just turn around… endlessly it seems some times. I left the edges of my side accessible to finish them also at the same time.

I started to polish the blood wood first, as it has a tendency to bleed and I did not want to drag to much the color around.

For the center panel, I started with the outside until it was fixed, then the tulip, and finally the center. This helped me minimizing any color transfer.

I work on the pore filling until I have a nice smooth satin surface. For me the pore filling is the most important step in french polish.

Now, ready to glue

I did not took a picture of cutting the panel to create part of the hidden tray mechanism but I will develop that on the mechanism trade, the next one.

I used Old Brown Glue, to give me plenty of time to glue the piece

But also the reversibility which offers an easy cleaning with cold water.

This morning, first box glued. 3 more to go and I can start working on the base, the tray and the lid, while Patrick works on the mechanism.

Just for your curiosity, Patrick posted on the mechanism we decided to use on the boxes trays on his blog. And we also did a small video.

See you on the next episode!

-- Patrice lejeune