I had to stop working on the boxes for 2 weeks as we had classes here at the American School of French Marquetry. Great group
But I am back to work on them now.
First of all, all the banding is done.
They are composed on 2 bone and an ebony string inlay plus an ebony band.
The edges of the top are veneered with ebony first
Then I cut with a veneer saw the inside marquetry to size and instal the banding
The same is done for the sides
It is a bit tricky for the side with the tray so I did a little memory aid to not screw it up
The result is pretty good, it does not show much and is pretty discreet, which is nice for a secret mechanism.
Then I sanded the tray face and the tray edge together so we can adjust the mechanism to hold the tray at the right spot
Open
Closed
The inside of the lid is sanded until all marks from the sawing of the veneer disappears and level to the box. Then the hardware is installed
To level the bone banding this type of rasp-file seems to work the best. I do level the lid at the same time with the box.
It is amazing how different it looks with the banding on
So, in the meantime Patrick has worked on the mechanism.
We had Aaron Radelow mill the spring catch
So we have coil springs that are here to support it and keep it flush
When you press on it
It lowers the plunger and lower the spring catch
Releasing the hook from the tray catch
Releasing the tray that is push out by the side action springs
If my explanation on the mechanism is not clear, we may do a video to explain it later on. Let me know!
All right! Now back to work!
Next time sanding and finishing!
-- Patrice lejeune
