Quote:
Originally Posted by DonVoigt
Ollie,
thanks for the thoughts.
Yes, I thought of birch, but eliminated it because of hardness on the scale- may have been error.
I "found" what looks like nice clear maple boards; one of the problems with the box is the bottom requires a 1 1/4" thick board !
Hardware,
the strange, unusual, or unique latch on these boxes will have to be made from scratch. Bent from flat stock, punched, some parts milled, a spring - very daunting.
I've never seen these latches on anything else, nor could I find them online.
Maybe if I were in Germany they would be common. 
Even the hinges are special. |
So there's no insert in it, it's just one solid piece of wood? That can get very nasty if it starts warping on you.
It makes me wonder if they really used a solid piece, or if they glued it up. A glued piece would hold up better, and you can't see much of that in the cuts anyway, can you? Two 3/4" boards glued together, plane it to 1 1/4" and you'll have a very strong and warp resistant piece. Even if they didn't do it like that originally, I think it's one of those things you just have to do to make sure it won't move later on.
And I can only imagine how much fun it will be to make the hardware... I guess getting it right is simply not supposed to be easy.
By the way: If you haven't already noticed, there's a huge difference between maple and hard maple. Hard maple can be difficult to find in the lumberyards, but it's fairly common so any cabinet shop should be able to order it for you.