My Client wanted a unique way to propose to his girlfriend. To present the ring I create a custom made engagement ring box that required specific detailing and engraving with words of meaning from their relationship and, with four operational locks with matching keys. The box is made using Walnut and purple heart accents, and yes the purple heart is naturally that color. It is a really cool wood to work with.
We debated the design back and forth quite a bit before coming to our final design, but here is the rendering I came up with and worked off of to build this custom box.
I 1st cut the sides by mitering them together. When I cut the sides I made sure that I kept the boards in order so when the box is glued together the grain will wrap around the box looking as if one piece of wood that has been folded into a cube.
Next I cut and glued in the purple heart inlays on the corners
I’m not into carving so I cut the hears out on my scroll saw to get the basic shape and then finished shaping their final form using a variety of files, chisels, knives, and sand paper.
When test fitting the hearts, I realized they where to thick and the key bottomed out before it made it all the way into the lock. I needed thin down the hearts so the key would operate properly. I’m slightly irritated with myself for not thinking of this before I cut out the hearts because now they are too small to run through the plainer. Hmmmm how to do this quickly, I know I will hold them against my belt sander and quickly sand the back off until I get them to the proper thickness.
Opps! The heart slipped out of my hand and in a 1/2 second I sanded off the the end of my finger nail. At this point we should take a moment to talk about shop safety.
Be sure to read, understand and follow all the directions that came with your power tools.
-Norm Abram from The New Yankee Workshop
And use common since!
The pain of sanding off my fingernail was worth it. These hearts look great!
Now on to the lid. Getting the posts on the lid to line up on all 4 sides with all locks operating smoothly was tough, it took me most of one night to get them all working.
So here is the finished project!
Watch the box in action!
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It is really an unique way to hide the ring in there. I like it quite a lot. I’ve been thinking for such a surprise, but there is still time. You could change the colour and it would become even nicer. Great idea!