Many people think this box looks like a canoe or kayak, but my inspiration for The Leaf Box was that of the leaf of the ‘narrow-leaf cottonwood’ tree found near rivers and streams near where I live in the rocky mountains. The delicate book-matched lid lifts up and is sculpted by hand to make it appear thinner than it really is. The interior of the box is lined with genuine Ultrasuede. I finish each piece with 2 coats of lacquer followed by a top coat of paste wax hand applied with ‘0000? steel wool to enhance the natural beauty of the exquisite exotic hardwoods. The Leaf box is appropriate for watches, pens, necklaces, or whatever other collectible/keepsake you can think of. Also, makes a great fifth anniversary gift.

Dimensions: 11″x 2.75″ x 1.25″

An original design by Eugene F Watson
Copyright 2013 Watson Woodworks, LLC

The Cricket Box lid has a magnetic catch so that nothing will fall out. It opens by pressing down at one end of the lid. Each piece is unique and is available in many different woods. The exquisite finish consists of a coat of shellac followed by 2 coats of lacquer for a very smooth and durable finish.  It comes in 2 sizes, the original size and the giant.  This small wooden box is a perfect size for rings, earrings, pills, and treasures of your imagination.

Each one comes with a velvet pouch and my initials are carved into the underside of the lid.

Original Dimensions: 3.5″(8.9cm) x 1.65″(4.2cm) x .875″(2.2cm);  Internal: 2.5″ x 1.125″ x 0.65″

Giant Dimensions: 5″(12.7cm) x 2.5″(6.35cm) x 1″(2.54cm);  Internal: 3.65″ x 1.875″ x .75″

An original design by Eugene F. Watson
Copyright 2013 Watson Woodworks, LLC

This custom jewelry box appropriately named ‘The Clam Box’, was created by a request to make a large jewelry box that can hold everything…at least for most people. This design is very elaborate and inovative with the 2 internal rotating trays and carved solid wood lid.

Some of its features are:

• Unique and inovative ring holder
• Dual rotating trays for quick easy access to jewelry
• Oil impregnated bronze bearings attached to trays for silky smooth operation
• Carved lid made from 24 segments of solid wood
• Brusso (made in USA) solid brass hinges with 95 degree stop
• Genuine Ultrasued lining (non-tarnishing)
• Abalone dot inlays along front edge of lid
• Removeable bottom dividers for very large items
• Museum Quality, Only 5 made
• Solid wood sides have reinforced splines

Dimensions: 18” x 9” x 5.375” (45.7cm x 22.9cm x 13.6cm)

Wood: Big Leaf Curly Maple, Hard Maple (feet,splines,trays)

An original design by Eugene F Watson
Copyright 2013 Watson Woodworks, LLC

The Helical Box is a unique symmetrical design that pivots around a brass rod. The 14 compartments are lined with genuine recycled Ultrasuede. Abalone shell diamond-shaped inlays are used to enhance the beauty of the tops. Two secret compartments are located underneath the top and are held in place by rare-earth magnets. These boxes are finely finished using 1 coat of blonde flake-shellac followed by 2 coats of lacquer, then hand polished with steel wool and English paste wax (it’s more work to polish, but the boxes look and feel so good afterwards that I can’t resist the extra effort). The resulting finish brings out the natural beauty of the woods and is extremely smooth and durable. The Helical box makes a perfect jewelry box, ring box, earring box, or presentation box for any small collectible.

Dimensions:8″ (20cm) x 8″ (20cm) x 3″ (76mm)

An original design by Eugene F Watson

Copyright 2013 Watson Woodworks, LLC

This pivoting jewelry box has a weighted base to keep its balance when opened up. This gives the box a very unique look as if it defies gravity. The Trapezoid Box, when closed, represents a trapezoid at each of its 3 sides. Each triangular compartment pivots off the brass rod running straight down the back corner of the box. The compartments are able to turn freely around a 360 degree axis and will not tip due to the weighted base (1 pound of buck-shot). The secret compartment can be accessed by removing the top level, and large enough for a key, earrings, several rings, etc. The trapezoid box can hold several jewelry items such as cuff-links, earrings, rings, and necklaces.  It also makes a great executive desk gift.

Features:

• magnetic secret compartment
• genuine Ultrasuede leather lining
• weighted base
• time consuming lacquer finish
• contrasting wood inlays
• award wining design

The Trapezoid Box is featured in the book by Andrew Crawford named Fine Decorative Boxes, Sterling Publishers, page 139. It was also featured in American Woodworker magazine, April, 1998.  I’ve been making the box since 1994.

Dimensions: 7″ (17.8cm) triangular base, 5.25″ (13.3) h, trays are approximately .75″ (19mm) deep.

An original design by Eugene F. Watson

Copyright 1994-2016, Watson Woodworks, LLC

This jewelry box, named The Scallop Box, was inspired by a sunset walk along a pacific coast beach in Panama. The sculpted lid represents many of the shells I found during the walk.

The shape of the scallop is known as ‘pecten’, a Latin word for comb. Pliny, a Roman philosopher, gave scallops the name because their round outline with ribs radiating outwards reminded him of a style of comb popularly used during the Roman Empire.

Each piece is painstakingly finished, hand polished, and individually signed. They are lined with genuine Ultrasuede and feature abalone/paua shell for the inlay. The hinges are solid brass made in the USA. This jewelry box is a perfect size for watches, necklaces, bracelets, small desk accessories, etc.

Dimensions: 8″ (20.3cm) x 4″ (10.2cm) x 1.5″ (3.8cm)

An original design by Eugene F Watson
Copyright 2013 Watson Woodworks, LLC

It was these trays that sparked the design of the entire clam jewelry box (I designed it inside out).  I wanted to create a jewelry box with pivoting internal trays and what better shape could there be than a half circle  (although I already have ideas for a rectangular jewelry box with similar internal design).

There were many challenges with the design of the trays.  When I began drawing the parts in my CAD software program I quickly realized that the pivot point of the trays had to be as far back as possible.  In fact, the pivot point had to be in the back of the box in order to eliminate gaps between the front sides of the trays and the inner walls of the box. Since this was physically impossible, I decided to use bronze bearings mounted at the back of each tray and drill a relief for them into the back wall of the box (see photos below).

This was the first time I used bronze bearings and I’m glad I did.  The trays swing as if they were floating in air.  It’s possible I may incorporate them in my other two pivoting designs, the trapezoid box and the helical box.  One challenge I ran into was that the bronze bearings are oil-impregnated.  This made it very difficult if not impossible to glue.  I solved this by tapping into the bearing and screwing into it from inside the tray.  I also used a dab of epoxy for extra strength (the epoxy definitely helped, but if I used it alone it would likely fail in time).  The result is a surprisingly strong bearing support.

The horizontal channels in the top tray are for a unique ring holder which I came up with for this box and most likely will be used in future boxes as well.  The design will allow for wider ring bands such as wedding rings as well as narrow ring bands.  It will store at least 30 rings and present them all face up.  When the jewelry boxes are finished I will have some detailed photos.  Check back soon.

I didn’t think there would be challenges to the abalone dot inlays, but there was.  Maybe one day I’ll make my life easy and design and build a rectangular jewelry box like everyone else.  A few of the inlays had to be drilled out and redone because they got tilted in the hole as I was tapping them in.  Of course they were glued in to place with a quick setting glue.  There was about an extra half hour of work, but all is well and the lids look great.  They are completely sanded and ready for finishing.

Next will come the most challenging part, the inner trays.  The plan is for there to be two trays which rotate off a bronze bearing.  Once I get past that, the boxes will be very close to being finished.  Check back in a week.

Making the half-circle front to the clam jewelry box can be done in two ways:

• A bent laminate ( bending veneers around a caul)
• A solid wood  front built up with segments.

I chose to use solid wood because I wanted the lid to be flush with the body of the box and I wanted the most durable method. The laminate/veneer method couldn’t tolerate the sanding necessary to make the lid flush.  Both methods are labor intensive.

There were quite a few steps to making the segmented front because I wanted to reinforce each segment with splines and inset the back part into the back two segments.  I chose the use of 8 segments to match the 8 segments used in the lid. I drafted the parts using my CAD program and established the necessary dimensions.  After cutting the first set of segments I realized I had to be very accurate with the thickness and width of the segments in order to get the 18″ outer diameter required for the jewelry box.  In the photos you will see two slots- one for the bottom to set in and one to make it easier to saw off the lid section with the band-saw.

Clamping and gluing the segments was fairly straightforward using Gorilla glue and Bessey band clamps.  The Gorilla proved to be a great choice because its long open time allowed me to glue all the segments and splines in one shot.  At first the back was not glued in, but was used as a support during clamping.  I needed to remove the back in order to band-saw and sand the inside curve smooth.

Once I had the inside curve smoothly sanded, I cleaned up the slot that will hold the bottom with a chisel.   I then cut out the bottom shape and test fit it into its slot.  With the bottom fitting good in its slot, I glued the back to the front segmented section.

This concludes the main steps to making the body of the giant clam jewelry box.  Tune in soon for the surprise interior parts!