Nicholas Jones, Waverley, NSW

Begorrah: A Bandsaw Box
Tasmanian myrtle
160 h x 185 w x 95mm d

Concept
I have played around building various traditional boxes over the years and some time back became intrigued with bandsaw boxes after seeing them at Bungendore. I love their non traditional form and was intrigued with their construction. I have made several simple boxes and attended a workshop on bandsawn boxes, as well as seeing examples of this style of boxmaking in various books, publications (including AWR) and websites.
Recently some friends of ours closed their well known restaurant and purchased a B&B instead. We visited the couple prior to the opening of their new establishment and the day we visited happened to be Saint Patrick’s day. As the better half of the couple is Irish, there were prominent shamrocks decorating the place. That gave inspiration for this design and a slightly different house warming gift a few months later.

Materials
The timber is Tasmanian myrtle, which was a chance purchase at the Sydney Working With Wood Show last year. At the time I bought it, I had no plan or concert in mind. It just stood out as being an attractive piece of timber with great grain and was the right dimension for my bandsaw yet big enough so that at some time I could tackle a larger bandsawn box. On cutting, it was not as well seasoned as I would like have liked and this made planing and joining the carcase back and drawer backs a real challenge.

Method of Construction:
Construction is from a solid block of Tasmanian myrtle, bandsawn, hand planed, handcarved with carving chisels, gouges and rasps, then finished by hand with a Dremel tool, various hand sanding implements and hand sanding.
Glue: Glue joins are all PVA with some creative clamping.
Finish: The finish is 10 coats of Danish oil, wet sanded with diminishing grits and then waxed and polished by hand.
As a house warming gift, it was very well received. The piece now sits on the mantle piece of the B&B, on the NSW south coast.

Photos: Nicholas Jones