[Woodworkers] Heritage Box

John Conrad jmconrad at gmail.com
Sun May 23 13:15:45 PDT 2021


Chuck,

the craftsmanship and the thought put into the gift are both outstanding.
Thanks for the pics, the story, and pat yourself on the back for a job very
well done.


On Sun, May 23, 2021 at 2:08 PM chuck.steger--- via Woodworkers <
woodworkers at lists.sawdusters.org> wrote:

> All,
>
>    I finally completed the Heritage box that I’ve been bending your ears
> (bending your eyes?) about. This was one of the most satisfying builds I’ve
> done. It’s for a milestone birthday for my older sister and it made me
> think about our culture and heritage because everything in this box has a
> nod to those things. Also, I did some techniques that I’ve never done in my
> 30+ years of woodworking. From turning copper to doing table saw coves.
> I’ve never needed to do TS coves before. I either did them on the router
> table or on the band saw. What was cool about this is I exceeded the
> capacity of the TS due to the 15 ½” diameter of the curves. It created a
> lip that at first I was going to sand out but I think it enhances the look
> of the Asian design. I lucked out there.
>
>    There’s not a component in the box that doesn’t shout out to our
> background. This is probably oversharing but a  quick background will bring
> the components into significance. My grandfather was from Shanghai and
> migrated to Chile where he met my grandmother. My grandmother and mother
> were born and raised in Chile. My father was born and raised in Illinois
> and has a German ancestry. An American, he met my mom working in South
> America doing electrical work for the copper mines where they lived (which
> is why copper plays a big part of my heritage). My older sister and I were
> born in Bolivia (my younger sister was born in California). So with that in
> mind, permit me to give a quick tour of the box. Some things are
> self-evident.
>
>    The main material is bamboo and Bolivian rosewood. The sides and cap on
> the lid are rosewood. The spiles in the side are from the rosewood sapwood
> which is pretty dense. The lid, legs and bottom trim (on the sides) are
> bamboo. The legs are attached with copper rods and the sphere on top is
> copper. The sphere holder as well as the bottom of the box is oak which is
> the national tree of Germany and the state tree of Illinois. The infill is
> turquoise which is mined in Chile (obviously not the only place). The stone
> under the holder is ametrine which is a quartz mined in Bolivia. There is
> also symbolism in the box. The 3 rods represent the 3 children. The bottom
> is ¼” rod and represents the first born and anchors the box. The middle rod
> is 3/16” and is arguably the most intelligent and handsome of the rods (😊).
> And the top rod is 1/8” to represent my younger sister who got away with
> murder as the baby! The stone is singular to also represent the first born.
> I liked it so much I’m making one for me but mine will have 2 stones. My
> younger sister’s will use a different side material and not use ametrine
> because Bolivia isn’t as significant to her. I’m thinking redwood for the
> sides and not sure what stones to use but there will be 3 of them. Each box
> is designed to be one-of-a-kind and I would think I achieved that.
>
>    Sorry if I overshared as I’m sure this is just another stylized box to
> you but to me it represents a culture and heritage.
>
>
>
> Chuck
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> I want to be one of my friends for a day so I can see how cool it is to
> hang out with me.
> Woodworkers at lists.sawdusters.org
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-- 
Cheers,
John
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