[Woodworkers] Heritage Box

Dave Heitstuman DaveH at sphcontrols.com
Tue May 25 13:06:08 PDT 2021


Chuck,
There isn’t much I can add that hasn’t been said.  The finished product is beautiful, stunning, spectacular, and my favorite from Frank, bad-ass!

Thanks for bringing us along for the build and sharing the story.

2Dave

From: Woodworkers [mailto:woodworkers-bounces at lists.sawdusters.org] On Behalf Of chuck.steger--- via Woodworkers
Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2021 12:30 PM
To: woodworkers at sawdusters.org
Cc: chuck.steger at gmail.com
Subject: [Woodworkers] Heritage Box

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

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