The Watch Box (Finished)

Last weekend I was able to work on the box a little.  There really wasn't enough progress to post about, but I did manage to glue things up.  I decided to put the inlayed corners facing down and I think it looks pretty good.  I got into the shop today and got the box out of the clamps. Of course I forgot to take a picture, but I put the clamps back on the way they were and snapped this shot.

  
The only difference between this shot and the actual glue up was the masking tape holding everything together.  The lines you see behind the top clamp are there to accept the cherry partitions (as seen below).  Here is a shot of the box after a bit of sanding with the partitions installed.

At this point I was convinced that I would never make anything out of birds eye maple again.  What a pain in the butt this stuff is to work.  I have never had such issues with tear out before.  I managed to sand most of the issues away, but man what a hassle.

Then I put on some wipe on poly, and that totally changed my mind...  This stuff is beautiful.  I probably won't make a full box out of it again, but I would use it for panels any day.  I love how it came out.

Most importantly, Susan loves it.  It is drying right now after the third coat, but should be out of the shop by tomorrow.  Here a few more shots.