Wood Box

A band director at A&M asked me to make a simple box to support an idea for a gift. The contact came via my previous work on the mace/baton stand for the band a few months ago. One of the associate band directors, Travis Almany, was retiring after 16 (I think) years of service to A&M and students. Each student (several hundred) of the bands/orchestras wrote their best wishes and thanks to Mr. Almany on 3x5 index cards. I was asked to make a simple/basic box to contain them. Silly me said sure despite never having made anything similar! How hard could it be and I was given sufficient time to make mistakes and rebuild if needed. After making the box and before final finish, a local shop engraved the box.

The box and cards were delivered to Mr. Almany at the end-of-year concert this past weekend. It appeared to be a well-received gift.

The wood is cherry with walnut splines. The cherry was cut from a single board with mitered joints that wrapped the grain around the corners (seen in the second photo). Is it perfect? Not quite but it is close. As always, part of the fun is learning new skills and techniques. Now I'm looking for my next box application!

Thanks,

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