Kristiaan’s All Wood Locking Jewelry Box

Viewer Project - By Kristiaan Brenard from Belgium
Added on December 31, 2013

I always try to make my projects completely out of wood. Or at least I try to use as little other material as possible. Using wooden hinges was the first step for me to accomplish this. From the first time I used wooden hinges on a box, I hardly ever have used metal hinges again. Since I like things that are locked in some way, I began thinking/searching for possible locking mechanisms that could be made out of wood. Of course there are thousands of possibilities to make a wooden locking mechanism, visible and non-visible, and I did have a lot of fun trying different things over the last couple of years. What I did not try was a real lock (like a standard metal lock with key) because I didn’t really know how to start or if it would be possible. Until one day I came across the book by Tim Detweiler, “Making Working Wooden Locks”.

I went immediately to the local bookstore to order the book, I couldn’t wait to try this. The projects in the book are made to a very large size, more like conversation pieces than for actual practical use. But that doesn’t matter, I was just interested in the mechanism and therefore it’s a great book! I chose one of the designs in the book and made it smaller so that I could apply it to a box. I was quite surprised. I had expected it to be much more difficult than it was.

This jewelry box was my first attempt. I’ve made boxes with a better overall quality but for a first time endeavor, I was quite happy with the result. One problem though, because once attached, it wouldn’t be possible to see the lock nor would it be possible to see that it’s made out of wood. To solve this, I didn’t glue the lock in place, instead it can slide in place and is then secured with wooden pegs. Surprised reactions guaranteed ;)

I made a lot of things and I definitely will make a lot more but this is one of the special projects because it’s the first attempt of something I was thinking about for years but just never actually tried, until now. I hope you like it, and most of all I hope that I encourage some of you to also try this. I’m sure that I’m not the only one who is struggling with ideas and not sure how to make a start on them or thinking that it is too difficult.

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