My grandfather passed away a few years ago and since then my mom has had his burial flag in a mass produced case and his medals and such in a box because (a) I'm terrible at being timely and (b) she couldn't decide what she wanted. So last summer she finally said "just make it however you think is good, as long as it's Oak." Around the same time, Mosquito posted his flag box which got my design kicked off nicely 😁 I really liked the half-lapped miters (best name I could come up with) that he used on the top part and how he spaced the flag off the drawers below. I knew my mom wanted to display his medals and stuff so I decided to replace Mos' drawer box with another display box. I also thought that with the angles of the top box, some counter angles on the bottom might look nice. So after some toying and hounding Mos with questions, I got a design I was happy with. Getting the miters just right on the bottom box wasn't too bad.. However, getting it held so I could cut the dovetails for the dovetail splines was a little tricky. 3D Printer to the rescue! I modeled up a couple of jigs to hold the box pieces and cut the splines in the 75 and 15 degree miters on my router table and some clamping blocks to use with a ratchet strap to glue it all together. It all worked as I had hoped 😎
There was a lot of dado and router work on this one but other than the odd miter angles, no real challenges. The woods used are White Oak that came from my mom's front yard several years ago and Walnut that came out of my backyard year before last. I knew my mom would appreciate materials with a familial tie. The windows are some high optical clarity acrylic panels and I just used hardboard for the backers. In the bottom box I cut a piece of Kaizan foam to fit to make it easy to mount medals et. al. Finish was a coat of BLO to give the Oak some color and then 4 coats of General Finishes Arm'R Seal satin on top.
I got it done just in time to give it to her for Christmas and she was tickled with it. I neglected to take any photos before giving it to her so all of the posted ones are from where she has it displayed in her foyer.
Thanks for looking! Comments and questions welcomed as always.
Excellent Kenny! The styling on the corners is great, also like the taper on the lower section.
The ability to see it all is a nice feature, but looks like you cut it close to being able to fit and show it all. Hopefully Mom won't find another piece of the history that needs a place.
Thanks Splint. She gave me all of that stuff and said that was all she wanted in it before I started the design so I was sure I could make it all fit. And it's hard to see in the pics but there is an inch between the foam and the acrylic panel so if she found some more small stuff, it could lay in front of the foam.
I really appreciate the way folks in the USA honour their family members who have served their country. We will remember them. Lest we forget!
I guess I’d never thought about it before Crowie, are flag boxes not a thing in other countries? Triangular folded flags have been a long standing thing here in the US to honor military dead.
Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".
Thanks y’all! Appreciate the comments. I wish I had taken more pics and some in process. This was a really relaxing project even though it was done primarily with power tools. Last year was my “thanks for your service” year. The only two sizeable projects I did was a flag box and a retirement shadowbox😁
