This is another type of tessellation that I wanted to try. This box was made out of 3/4” Baltic Birch Plywood and walnut, I’m not sure what the wood is on the inside of the box. It measures 8.5” x 4.25” x 3.75”.
I glued a thin piece of walnut between strips of the plywood. Then glued it all together at a 45º angle. That panel was then cut in 3/4” strips once again.
By flipping every other one over you get a chevron pattern and glue it all up again. The BB was very fragile and everything with a point could snap off when it was cut on the table saw. This is the result.
Slight differences in the thickness of the BB layers, make it very hard to match the layers up perfectly.
That panel was then laminated to 1/8” plywood to prevent any more damage to the BB. You can see my pencil lines before I changed the direction I wanted the chevron to go.
For the handle I used a section of the pattern I glued up and then turned it on the lathe. It was mounted using epoxy and brass rods. Because the box would probably be on a table and viewed from above, I thought the pattern should be on the top of the handle. The finish is satin lacquer. Hope you like it, I was pretty satisfied with the final piece.
I had to add this last picture to show how I glued the wrong side of the pattern to the plywood. I didn't notice it until the glue was dry and I was not going to try and fix it. Oh well what would a project be without something going wrong?
That looks fantastic John! I've used the end-grain look of BB ply for a few things but never to that level, another item on my list of "copy John" projects to do!
This is so neat! I love the chevron - I'm sure that the in-person view is extra eye catching. Of course, adding in the walnut is a great contrast (and hard to go wrong with walnut!). Using the same BB material for the handle is a real win for the overall design. Thanks for sharing this.
Thanks Bruce, that is a big compliment coming from you.
Thanks Barb, I was getting frustrated and almost gave up because of how fragile the BB was until I figured out how to solve it. Now that it’s done I’m glad I stuck with it.
Thank you Steven, there are so many patterns that can be made.
Thanks Steve.
Thanks Larry, I watched some videos that explain how using math you can make an insane amount of different patterns.
Thanks Tom.
Nice of you to say Tim, I’m starting to leave more than I used to.
