Medal presentation box

Glad to be able to pull this off for a daughter in law who recently lost her Dad. In the inevitable clean up his Royal Aust Naval service medals were found. Boxed and never worn. My daughter asked if Dad would make a presentation box for them, and of course, Dad aka Kerry said yes. So began the project.......
A few challenges, the box is ever so slightly out of square, yes I know, I needed to have check better at glue up time. Then when I put the back section on (it is hinged for access to the medals and photo) upside down the out of square was more pronounced. To try and explain it another way. The back was cut off to fit hinges and a catch. But imagine the back having just been removed is turned 180 degrees. 
I'm blaming the drugs - I've been fighting bladder cancer since end of 2024. That's my excuse and I think it's reasonable.
Some clever remedial work, like a strip to cover the hinge rebates & screw holes. And we were back on track.
It's not the making mistakes, because we all do, it's how you've learnt to recover. Said to me some years ago by a fine woodwork teacher.

The glass is 5mm thick and is reflective as the photo shows. Non reflective wasn't available in more than 2mm, so reflective it is. I was worried 2 was too thin. The box is 260mm x 90mm deep x 100mm high. Fairly small.
Mounting the medals tested my creative abilities. I routed a trench down the middle of a piece of American Maple and cut it to size. The medals have a safety pin style hasp. so I drilled two vertical holes 5mm apart per medal. Putting the medal hasp into the trench, then inserting two tiny panel pins into the holes the medal is secured in place. Yes, photos would have be better than my explanation. 
 
Brusso hinges have skyrocketed in price here for a variety of reasons but you'd need deep pockets to afford them any more. So cheap but very sturdy hinges did the job. Let's face it it's not a box opening and closing daily or even weekly.
Made from Vic, Ash, sometimes called Tassie oak too. Not the easiest timber to work with. It never seems too dense and so seems to pit. Care is required in working with it. The band around the sides and top is Jarrah a very hard West Aust timber. The hasp is simply one of those 5mm circular clasp and pin type insert. Sorry the proper name escapes me.
It is finished in Organ Oil their Burnishing oil and just a tiny bit of wax applied a couple of weeks later. The inside is lined with velvet mounted on flute board and the exposed wood done with Danish oil. The name plate was done by a good friend, which really adds to the whole thing.
In the finish a good result with some blemishes only the maker or one of you hawk eyes will pick up on. An enjoyable and worthwhile project.