Collinear

Collinear started off as a dead maple tree standing in my parents back yard. My dad and I talked about cutting it down and having it cut into lumber, which would be a first for us. I grabbed the chain saw and dropped it and my dad called a local, portable mill. Looking at the large sections laying on the ground I noticed that the broken branches (well, 14” diameter branches) had some beautiful spalt lines….jack pot! I cut these pieces into a manageable size, took them home with me, cut them into slabs and began the boring two-year drying process:-) Well, the wait was worth it to me. After taking a piece and book-matching it I fell in love…and Collinear was birthed shortly after that.

The main body of the box was made by gluing up panels of Claro Walnut, an 1/8” strip of Ebony and then Curly Maple. I loved the contrast between the walnut and the curly maple and wanted to emphasize it even more with the ebony.

I wanted the support to be very “airy” as to not take away from the three boxes. Remembering my years of playing with Lincoln Logs I loved the notched joints…On Collinear I just made them fit a little better. I reinforced all notched joints with contrasting dowels.

Drawer construction is standard dovetail. The drawers use wooden runners, built into the box bodies, to slide on. I didn’t want to take away from the book-matched fronts with an ugly pull so I designed the ebony pulls that I believe actually accentuate the book-matching.

This time the name of the box preceded the design. Collinear is 26.5” long. It is finished with Tried & True Varnish Oil. After that it received two good buffings of Briwax.

Main bodies: Claro Walnut, Curly Maple, Birdseye Maple and Gaboon Ebony
Support for Bodies: Curly Maple, Birdseye Maple, Wenge, Bolivian Rosewood and Paduak/Maple dowels
Drawers: Book-matched Spalted Maple fronts, Gaboon Ebony, Maple main construction and Baltic birch bottoms.

 "Collinear" is in a private collection.