The Erwins Jewelers Project
Alright, so today I finally sat down to tackle this Erwins Jewelers piece I’d been mulling over. Honestly, the name sounded fancy, like some high-end shop downtown, but the actual thing? It was supposed to be a keepsake box for my wife. Let’s just say it ended up… interesting.
First thing Tuesday morning, I grabbed my notebook and sketched out this idea. I pictured a small wooden box with hinges and a little metal plate on top, maybe engraved? Feeling optimistic, I grabbed my keys and drove to the craft store. Grabbed some basic thin plywood, small brass hinges, a tiny sheet of soft metal for the “jeweler’s plate”, wood glue, and some sandpaper. Figured I had everything I needed.
Back home, I cleared off the kitchen table – my makeshift workshop – and got rolling. Measured and marked the plywood for the sides, bottom, and lid. Grabbed my jigsaw. Cutting the plywood pieces was where things first got a little rough. That cheap plywood? Man, it splintered like crazy near the edges, even though I tried cutting slowly. Ended up with sides that looked like tiny shark bites took chunks out. “Okay,” I told myself, “Sandpaper to the rescue!”
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Stuff that just didn’t work like I thought:
- The Sandpaper Fight: Spent ages sanding those jagged edges. Felt like forever, and sawdust was everywhere. Still didn’t look perfect, just less like they’d cut you.
- Glue Disaster: Assembling the box was next. Got the sides glued to the base, but holy smokes, clamping thin plywood is a nightmare. One clamp slipped, I panicked trying to catch it, and ended up smearing glue all over the wood. Looked awful until it dried and I could sand it off again.
- Hinge Hassle: Mounting those tiny brass hinges? What a pain! Holding the lid in position, marking the screw holes, drilling pilot holes without splitting the thin wood… I think I cussed more during this part than the whole rest of the project. Screws went in crooked on one hinge, and the lid didn’t sit flat for a while.
- The “Jeweler’s Plate” Mess: That soft metal sheet? Plan was to cut a rectangle, sand the edges smooth, and glue it to the lid to look like a fancy shop sign. Cutting it? Easy enough. Smoothing the edges? Took a bit of work. Then came the engraving. I grabbed a nail and a hammer thinking I could tap her initials into it lightly. Nope. Went way too deep with the first “K”, slipped twice, and ended up with a plate that looked like it survived a bombing run. Totally unusable. Had to ditch it.
Feeling kinda defeated, I decided to salvage what I could. Sanded everything down again – smoother this time, actually! Used some dark walnut wood stain I had lying around to cover up the worst of the glue stains and imperfections. Funny enough, the stain made it look kinda rustic and intentional? Gave it a couple coats of clear varnish. Still needed a closure, so I superglued a small, cheap metal latch I found in my odds-and-ends box. Not elegant, but it clicked shut.
End result? It’s a box. It holds stuff. My wife laughed, said it was “charmingly rough,” and put her everyday earrings in it. Mission accomplished? Sorta. Looks nothing like the fancy Erwins Jewelers concept in my head, but it has character now. Mostly gained from all the screw-ups. The real lesson? Cheap plywood sucks for fine boxes, tiny hinges are evil, and my metalworking skills are basically zero. Might stick to simpler stuff next week.