Steve Ramsey - Woodworking for Mere Mortals - Heart-shaped box with tray. Classy gift idea.

Short Summary

Main recommendation: Build the heart-shaped box with tray as a gift project and finish it with spray lacquer. The build is a laminated block of 10-inch boards, shaped on a bandsaw and hollowed with a 2¼-inch Forstner bit, then split into a lid and a drawer so the drawer can be cut out of the box. The video notes that the purple heart wood is dense and hard, making sanding the most labor-intensive step.

Key Points

• The base is a laminated block glued from 10-inch boards, squared up after the glue dries.
• The printed template is glued to the block with spray adhesive and includes the build steps in order.
• The box is hollowed with a 2¼-inch Forstner bit, with pilot marks drilled first and the openings opened into an oval with a chisel.
• The box and drawer are cut apart on the bandsaw; the kerf is sealed with glue and the back is glued on.
• The drawer is trimmed slightly so it sits nearly flush, and the cut heart piece is reused as a drawer pull.

Details Worth Noting

• Concrete instructions:
  • Glue the 10-inch boards into a block, let it dry, then square it up.
  • Glue the template to the block with spray adhesive and follow its instructions in order, folding along the marked line first.
  • Mark the center of the two holes on the bottom of the block, drill them about 1 inch deep with a 2¼-inch Forstner bit (the largest one used), then use a chisel to widen them into an oval.
  • Glue a base onto the bottom; the video uses a paduk scrap for contrast, but a matching species is acceptable.
  • Bandsaw the overall box shape, then cut off the back about 1/8 inch in from the mark, and slice the front and back off the drawer.
  • Seal the bandsaw entry point with glue, then glue the back on and let it dry.
  • Round over sharp edges so none remain.
  • Glue a small piece of wood into the back of the drawer to compensate for the roughly 1/8 inch removed by the cut so it sits almost flush.
  • Finish with a few coats of spray lacquer.
• The purple heart is very dense and mostly end grain, so sanding it smooth takes considerable effort.
• The speaker broke a thinner bandsaw blade during the tight turn, so the drawer-interior cut was re-shot as a recreation.

Bottom Line

A gift-worthy heart box with tray is a manageable intermediate build if you have a bandsaw, a 2¼-inch Forstner bit, and patience for sanding hard purple heart.