digest
Short Summary
Main recommendation: Build a lighted shadow box from MDF with a zebra wood frame, using a battery-powered stick light for the internal illumination. The project is a wall-mounted box with a mirrored back, and the speaker says most of it is MDF so that costly exotic wood is only needed for the visible frame.
Key Points
- The box is built from MDF, with the back made of four half-inch MDF pieces glued together with a quarter-inch MDF back panel, and a separate quarter-inch top piece that holds the light.
- Zebra wood is used only for visible trim and a thin veneer, which keeps material cost down compared with solid exotic wood.
- A battery-operated "Stick and Click" light (three AAA batteries, about $12 for a three-pack at a hardware store) is mounted under the top panel and shines through a cut hole.
- The interior and exterior of the box are painted black, and a mirror is epoxied in place at the back.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions: Resaw a 24-inch by three-quarter-inch zebra wood board into three thinner pieces to get about six feet of veneer stock. Sand highly figured wood like zebra wood smooth rather than running it through a thickness planer, because the planer can tear out grain.
- Concrete instructions: Round over the edges of the light-hole top piece for a softer look. Drill the switch hole for the light, then epoxy a metal grommet (a washer-like piece) around it so the light stays on when pressed.
- Concrete instructions: Glue thin strips on the front to stop the light fixture at the right depth, and glue strips on the back to keep the light aligned. Remove the fixture's back panel if the box is too shallow for it to fit.
- Concrete instructions: Glue zebra wood strips to the inside of each frame piece, and attach the outside strips after assembly so clamping is easier. Lacquer the frame, then glue it on the box.
- The speaker says the light's package lists about 1,000 hours of run time on three AAA batteries, and the light is surprisingly bright when it's not daylight.
Bottom Line
A lighted shadow box is an affordable way to show off exotic wood, since most of the structure is inexpensive MDF and only the visible frame uses zebra wood.
