Thank You Gifts

These are a set of simple gifts I made for a couple of members of the MIG-welding forum. The forum members (whom I have never met) had somewhat blown me away with their generosity to a stranger. One had (without asking for anything in return) done some custom engraving of a set of brass discs for me (you can read about that on page 144 of the Travel Tool Chest build description); the other had (again asking for nothing in return) collected and sent me a huge selection of control gear for my Heat Treatment Oven build (you can see a picture of the things he sent me in on page 7 of that build description.

After all the effort they'd gone to, making something for them felt like the least I could do, so each got a hand-tool-made box, a propelling pencil turned on my home-made wood lathe, a brass scriber turned on the M250 and a pair of welded stainless steel nut coasters.

This photo shows a close-up of the pencils and scribers. The pencils were made from kits; the upper one used European Walnut, the lower Panga Panga. Like the scribers I made for myself, they use dressmaker's pins as the tip and are used for detailing out metalwork projects (after marking with layout blue or similar).

This photo shows the two boxes with the lids wide open. When I've made tea caddies in the past, I've made the lid open just beyond vertical. As I wasn't sure what Dale & Ali would use these boxes for, I decided to make them open all the way to maximise access.

This photo shows the details of the mitred (at the bottom) dovetail joints used to hold the boxes together.

These photos show the bottom of the box and the coasters. I've recently bought a pair of branding irons from Stampsworkshop and this was the first project on which I have used them. My technique still needs some practice, but I'm pleased with the results nonetheless.

I am a hobbyist metalworker and woodworker. I work as an electronic design engineer and spend most of my working days in front of a computer so I enjoy having the opportunity to use my hands and make things in my spare time. I particularly enjoy making tools as I can then use them on other projects. This website showcases some of the things I've made.

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