Cherry jewelry box with secret latch and hidden compartments

I built this box for my niece's high school graduation and have had a lot of questions from folks who heard about it, so I thought I'd put together this video to let folks see it.  I wanted to build a box with some secret features and hidden storage, and still have it be an attractive piece.  Hopefully this box strikes the balance.  The primary wood is cherry, with a bird's-eye maple panel in the lid, and cumaru and chechen accents.  Sorry for the occasionaly jerky video, but I was my own videographer for this walk-through.

None of the ideas for secret compartments and the latch are original... all have been pulled from, or were inspired by, one or more examples I was able to find online.  The particular combination of features and the design of the box is original, as is the mechanism for the auto-locking lid.  I did most of the design in Sketchup, since it was important to see some 3D modeling of the pieces to work out problems while still in  CAD.

Some of the inspiration for this box came from the videos on this playlist: Secret boxes.  They may be of interest if you're looking for inspiration.

I hope this video gives you some ideas for your own project!

--dave

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• #wood
• #jewelry_box
• #secret_compartment
• #hidden_latch