I made a dice tower for my best friend's birthday

I made a dice tower for my best friend's birthday. I thought you guys would like it.

Final product first. Made of Walnut and Bloodwood. Most work was done with handtools, with the exception of my biscuit joiner and router.

First I started with a miter box. This was my very first time using the biscuit joiner, but I think they really helped keep these suckers lined up. Also, this trick with masking tape works wonders. Lay out the tape, line up your pieces on top, very tightly up against each other, and then you just kind of roll it up!

First, I wanted to finish the inside, since I knew it would be difficult later. A few coats of shellac dried quickly and went on easily.

Glue applied, ready to go.

Alright, with the box dried, time to start cutting in the tumblers (aka, the plates that will roll the dice. First the bottom-most tumbler, I jut cut off the whole bottom of the box, with the plan to glue it all back together, like a sandwich.

Here's the sandwich glue up. This was frustrating and difficult. If anyone knows a better way, let me know.

Now to cut the interior tumblers. I cut in along two lines, and then used a small chisel at the base, to remove the waste. Finally, a file and paring chisel got the final fit.

Here's the layout lines for the second tumbler.

The tumblers were also prefinished, prior to being glued into place.

function test

Here's the base. The rounded section was cut with the coping saw, visible on the right.

I damaged the corner of the base, leading to a rough edge. I made this slightly less apparent by chamfering the corner, but I still did not like the roughness. So, I used some of my waste from the plane to make my own edge banding. I superglued this in place over the rough section.

After removing the excess and sanding, I would say this is a pretty serviceable solution.

I glued on the thin bloodwood base plate as a separate piece.

Now to add some text. If you have a laser printer, you can print your image in reverse, tape it image-side-down onto your piece, dab the paper with some acetone, and then rub the image onto your piece. I was very pleased with how well this worked.

I decided to give the interior edge a roundover, so I broke out my ancient router.

Here it is after the final finish. Three coats of garnet shellac, with a final coat of spray lacquer.

The lacquer really gives a nice even shine.

I hope you enjoyed the log.