Binnacle in boxwood

The next little project is the binnacle. The thing is still in the making, but here is a first impression of the first window. I’m now making this from boxwood. I had started with walnut, but I felt that was getting too coarse. In the photo, the walnut panel on the left, the new boxwood one on the right. Piet thought the walnut one was quite a success already: when you see how small it is, the little flaws you notice in close-ups don’t show at all to the naked eye. But I wanted it better anyway.

The stain was dark oak at first, but I couldn’t get that to look nice. For the first side I ended up choosing walnut stain after all. I also think the walnut goes better with the ship’s wheel. I’m still in two minds about putting it in oil. First the other side.

After that I still have to come up with something for the lantern and the compasses. The cabinet is 6 mm deep, so the lantern and the compasses can be at most about 5 mm in diameter. I have found very few descriptions of how others do this. Herby63 made his lamp and compasses (at 1:82) from round styrene rod with a lick of paint, but round wood works just as well. His copper chimney consists of a styrene tube with a paper cap, painted copper colour. Styrene hadn’t occurred to me. A chimney will definitely go on; I want to see whether I can make it from copper, and otherwise round wood or styrene is always an option.