Tuesday.

Thought it might be of interest to see the major job I did last week.  Once again I wish I'd remembered to take 'before' photos. When I first saw the above box, I saw a nice quality, but fairly battered, 19th century, well marked rosewood box. The lock was (and is still) missing, and the first thing I had to do was make the shield shaped keyhole escutcheon from a scrap of sheet brass .

The box contained a pair of percussion pocket pistols of nice quality, probably made in Northern France a few years either side of  1830, and a similarly dated, nice quality French pistol sized powder flask. The other contents were scraps of wood, tattered pieces of green baize, and one of the lids to a corner compartment with a brass knob (the one to the top left of the case). I'd got a large piece of green baize left over from the last time I had to repair a gun case, so that was no problem. The wood to make the compartment dividers   was a bit of a problem, but again, a couple of old cigar boxes were pressed into service.

The photo above shows the end result. I have a distinct feeling that at some stage in its long career the cased pair were given to a child to play with. A nice thing too, for a boy (?) to have; and to give the child his due, the pistols have survived his efforts in fairly good condition, and, after a good clean, are still fit for service. The box however was in a real mess!!!  The whole thing took me about three and a half days, and I thoroughly enjoyed doing it. It was a restful job, and for someone who usually works in iron, or brass (or occasionally silver - which is a doddle, as I sometimes tell my junior- brother- in law, a silversmith), it is really rather therapeutic to sit and shape thin wood, and snip and glue bits of green baize into position.  

                              See, I am taking it easy, as per instructions.