The Abdel Box

Posted on June 22th, 2017 by Gaston Monge-Grassi 

This week blog is about the story of the 66+ years old secret Abdel box from Lebanon.. This story was posted by a retired architect under the nickname "MAD F", so please excuse any grammar or spelling mistakes. From the picture, the sketch drawing and the video you can make your own. I have also attached some recipes to make your own grease to fill the boxes with.

                Here is the original secret Abdel box.

"I know Roy Underhill have seen one in a market, I have seen some pen boxes made with this system as a child, but besides that I was not able to find out more until I had a wonderful lunch at an old friend and architect Lb Welling, he is besides being a wonderful man with a big heart, an old carpenter and has so many beautiful things in his house, so I was on a little discovery tour.

Here I found the box you see on the picture.

I said: ‘Lb did you make yourself a Roy Underhill box?’

He answered: ‘Roy who?

And then he told me this box was given to him when he was eight he is now close to sixty six…"

"It was given to him from his father’s sisters husband who was Lebanese, his name was Abdel, and was extremely rich, according to the story he was the owner of half the city where he lived. So the secret box is at least 58 years old, and this one comes from Lebanon.

So now I call mine the Abdel box, out of memory for my sweet friend Lb."

                 This is the sketchbook drawing of the box

"The old ABDEL has two steel pivots. One is real and the other one just for confusion.

The dovetail is only half, and is cut out from the lower part of the box, so it is all the same wood.

And the most interesting difference is the Abdel version has a secret lock that makes it impossible to open unless you hold it upside down – so now even I could see why this box was a secret box, and not just difficult to open for a carpenter…." MAD F.

The use of the grease box:
In some of the old English workshops they used to have a tallow (grease) pot, mounted as a little drawer under the workbench. This have seen in an old print from a workshop on a Roubo workbench.

The use of the grease:
The grease could be used to grease up the sole of the hand plane, so it would offer less friction, and therefore you would use less effort. As a mean to preserve the wooden tools.
lubricate woodscrews, or to grease up tennons in timber frames, etc. It could also serve as a lubricant for drawers or other moving parts.

Recipes:

Cream Furniture Polish Recipe
Furniture Preparation Oil Recipe or (Furniture Cream)
Ingredients:
1.8lt Pure Turpentine (Not Turpentine Substitute or White Spirit)
908ml Boiled Linseed Oil
450g Beeswax
225g Carnauba Wax Flakes
• Grate the Beeswax in a double bowl with hot water in the larger bowl (like a double boiler). Add linseed oil, stir well. Add Pure Turpentine, stir well.
• There are double boilers available for wax candle making. They are expensive though and unless you are intending mass production.

Beeswax Paste Recipe
Ingredients:
450g 50% by weight Beeswax
450g 50% by volume Pure Turpentine (Not Turpentine Substitute or White Spirit)
25g Carnauba Wax (optional, this makes a much harder wax)
• Grate the Beeswax in a double bowl with hot water in the larger bowl (like a double boiler). Add Carnauba Wax, stir well. Add Pure Turpentine, stir well or Put the grated wax into a jar and shake until it dissolves. Leave it for 24hrs to set

Liming Wax
Ingredients:
450g 46% by weight Beeswax
450g 46% by volume Pure Turpentine (Not Turpentine Substitute or White Spirit)
125g 8% by weight White Pigment (tiO2)
25g Carnauba Wax (optional, this makes a much harder wax)

• Grate the Beeswax in a double bowl with hot water in the larger bowl (like a double boiler). Add Carnauba Wax, stir well. Add Pure Turpentine, stir well add white Pigment stir well or Put the grated wax & White Pigment into a jar and shake until it dissolves. Leave it for 24hrs to set

How to use Liming Wax:
To prepare an item of furniture for liming, sand the wood smooth and remove any traces of grease or dirt by wiping the surface with a cloth dipped in white spirits (mineral spirits/paint thinner).
Then, and usually, most woods and substrates will benefit from opening the grain with a wire brush or coarse paper. Using a clean wire brush, or coarse paper, scrub and travel on the wood or substrate in the direction of the grain, to clean out and to open the pores. Be careful not to be too aggressive. Check the progress quite regularly by glancing across the wood into the light, ensuring that there is a fairly even distribution of open pores. If required, apply wood dye and seal the surface with a coat of thin transparent shellac.

Applying Liming Wax.
Apply sparingly with a cotton cloth or pad, rubbing well into the grain, rubbing across the grain, forcing the liming wax into the open grain and pores and removing any excess. Dip pad into the liming wax and then rub into the grain, with circular overlapping strokes, until the surface is evenly covered. Again wipe across the grain with a clean pad, leaving the wax in the pores. This process is to ensure the liming is worked into the open pores and grain.
After about ten minutes, remove surplus wax from the surface by gently burnishing along the grain with a dry cotton cloth. The next day, apply an overcoat of clear Classic Wax for a more durable finish.

Good project for the weekend. 

Cheers

Gaston.