match box

I worked on a little prototype/sample match box yesterday on the manual Bridgeport mill while the CNC was running. Now I need to make some legit ones with tighter tolerances and details as I didn't measure anything or lay anything out ahead of time. Freeform wingin' it at it's best!

It was fun to just make with the materials on hand and make decisions on the fly. I used to do this a lot more before I got into CNC machining. I would just make things out of what I had on hand. This approach was the same approach my Dad always used when he would make things. I rarely remember us ever designing something and then going and ordering the parts to make whatever we were making (other than maybe a part for a motorcycle or car). I guess you might say it was a "scrounging" like mentality to making. Or the universe would present you with what you needed to complete the project when you dug through some piles of saved or recycled items. My Easy Rider pizza cutter was made this way with an aluminum heatsink that was scrounged from an old car audio amplifier that I had blown up but saved the shell of. The material told me what it wanted to be in it's next life. Chad and I used to have some great discussions about breathing new life into old tools. I guess for me it possibly all started with watching my Dad make things or going through his drawers and finding pieces that seemed to "fit" together. I used to do the same thing in college when I would go to the hardware store and just browse the isles; not knowing what what some of the parts were made it even better. As i think about this I still tend to "scrounge" or appropriate unique mechanisms that I am inspired by to serve a function in the objects I create or I look at two objects that might not seems to go together and merge their function in a wired way. Anyway, just I'm just rambling as I type this and think about what I'm actually doing.

The match box came together faster than if I was sitting at the computer, as the decisions came about from handling the piece while I was in the midst of making. I need to do more of this type of workflow as noted above. This sample proves the mechanics and now the outer box can get some CNC surface texture. It was intended to be an object for storing matches and I would engrave some cool vintage like "Metalsmith and Fire" like logo on the top. After making it, it makes me want to design my own matchbox car to live inside the container. Time will tell! Looking forward to making more of these...