Another Secret Santa project! This year I made a set of whiskey stones out of soapstone with an shellacked oak box. As usual, this was done with traditional tools and no electricity. I also used real shellac flakes rather than any pre-mixed stuff.

Since I thought it was likely the user would put the whole box in the freezer, I was careful to make sure the wood had room to expand, which is why I used a frame and panel design.

Routing the holes for the stones was particularly tricky. If I did it again, I would just resaw the bottom, drill out the holes, and laminate it back together.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to polish the stones with beeswax or not. In the end, I decided to leave them natural, in case the beeswax flavours the drink at all.

In the end, I was pretty happy with it. This is my first time playing with soapstone, and it turned out to be a pretty nice medium to work with.