Well acturly---I think that brass billet piano hinge is cheap Chinese shit metal with a very thin coating of brass electroplated onto it. I am going to use some REAL brass (left over from one of my model steam engine builds) to make a latch for it. Funny----I never thought too much about it while building the box, but its damn near impossible to buy a latch for a box thats only 1 3/4" total thickness. I ran all over friggin town to different hardware stores and craft stores looking for a simple lunch pail type latch---they have them for boxes 3" thick, but nothing for a box this size, unless I want to order them from Lee valley tools for a kazillion dollars each. Oh well, this is part of why I bought the lathe and mill last year.--I'll post a "latch picture" when I get it made.