Project Working Idea

I finished up a sliding lid box this weekend. Its funny, because I was originally going to make this using a router for the inside. Unfortunately, my router bit wouldnt dig deep enough, so I decided to cut it out on the band saw. Then I decided to use a scroll saw, so I could avoid cutting the entry point that would require gluing.

Well, I screwed up a key part cutting the lid and ended up having to make the box much shallower. I could have done it on the router to begin with! I like the way the lid works out, though. Video on Friday.

Good Evening Everyone,

Well, I was very busy all day today and I decided since I had been a good girl, the wood fairies should reward me with an hour in the work shop.

I generate a lot of small scrap like most wood workers do and Im really ruthless about getting rid of them and keeping the shop uncluttered. But it does pay to keep small blocks of wood-they make knobs and other small things that you dont want to cut up a larger piece of lumber for.

I bought a large glued up pine block a while back and I cut it into smaller blocks (youll see one of them tomorrow when I write about the tea box).  I bought some small earrings recently and I needed a small box to keep them in and so I took two of the smaller pine blocks and put them to work.

Here we go:

I decided to make a small square box for my earrings. Its a fast short term project that is easy to make:


I took the larger of the two blocks and sanded the sides smooth and then I drilled a 2 1/4" diameter hole into the center of it with a Forstner bit and that finished the box portion. Then I took the other block and drilled a 1"diameter hole into it and used the hole to put it on the lathe. I cut a small tenon on it that is the same diameter as the hole in the block so the two fit together:

Then I shaped the outside of the top to smooth it and to create a small knob. Total turning time was about 30 minutes from beginning to end:

The box needs to be sanded very smoothed and then finished. This is a neat project if you need to make a small gift for someone or if you want to use it as a gift box to give to someone with a present inside.

Another amazing adventure at SWW Blog!

See you tomorrow,

VW

Hi Everyone,

I was in the shop this afternoon looking at the silky oak pieces that have been drying in preparation for the tea box I am planning to make for my cousins husband Leon, and I decided that the wood was dry and stable and so it was time to begin the turn.

Here are the photos and discussion for the outer lid:

Here are the basic pieces of wood for the box. They consist of the box, an inner lid, and an outer lid. Ive been nervously drying this out in the shop as this is a critical step. The box parts are going to have to fit precisely so if there is the slightest bit of moisture still left in the wood and it dries out after Ive shaped the pieces, the parts wont fit and I wont be able to put them back on the lathe for adjustment.

Ive been drying these pieces in the shop for weeks now and they feel light enough and they havent distorted so I think now is the time to go:


This is the outer lid in its rough cut state:

 Here is the lid on the lathe. Im going to hollow out the underside of the lid and true up the face of the blank:


Here is the blank after the face has been flattened. Time to hollow it out. The pencil lines indicate the thickness of the walls of the lid, which is 7mm thick:


Hollowing only took a few minutes as this wood is soft and the blank itself is small in diameter. One thing that was important was the rim of the lid. The inside walls of the lid have to be parallel with the outside walls so it will fit properly over the box. After I finished hollowing it out, I sanded it with a sanding mop. These are nifty gadgets that enable you to sand an irregular surface:


This is the finished underside of the lid:


Next, I took the lid off the lathe and attached the box and got it ready to turn. The pencil lines on the side of the box and the first line on the edge denote where I am going to remove wood so that the outer lid will fit flush with the box portion of the tea box:


In this photo you can see how the rim is being created. This is another critical step as the lid has to fit very snuggly so I can use the box to turn the top and sides of the outer lid (youll see what I mean shortly):


And here is the finished box:


Now Ive fitted the top on the box. They fit very tightly for this next step which it the  shaping of the sides and the top of the lid:


Here Ive placed the box and lid between centers for turning:


And here are the sides of the box. You can see they match up:

 And here is a photo of the outer box having been shaped, and sanded. Its ready for a finish, which well do later:


Im unable to add more photographs to this posting so Ill end this and start another and show you how the turn was finished.

VW