Club challenge, What do I make?

[Brian Brown]

Our club challenge this month is to make a miniture turning from a 2" cube of wood. Minitures are not my cup of tea, and nothing is coming to mind. anyone have any suggestions on what can be made out of a 2" X 2" X 2" block of wood? :confused:

[Bill O'Conner]

a small box, a little hollow form

Bill

[Steve Schlumpf]

Brian - what could you turn if the block was 12" x 12"? Only your imagination would limit you! Take the same idea and just make it smaller! A set of bowls, plates, a hollow form, a set of candle holders...

Check out Jeff Nicol's gallery to see all of his minis: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/album.php?albumid=89

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Small goblet, small bowl, HF, etc.

[Mike Minto]

a thimble? toothpick? no, but perhaps a sake cup - i've made a few from wenge. post a pic, whatever you make! mike

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Brian,

Check out this thread for some ideas:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=27002&highlight=itty+bitty

I was following this thread and got to teasing the turners. They got their revenge by sending me a lathe and tools. I've been broke since! But I smile a lot!

[Jeff Nicol]

Steve, Thanks for the reference to my mini's! I was going to say the same thing!

Jeff

[Paul Atkins]

Seems like you could make 15 or 20 real miniatures out of a 2 inch cube! Start thinking small. A ring box with lid - cribbage pegs and a bowl for them - a covered box full of little bowls.

[Scott Lux]

A miniature teapot?

[Robert Wilson]

Sounds about the right size to turn a perfectly round ball and then burn the threading in for a replica baseball.:)

[David Drickhamer]

How about a small lidded box.
Now I have to go in the shop to make one myself.
Dave

[John Trax]

How about a tea cup and saucer?

[Andrew Derhammer]

Trim off the corners you won't turn on a bandsaw and set those aside, Sturn a flaring cup with a rim that curls back. Take a coping saw and cut out 4 sections to make the shape of an open flower. Take the corners and carefully turn the small filaments for the inside. Maybe use some acryllic paint or dye to dress up the wood if it's something planer grain. If you have a choice of wood i'd say maybe some Myrtle or Madrone for this.

Edit: Nevermind I noticed that the challenge was miniatures.
Turn a 2x2 bowl and call it a miniature of (Insert club member known to spin big pieces of wood)'s bowl

[Tim Cleveland]

Try a sphere in cube, promise you it'll be the only one there. Woodturning mag had a great article on how to do it recently. I wasn't able to find the article online, if you can't either let me know and I will give you a detailed how-to.

Tim

[Brian Brown]

Actually, I thought about that. I saw one several years ago, but I couldn't remember where. I have no Idea how to do it. but it would be great to learn how!

[Ben Gastfriend]

My thought automatically goes to somehow cutting up the block, gluing it back together into something bigger, and turning it, ending up with something much bigger then 2x2 as a finished dimension, but still starting with that size block.

[Tim Cleveland]

I'm so sorry that it has taken me this long to get back to this thread, between school and work, I have been incredibly busy for the past week or so. You should use a hard, fine grained wood for this. I should also mention that, simply because of time demands, I have never been able to complete the 2 or 3 that I have started. But I have done a good bit of experimentation with different methods, and this is the only one I have come across that actually makes sense and works. You also might want to make 2 or 3 of them at the same time as a precaution. This tutorial is completely based on an article in the Feb 09 issue of Woodturning mag. Once again I apoligize for the delay and I hope this is able to help.

[Brian Brown]

This tutorial is completely based on an article in the Feb 09 issue of Woodturning mag.
For a club challenge, this one sounds really challenging. I hope I have the time. This is a really busy month. Thanks for the tutorial!

[alex carey]

This might be stupid but recently I had some buttons fall off of some flannel I wear. So I decided to make some wooden buttons on the lathe. Just another possibility.