How I Turn Little Boxes

[Kathy Marshall]

For those that are interested, I'm posting a tutorial of how I turn my little boxes. I'm sure there are many different ways to turn these and probably easier ways, but this is how I do it.

I started off by finding a chunk of dry mesquite, any wood would work, it just needs to be dry so the lid will keep a nice fit. I took it to the bandsaw and cut out a spindle blank that was about 2x2x5 (this one is a little bigger than the others I posted).
I then put it between centers and roughed it to a cylinder with my roughing gouge, then turned a tenon on the tailstock end (that will be the bottom piece).
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Then I mounted it in a chuck, brought the tailstock up and turned a tenon on the other end (this will be the top).
I took a pencil and marked where I would part off the lid. I usuall try to make the lid about 1/3 of the total length, but I just do it by eye.
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I used my thin parting tool and made a cut with the depth equal to what will be the thickness of the sidewalls. Then below that I start my parting cut. I part the lid section off and set it aside for later.
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continued....

[Kathy Marshall]

Now I start hollowing the bottom.
On the smaller boxes, I use a traditional grind 3/8 spindle gouge to remove the bulk and then refine and clean it up with my Easy Finisher (a scraper would also work).
Since this box is a little bigger, I started off with the spindle gouge, but when I started getting a little too much overhang on the tool rest, I used a 3/4 forstner bit to drill out the center then used my Easy Rougher to finish up the sides and my Easy Finisher to finish up the bottom.
When using the spindle gouge, I start off on center with the flute open, when it starts cutting I use the tool rest as a pivot point and swing the tip to the left while also rotating the gouge to put the flute at about 10 oclock and lowering the handle so I am now cutting just above center. The cut is being made by the bottom of the gouge tip, being careful to keep the corners of the wings clear (hope that makes sense). By the time I get to the rim, the flute is closed. (Bob Hamilton has a good video on YouTube for hollowing endgrain with a spindle gouge, do a search for Bobham5)
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Before hollowing too much, I size the rim for a good fit for the lid. When I start getting close, I take very small cuts and test for fit often. When the fit is good, I continue hollowing being careful to avoid the inside of the rim.
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When the hollowing is done I remove the base from the chuck and mount the lid in the chuck. I use the lid as a jam chuck to finish the bottom of the box. I bring up the tailstock up for support and shape the bottom until I just have a small nub. Then I do whatever sanding is needed. With the speed down, I finish turning off the nub.
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continued....

[Bernie Weishapl]

Nice tutorial Kathy and your pic's didn't show up on the second post or at least I can't see them.

[Bob Wolfe]

Not just you Bernie, I can't see them either, too bad.

[Kathy Marshall]

Next I hollow out the lid using the spindle gouge and do the final cuts with my Easy Finisher.
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To finish turning the top of the lid I mount a piece of scrap in the chuck. Anytime I turn something in a chuck that gets parted off, I save the scrap with the tenon to use later as a jam chuck. I have lots of them in all different sizes and they get used over and over until I start getting a little too close to the chuck jaws.
I cut a recess in the jamb chuck that will give a very snug fit for the lid. I mount the lid in the jamb chuck and bring the tailstock up for support. The fit is snug enough that I could probably turn the tenon off and finish the top without the tailstock, but why risk it?

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And here is the finished box, 4 1/2" x 2 1/4" with just a coat of DO.
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Hope this made sense!
Thanks for looking!
Comments and critiques are welcome.

[Kathy Marshall]

Thanks guys! Got the pics fixed.

[Reed Gray]

Kathy,

I have gotten in the habit of rough turning my boxes, no matter how dry the wood is. Let them sit for a week or month, then finish turn them. The wood always seems to move a tiny bit. We do have a pretty wide swing of humidity levels here from 100% in winter to 25 to 40 in summer.

Nice tutorial.

robo hippy

[Jason Clark2]

Pretty good write up and similar to my process with some differences.

I turn the tenon on both ends of the box while it is between centers. I also part the lid from the body while between centers.
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I always turn the lid portion first and I put the recess in the lid and the tenon on the body.

I also use a jam chuck to finish off the box, but because I've already done the lid I use it to finish off the bottom of the box. My jam chucks are tapped and threaded for my
spindle rather than mounted in my chuck. This allows me to pull a vacuum for some additional security.

Jason

[Donny Lawson]

Kathy, that is a great tutorial and will be very informative in the future. Thanks for posting. Love your work.

[Bob Rotche]

Thanks for taking the time to write this up. It is a big help to those of us who haven't done much box work yet.

[Roland Martin]

Great tutorial Kathy. This is definitely on my to-try list. Thanks for spending the time on this, it really is a big help for us who have'nt attempted this yet.

[Baxter Smith]

Nice tutorial Kathy. Thanks for sharing!

[Trevor Howard]

Very nice and informative tutorial Kathy. Thank you for taking the time to document it.

[John Strait]

Thank you Kathy for taking the time to post this tutorial..

john

[Mark Patoka]

Excellent tutorial. Now I want to give it a spin.....

[Jon McElwain]

Thanks for sharing! I really need to get better about using jamb chucks.

[Tom Winship]

Hey, Kathy. I think you have just inspired me for using some of the wood you sent. However, I will use some of my "drought oak" to practice on. Thanks for the tutorial.

P.S. I went to Arkansas last week with hopes of coming back with maple, etc. Even found some tree trimmers. They knew of a place 100 miles north. Everything else, seemed to be oak.

[Thom Sturgill]

Kathy, good tutorial!
Like Jason, I turn both of the tenons and cut the top off while between centers - I finish the parting cut (last 1/4") with a pull cut saw while the lathe is stopped. I make a cut slightly wider than I want the tenon plus the width of the parting tool and leave a very small tenon on the box bottom. When I hollow the bottom this gives me an exact line to hollow to and have the top fit.

[Lori Kleinberg]

Nice tutorial, thank you Kathy.

[Wally Dickerman]

What?...no threaded lid?:)

Very nice tutorial Kathy

[Kathy Marshall]

Thanks for the comments everyone!
I hope this proves useful to you, and you can always tweek it to fit your own turning/design style and available tools.

[Ken Whitney]

Nice job, Kathy.


My jam chucks are tapped and threaded for my spindle rather than mounted in my chuck. This allows me to pull a vacuum for some additional security.

Brilliant. Another "why didn't I think of that" moment for me.:)