Michael Stafford
10-25-2005, 7:05 AM
This box marks a couple of first for me. This is the first time I have turned a box from mahogany and also the first time I have ever collaborated on a project with anyone.
Terry Quiram having seen my feeble attempts at handles and finials must have felt sorry for me and contacted me. In his note he suggested that he would be willing to send me some finials in return for a turned box using one of his turnings. I jumped at the chance.
When the package arrived from Terry I had several wonderful finials and one which Terry had marked was supposed to be incorporated into his box. My dilemma was designing a box that would do his finial justice. Usually I just chuck up a piece of wood and start turning and whatever shape, good or bad, that comes out is the shape of the box I end up with.
In this particular instance I gave it some thought and chose the wood carefully so that it would complement the finial. As it turned out Dick Parr had given me a couple of pieces of mahogany suitable for boxes and I decided I liked the contrast between the hop hornbeam finial and the brown of the mahogany.
So here it is. The body of the box, in mahogany is roughly 3" tall and 3" in diameter. The finial in hop hornbeam is about 2" tall. You have to agree that Terry does wonderful finial work.
Terry Quiram having seen my feeble attempts at handles and finials must have felt sorry for me and contacted me. In his note he suggested that he would be willing to send me some finials in return for a turned box using one of his turnings. I jumped at the chance.
When the package arrived from Terry I had several wonderful finials and one which Terry had marked was supposed to be incorporated into his box. My dilemma was designing a box that would do his finial justice. Usually I just chuck up a piece of wood and start turning and whatever shape, good or bad, that comes out is the shape of the box I end up with.
In this particular instance I gave it some thought and chose the wood carefully so that it would complement the finial. As it turned out Dick Parr had given me a couple of pieces of mahogany suitable for boxes and I decided I liked the contrast between the hop hornbeam finial and the brown of the mahogany.
So here it is. The body of the box, in mahogany is roughly 3" tall and 3" in diameter. The finial in hop hornbeam is about 2" tall. You have to agree that Terry does wonderful finial work.