Shedua Box

[Michael Stafford]

With all the excitement of the upcoming explosion it seems that there has been relatively little actual turning going on. To uphold what little honor remains on the Turning Forum I herewith respectfully submit a turned object.

This little box was turned from some curly Shedua, aka African Walnut, that my son and wife bought me for Christmas. What an unusual wood. Lots of color variation, turns cleanly and polished like glass particularly on the end grain. This box is 2 1/2" in diameter and 2 7/8" tall. I was unable to catch the curls that are in this wood no matter how I tried.

Thanks for looking....

[Mike Ramsey]

Nice job big Mike! Beautiful wood. Glad somebody finally posted
some work! :D .

[Bernie Weishapl]

Great job Mike. Love the wood. Looks great.

[Rob Bourgeois]

Wow a turning related post:rolleyes:

Nice peice Big Mike.


Big Mike..is shehua about as hard as maple or softer like walnut. I have a piece of wood that has a similar appearance and its fairly hard and heavy. I ruled out wenge and ipe and now looking at this Imight have the answer.

[Bob Noles]

Another nice one Mike.... what finish did you use?

[Michael Stafford]

Thanks for the comments.

Rob, I found Shedua to be similar to walnut in the way it cut but slightly less open pored. I don't think I would say it is as hard as maple but it sure polished like maple on the end grain. Could you have a rosewood or maybe something like bocote which is very hard and dense?

Bob, I used my old home brew of equal parts of oil and varnish thinned with mineral spirits so that it wipes on and soaks in easily. This wood, although large pores were not evident, had some bleed back which surprised me. I friction polished this with the finish and there was no evidence of bleedback but after a minute or two beads of finish would form. Sort of a pain....

[Rob Bourgeois]

Thanks Big Mike...I will look at it again..

[George Conklin]

Very nice again Mike. I like the how you made the top detail groove to match where the two pieces come together.
George

[Jim Becker]

Beautiful stuff, Michael!

[Mark Cothren]

Another super box, Big Mike! Hope you got some more coming soon...

Thanks for the pictures!

[Jim Ketron]

Beautiful Mike!
Awesome wood!

[Carole Valentine]

Ok, I have resisted the box thing, but I am going to have to try it. This a beauty, Michael. I can see just enough of the figure to tell that the photo does not do it justice.

[Travis Stinson]

Wonderful Mike! I love the shape, that awesome wood is a bonus!:cool:

[Corey Hallagan]

Mike, great stuff as usual. Cool wood for sure. I am just beginning to realize that most of these boxes aren't very big at all. I like it! Do you usually turn one of these in one shot?

Corey

[Mark Cothren]

Congrats on this piece again, Mike! I see it made the cover of WOW...

[Keith Burns]

Golly Big Mike, why don't you post an ugly one now and then?:D Oh, I forgot you've never done an ugly one. At least as long as I've been hanging around here. That is a back door compliment in case you didn't pick up on it:D Another winner for sure:) :)

[Ernie Nyvall]

Dang Mike. Just wonderful. That is some nice wood.

Ernie

[Michael Stafford]

Keith, the ugly ones are nailed to the ceiling joists or holding screws on the workbench.:D

Corey, yep, they are not very large. They need to be of a size that a lady can comfortably hold one in her hands. It seems that ladies like the little boxes more than men. I turn the inside of the lid, the inside of the body of the box, fit the lid and finish the insides in one turning. The finish gets to sit overnight, gets rubbed out/polished and then the outside is turned and finished. It does not take long to turn a box if you don't count finish drying time. After the outside is finished the body of the box has to be parted off, reverse turned and finished. Lot of steps in a box.....Pucker time for me is when I am reverse turning the bottom, messed up more boxes at that step than at any other time....