Wood Mag turned box (Pics)

[Bill Esposito]

Hi all,

This is my first attempt at turning a box and this months Wood Magazine arrived just in time for the weekend.

I didnt have any wood so I glued up alternating pieces of cherry and white birch to make the required 4x4x5" blank

SInce this is only the fourth thing I've made and it was the first time I used some of my new chisels, I learned a few things. First - cut the corners off the blank. Second - scrapers dont shear the end grain very well. and Third - Scrape with the rest slightly above the center line and the scraper down a few degrees.

Thus was the first time I used my HF chisels and new packard bowl scraper and Sorby multitool. The Sorby tool was great for hogging it out and the bowl scraper worked well for refining the inside shape.

Here's the first one I made, I hope to make a few more and fix the mistakes.

[Jim Young]

Looks vrey nice. Whatchya gonna put in it?

[Kevin Gerstenecker]

That looks really nice Bill. I like the shape, and the contrasting wood really adds a nice touch. A very good effort. Not too bad for someone who is learning..............I can just imagine what my first turning would look like! (I have a feeling there will be NO pictures posted of it, that's for sure!) :D

[Lynn Sonier]

Bill - one question only--what mistakes?

[Bill Esposito]

Jim, thanks. This one is going to my daughter and I think these are sized just right for some rings and earrings etc.

Kevin, Thanks. I'm finding that more important than technique is your artistic ability. I'm not doing too bad on technique for the amount of time I'm spent on the lathe but as to my artistic abilities, that's another story.

Lynn, There are a couple of mistakes here. First off I think the top handle is too small. I think I have to turn the top a little shorter so as to reveal more handle. And second, there are a couple of areas where I had to sand the dickens out of the inside to get rid of some tearout....I need to figure out the scraper and burr thing so I can shear scrape better.

I just glued up 2 more blanks to play with later this week.

[Ron Smith ... Richmond, VA]

Hi all,

This is my first attempt at turning a box. I didnt have any wood so I glued up alternating pieces of cherry and white birch to make the required 4x4x5" blank. Here's the first one I made, I hope to make a few more and fix the mistakes.

Bill, I think you've done an excellent job for starting out. I like the laminating of wood to make the contrasting colors. I haven't done any of that yet. Tyese little boxes are fun to turn and the more you do, the more fun it gets. Designs are limited only by your imagination. Have fun, be safe and keep turning. Keep sending picts!
Thanks,
Ron