Michael Stafford
05-20-2006, 1:46 PM
Here is a box I turned from some most troublesome Tasmanian myrtle burl. It came to me heavily waxed so I rough turned it and soaked it in alcohol and let it dry for at least 3 months before finish turning it.
The first problem I encountered was that the pink color was not evident when I first rounded the blank so when I parted it into to separate the lid from the body I found that the pink was on the body blank end and I would have preferred it on the other end.
So after letting it dry I chucked up the lid blank, turned the inside and found all this wonderful grain but a somewhat stained and mottled coloring. Oh well...
I chucked up the body blank and turned the flange to fit the lid roughly as always and proceeded to finish hollow the inside. As I approached the final wall thickness a chunk of the body flange decided to break off. I am not sure why as I did not have a catch.
So now I have roughly half of the flange left on the body and the body is already hollowed. I don't know if you have tried to recut the body flange with no wood supporting it but it will sometimes chatter like crazy. So I mounted my large Oneway cone and brought it up to support the box body and fortunately it fit okay and did not bottom out.
I went ahead and recut the flange losing about 3/8" in height in the process and messing up my grain match and color transition somewhat but at least I completed the box...
Not everything works the way it is supposed to.... The box finished up at 2 3/8" in diameter and 2 1/2" tall.
The first problem I encountered was that the pink color was not evident when I first rounded the blank so when I parted it into to separate the lid from the body I found that the pink was on the body blank end and I would have preferred it on the other end.
So after letting it dry I chucked up the lid blank, turned the inside and found all this wonderful grain but a somewhat stained and mottled coloring. Oh well...
I chucked up the body blank and turned the flange to fit the lid roughly as always and proceeded to finish hollow the inside. As I approached the final wall thickness a chunk of the body flange decided to break off. I am not sure why as I did not have a catch.
So now I have roughly half of the flange left on the body and the body is already hollowed. I don't know if you have tried to recut the body flange with no wood supporting it but it will sometimes chatter like crazy. So I mounted my large Oneway cone and brought it up to support the box body and fortunately it fit okay and did not bottom out.
I went ahead and recut the flange losing about 3/8" in height in the process and messing up my grain match and color transition somewhat but at least I completed the box...
Not everything works the way it is supposed to.... The box finished up at 2 3/8" in diameter and 2 1/2" tall.