Triangle Box

[Blake McCully]

Lee,
I got some pics of my triangle box, and another example that was just practice.

Since the three sides are each at 120 degrees, that is the angle that the outside centers need to be. I turn the blank round, the draw lines using the 14, 28 and 42 lock on my spindle lock. Extend each line around each end a bit to continue it through. Scribe a circle half the diameter of the blank and mark each intersection as a center. I number the centers to make sure I'm on the same one on each end. Another reason to do that is that you can actually turn a spiral triangle by using non consistent end centers. Not sure I explained that correctly.

You need to keep the lines on the blank as you are turning it to give you a guide as to how far you need to turn. It's surprising how little need to come off. Once you have your triangle, put the blank back onto the main center and make your cut for the top and bottom. Hollow out each as you would for any other box. When you are satisfied with the results, put them back together and return each perimeter center again to straighten things out.

I hope this makes sense. It's a lot of fun and very addictive. The box in the picture is about number 8 before I got anything reasonable.

[Lee DeRaud]

Ok, that's pretty much the picture I had in my head. Nice work!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Blake..............I'm the novice turner here! I recently went to a turning exhibition at a museum operated by the University of Idaho in Moscow Idaho. I saw things there that had been turned and for the life of me I couldn't figure out how. You little pictorial has just opened my eyes to a lot of possibilities! Thanks for posting!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Ditto what Ken said. That explains a lot. Thanks Blake.

[Jim Becker]

Excellent pics! They are worth a lot in understanding the technique!

[Corey Hallagan]

Now that is cool!! Nice job Blake!

Corey

[John Hart]

That is too cool Blake! Way to go and thanks for showing it. Definitely something I have to try.:)

[Blake McCully]

Thanks everyone for the kind words. I hope everyone tries these, they are a blast. Don't get frustrated if the first couple don't work right, just keep at it. I'm planning to make salt and pepper shakers on that design as well.

Here's something else to try. Use 5 centers instead of 4 and you can make square out of round:D When I first started turning, my oldest son asked me how I was doing. I said I'm making round out of square. He said when you can make square out of round he'd be impressed. When I did the 5 center thingy and showed it to him, he said that he was duly impressed.

Hope to have more on this mode later.

[Mark Cothren]

Very nice work, Blake! Neat to see how you do it. Thanks!

[Keith Burns]

Very nice Blake, appreciate the tutorial:) :)

[Andy Hoyt]

This is just too cool! Thanks!

[John Timberlake]

Nice explanation of how you made a very nice piece. Thanks.

[Blake McCully]

Thanks again. I must admit, this is not an original design. One of our club members demo'd this at one of our meetings. When we have a demo, the membership is challenged to duplicate it and bring the results to the next meeting. Really interesting results happen sometimes.

[John Brown]

Blake,,,You are coming along quite well. How did you get such a dark box from white wood:confused: Jack Brown

[Ernie Nyvall]

That's really cool Blake. Thanks for the pictorial. I think I'll try that.

Ernie