Hints on Turning Boxes w/Tight Fitting Lids?

A lot of woodturners like to have a woodburning stove in their shops.........especially for situations just like yours......................:-)

Barry

IMHO, the only way this is going to come out right is if the hole is drilled (or turned) on the lathe. This may require things you may not have (chucks, steady rests, etc). A drill press is not likely to be satisfactory.

HOWEVER, if you wanna keep trying the drill press, you can try the following to help find center on the part to be drilled:

As you turn down the face that you will drill, and preferably _well_before_ the part gets all wobbly because it's parted down very small, score rings into the face (or pencil them, if you like). Don't remove these marks as you part the piece off. If you're using a Forstner bit, and I hope you are, you can line it right up with the circles.

You may also benfit from a good clamping arrangement on the drill press (hand-holding while boring large holes is not a very good idea) to help keep the part lined up.

Ecnerwal wrote: (clip) If you're using a Forstner bit, and I hope you are, you can line it right up with the circles.(clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^ If you must a drill press, then I suggest making a starting cut in the wood on the lathe, and enlarge the opening until the Forstner bit will just fit in snugly. Then, when you go to the drill press, you will have a centered hole already started.

But, better yet, I suggest mounting the bit in the tailstock, and doing the drilling on the lathe. If you have a Jacobs chuck with a Morse taper to fit your tailstock, you have it made. If you don't, I suggest buying one. You will find it tremendously useful. If money is short, you could buy a Morse taper collet to fit the shank of your Forstner bit.

But, the way most of us do it is by doing all the hollowing on the lathe--this eliminates all the centering questions entirely, and produced a better looking bottom to the hole.

Hello Matt,

Richard Raffan's book on making boxes will likely answer all of your questions about making small lidded boxes with tight fitting lids. However, I'll outline the steps briefly here.

1. Turn the piece between centers as you did.

1. Turn a tenon on each end. Make this tenon a size your chuck jaws if you have a chuck.

2. Measure the space between the tenons, leave 2/3 of this distance for the bottom of the box and 1/3 for the top.

1. Part in about to the depth of your wall thickness. Make this a wide part at least twice the width of your parting tool.

2. Finish parting through the center of this wider part, leaving some of the wood on each piece.

1. If you have a chuck, mount the lid in the chuck with the tenon you turned on the top. (If you don't have a chuck, mount a waste block onto your faceplate and turn a recess in it to fit the tenon on the box top. Then glue it into the hole. This should make the top of the box run true so that you can hollow it.

2. Hollow the top at least 1/4" deep using the little bit of wood from the parting as a guide for the diameter of the hollow. Make sure the walls of the hollow are parallel (i.e., straight up and down. Part off the top.

1. Mount the bottom part of the box into your chuck or into a waste block. It should run fairly true.

2. Cut a tenon on the top of the box that fits very snuggly into the top. A good press fit is the best.

1. Hollow your box. You can do this with a drill in the tailstock, but better to do it with a gouge or scraper.

2. Put the lid onto the box. If it is now a bit loose, wet the wood so that it will swell slightly to hold the lid firmly in place. You may use the tailstock with a tiny piece of wood between the point and the box top to help keep the box top in place.

1. Final turn and sand the outside of the box and lid.

2. Part off the box from the chuck or waste block.

1. Cut a recess in the waste block to accept the tenon that fits into the lid.

2. Presss the box into the recess in the waste block and final turn and sand the bottom of the box.

1. Apply finish to the box if you have not already done so after finish sanding.

With a bit of practice, you can have boxes that the lid fits well and the walls are even all around.

Good luck,

Fred Holder

Hi Matt, As always Fred's advice is best. Over-fitting lids are favored, but your method is ok for quickly and easily making boxes with short tops. Some suggestions:

1. Cut the box top's 'plug' (tenon) perhaps a full 1/4 in. with a standard parting tool. Using a store bought or homemade thin (1/16 in.) tool, part off the top, leaving a tiny tenon on the base as a witness for the lid tenon.
2. Don't take the base off the lathe. Although you can match the top and base on the outside by turning them together, you are unlikely to ever get a concentric joint. It's ok to drill a hole in the base with a bit in the tailstock, but clean it up with a scraper or cutting tool.
3. A solid heavy top with an unfinished tenon is a problem with infitting lids. IMHO, short flat lids aren't all that bad. They can usually be held by padded jaws of a scroll chuck so that the lid tenon can be opened up a little and decorated.

Fortiter,

Matt

Send me your email address and I will send you a document that provides a detailed methodology of the process of box making.

Ray snipped-for-privacy@comcast.net

Thanks for teh great ideas guys. I'll give them a shot. Matt