Inlay Rimmed Lidded Box with Integral Finial - Step By Step

Charlie,

Your descriptive posts and illustrative capabilities are far better than any book I've ever read on woodturning. To say you're a stickler for presenting details would be the understatement of the year. That's another keeper...

Bob S.

Bob:

There are several traps woodworking instructions fall into.

The first is that the person providing the process has probably been woodworking, or turning, for many years rather than being relatively new to the subject. So it's easy to fall into the Common Knowledge And Not Worth Mentioning trap. While that may be true for experienced woodworkers or turners, it ain't for newbies. So critical details are overlooked.

The second pitfall is that the person who illustrates the instructions probably hasn't actually done, or even seen done, the process to be illustrated. At best he/she may be working from photos of SOME of the process.

In the case of this rim inlay process, I actually watched Cindy's demo - in person, took scribbled notes - and had a bunch of photos of the demo, taken by two different people. What one missed, the other usually got. Extracting the info and doing the annotated illustrations was about

16 hours, spread out over a week. When I had a set of instructions I "thought" was complete I actually followed them and turned an inlaid rimmed lidded box to test them. That caused some minor revisions and that's what got put up on the web site. I still need to get a better photo of the test piece and include it with this stuff.

Since I jump around a lot with my woodworking, as I try something I've not done before, I try and document the process, adding notes of details for steps I had problems with - or screwed up. And since I have the ability to lose a lit flashlight in a dark room,k I store stuff on my web site where it's less likely to get "misplaced".

If stuff on my web site makes things easier for one or more folks, or gets one or more to try something they were otherwise hesitant to try - well that's icing on the cake.

If you use these instructions and find a hole in it, or have suggestions for improving them - PLEASE e-mail me.

Let's see say's the newbie..........that would be like telling the Pope how to say mass.....;-)

Keep up the good work. You're a great reference.

Bob S.

No, no, NO!

I've done ONE "proof of concept" inlaid rim so I'm only one actual piece ahead of you. I jump around a lot so I'm often trying something new - to me. So I'm constantly going at things as a newbie.

What may be clear and complete to me may not be so clear or complete to someone who didn't watch the demo or go through a LOT of good photos of the demo. And I might skip a step that doesn't seem worth including - but should have. While these things may look pretty complete, until YOU try using them you won't know if they are complete or not.

So if you use any of the stuff I put together please note gaps or ambiguities and share them with me so I can improve them for the next guy or gal.