My d... box lids

I wish I had a better answer for you, Arch, but I've got a bin filling up with assorted and mis-matched ill-fitting lids myself. On the rare occassion that I get a lid and box to actually fit properly it seems to only last that way until I get them out of the shop when the fates conspire to warp the box one way and the lid the other.

On the other hand, if I have a blank of particularly nice wood and want to ensure a "keeper" I try not to rely on eye-balling and test fittings. I'll use a fitting template: hardboard cutout to the diameters I want, inside and outside. Makes for easy repeatability and less 'slippy' than my calipers.

vic

Arch, One way of making sure the tenon on the lid and the orifice match is to part the lid from the body as follows: With your parting tool make the cut twice the width of the tool until you have reached the desired thickness of the body. Continue to cut with the parting tool in the centre of your double width cut. This will leave a short tenon on both parts of your box. Hollow your box out to the limit of the tenon and the one on the lid should be a perfect fit. With regard to finishing, you have a choice of cutting a tenon on both ends of the box at the start or make a jam chuck to suit the lid.

For anyone whose interested, there is a tutorial on making boxes on the Record site at

First, when roughing, I always leave a grip at each end of the blank. Inside/outside, who cares. If it will be a continuous grain pattern, just prior to running my parting tool for the lip up from the bottom - I always go bottom up into lid when possible, so it's not a false sense of depth - I run some witness marks and a date on top and bottom pieces. I part to the lip, cut off the top with the bandsaw, hollow the bottom and inside top as required, using the limit of the parting scrape as a "no-go" area.

Once dry, I do the bottom, making the lip up circular and tapering it mildly from the sides inward. When I grip the top, I note the parting area, and begin turning hollow circular from there, tapering mildly out. Test fits that show the beginning of a fit are my clue to scrape/sand to fit. I also like to give a second centering aid by tapering the bottom inward a bit to the base of the lip, the top opposite. The top of the box is pressed with the tailstock to the bottom, witness marks aligned, with maybe a little spray stickum for anti-rotation in the lip. Final fit allows taping the top to the bottom to turn my spigot into a finial if I care. If I made an "innie," I make a glued inset or flatten/dome to lift without finial.

Hope you can sell 'em. Takes me damn near an hour to make a box, and I can't sell many for $25, which is what I pay myself an hour. Couple/three a show is all that sell, regardless of what they're made of, and I can easily beat that on bowls. Don't even get me started on the marketability of "hollow forms."

I, too, use a hardboard template. If the fit is almost snug but a little loose, I use Minwax Polycrylic which I keep in a handy pimento pepper jar and paint the inside of the outer part. It dries in about an hour and you can keep putting layers on until it fits snugly. I also paint the inside of the lid (my lids usually fit over the base. It makes a simple inside finish and can be built up to make a fit. Plus a swirl in the sink cleans up the brush.

Hi, Arch,

Apparently the other respondents have been too quick to hit the reply button - they didn't read all your post before answering. You told us you could fit the lids using a blank with double tenons, but were looking for an idea using only one tenon.

I've seen one professional turner who puts a museum-quality finish on the outside of his vessels, but leaves the interior unfinished - no sanding no finish. When asked, he tells people he intends it that way - something about the dark and simple places on the inside contrasting with the complex finish out... When in doubt, announce that the defect is a feature and charge more!

I turn all my boxes with 2 tenons, but may consider your approach for small, simple pieces. I'll probably leave the interiors plain, and cut the lid free with a freshly-sharpened 1/8" parting tool to get as clean a cut as possible.

Good luck!

Many thanks for all your responses. They will help me and perhaps others. I'm musing re one possible solution. It's true, my ideas remain original because they either are a regression or never work. :)

How about devising a forgiving elastic seal for the base/ lid tenon, particularly for larger boxes or canisters? Perhaps hot melt glue in a groove like Soren Berger's vacuum chucks, or a silicone-rubber sealant turned to a nicely fitted bead with a tiny slot to relieve air compression? Are decorative O-rings available? Easier for us slobs than making threads. Like my lids, this idea is probably a misfit, but why bother to think things thru? Easier to post. Arch

Fortiter,

Posting right along without thinking; what about following up on Gerald's polycrylic suggestion? Dipping misfitting tenons in that thick rubbery red stuff used for insulating tool handles? Stop that sighing! Arch

Fortiter,

I can understand and even might try O-rings. I might even attempt making brass or copper rings from some old plumbing pipe leftovers. But Arch, even I, with what little taste I possess, have to draw the line at using that red handle-dip stuff.

Ya gotta use the green stuff.

Vic terminally silly

Arch...I have some ideas and tricks I use...but I think I will take and post some pics to show what I mean to be sure it addresses your questions.

Briefly, I make 'most' lidded boxes from one piece of wood, whether a limb or a thick piece of lumber. I have different ways of gripping the lid portion, but I never make flat bottoms anymore, but hollow them in some way so they look finished. I use a 4-jaw chuck (Oneway) almost exclusively to grip the various box parts......now to jump ahead and before I post those pics, I end up turning the final shape of the lid (infitting OR outfitting) with it already fitted tightly, and ON THE BOX, usually with tailstock pressure added to keep it in place. I use rubber crutch tips of various sizes fitted over my live center to press against the lid, then I use padding (rubber, paper..etc) inside the chuck jaws to do any final touch-up, if needed.... (see why some pics are needed? *grin*)

I will 'try' to get some more detailed stuff up later today, but if I am delayed, I will post progress and disclaimers. I am early in the process of creating a website where I intend to show a step-by-step procedure of some methods...but maybe doing this will get me rolling on that!

I've taken hydraulic cylinder "O" rings to seal cremains urns. Check your local farmers' Co-Op or equivalent.

If you make a nice tight wood to wood seal, you can lap it in with pumice.

Sounds like you read the same article I did.

If you miss the exact fit and it is sloppy, a thin film of PVA glue around the most hidden face will often be enough to restore the correct fit. I use this technique on the covers of my "el cheapo" pens when the fit is sloppy.

still working on some images to illustrate things....thought I had some already taken, but I may have to set up an example.

soon, though...*grin*