sorta newbie question on turning small jars/boxes

I have only made a few boxes, but one thing I have learned is that wood is seldom stable enougth to make a complete box non stop if you want a reasonably tight fitting lid. The stuff *moves*!!. The idea seems to be to rough out a box to about 80%, tape the lid to the box and leave it to settle for a few months before finishing. Or just make a *reallly* sloppy lid with beads to hide the join. Also, the bigger the box, the more movement (doh!) So I have got away with making itsy bitsy boxes without stopping........but I just made a "big" (6 inch diameter) box this morning, having left the 100 year old timber a couple of months as described above - and the unprintable thing has *still* moved - lots- just during the turning.

william

I usually use the top for a chuck to finish the bottom of the box, so I get a pretty tight fit... I did notice that on this page:

seem to think that a cork fitting and some sort of stopper set??I have an old turned box that I made out of oak about 20 years ago.. inoticed the other day that it seals really well if you get it in theright direction... I guess the box & lid warped together.. lol

The current name d'jour seems to be "turned lidded box" and they've become my furniture making diversion/obsession.

If you've been turning for about a year it's time to expand your capabilities or at least make it easier - though not on the wallet. GET A CHUCK! And get a decent one - OneWay, SuperNova (or SN2) and a set of what TeknaTools calls Pin Jaws. You can expand the jaws into an I.D. a tad over 1" and grip a tenon down to a tad below 1/2" diameter. They're long enough to let you work up agains their ends without having the rest of the chuck wacking your knuckles.

Now you can go with a chuck that uses what I think are called Tommy Bars but you need two hands to tighten the chuck which leaves no hand to hold the piece while your doing the tightening.

As for the procedure using a chuck - it does involve a bit of chucking and rechucking and it gets a little tricky if you want the lid and bottom grain pattern to look fairly continuous. Blow the turning and chucking sequence and you can find yourself SOL quite easily - DAMHIKT.

Anyway, I put together some instructions for myself. Printed them and put them in a binder. My woodworking jumps around a lot and it may be months or years before I get back to a past obsession. Since I did the instructions it was no problem putting them up on my WWing website. Either print each page on line and take it to the shop, or download each page since they're GIF image files, print them and take them to the shop. Here's the url (all one line, watch the line wrap)

With a printed copy you can add notes to yourself if you find a hole in the instructions. If you have suggestions on how to make these instructions better please e-mail me and I'll try and make the changes/additions.

If you add a finial to the top of the lid you can still enjoy turning between centers.

charlie b

I find the standard 2" jaws more useful for beginning boxmaking. They use a larger tenon and grip tighter. They are more versatile for other things too. Like small bowls.

Barry

Oddly, small boxes is where the 75 and 100 mm jaws get their main use at my house. Bowls up to 400 mainly get the 50's. I like the convenience of having more than one chuck, and one is _always_ fitted with pin jaws. Easily the handiest way to get a piece of wood spun up.

One ridge or bead inside or outside can hold the box for finishing and fitting and look as if it were design by aesthetic rather than necessity.

p)

D00d! This is an overwhelming gift to the rest of us.

I've been lurking through a wide variety of craft and skill oriented groups over the past few years. I've found that there is a dichotomy: Some are extremely generous with what they've learned.

The others... well, I've come across one fellow who said, "I've got [vital skill X] reduced to a very simple and reliable system, but I won't tell anybody what it is, because I don't think they've earned it."

After an experience like that, the generosity of wood turners is frankly shocking. (In a good way.) Even if I wasn't mildly obsessed with it, I would lurk here just to hang out with you guys.

BobMac

I did this stuff for myself - I jump around in woodworking and I'm apt to forget the details by the time I get back to something. Not much to put it up on the web for others. If it gets someone to try something they might not otherwise, or not get to 'til they get better at turning, by making it easier - and showing them that even a relative newbie like me can do it ...

Want to try handcut dovetails?

How about mortise and tenons? Ever had a piece of wood come off your table saw at Mach II and didn't know why - or what you could do to minimize the likelyhood of it happening again? > I've been lurking through a wide variety of craft and skill oriented > groups over the past few years. I've found that there is a dichotomy: > Some are extremely generous with what they've learned. I'm just trying to follow the examples I had when I first got into woodworking. rec.woodworking regulars provided a great deal of encouragement and suggestions.

I've had some great teachers - and a few really lousy ones. The good ones felt their job was to pass on what had been provided to them, and the things they subsequently learned, to their students. When I taught, I told the students the first night, and several times throughout the class that I worked for them. If they had questions and didn't get an answer they could "get" that it was their job to keep asking and my job to keep trying to help them "get it".

Ain't limited to woodturners. Woodworkers seem to be, more often than not, a friendly and helpful lot.

charlie b

ya know, being stingy with your knowlege is its own reward.