elm box
John K Jordan
This box, or perhaps lidded end-grain bowl, is made from figured elm. I showed some blocks of this wood in another thread. The figure here was only in the very center of a large elm tree a neighbor had cut down and cut into chunks. The swirling figure probably went at least 60 ft up the middle of the tree. This box was made from a blank that has been drying for about 10 years.
I made this primarily to try out some designs for the Beads of Courage project, a drive to provide boxes for seriously ill children - there is a note about it on the AAW site:
http://www.woodturner.org/default.asp?page=2015Charitable
These boxes can't have the "woodturner's pop" - the lids need to be opened easily, perhaps by a weak child. There are some specifications on size, etc. This one is not large enough for a Beads of Courage box. (I have a lot of wood but most of it is too small.)
The base is also fairly thick so it won't be too light, and especially, not too fragile.
One thing I wanted to try was an idea to disguise the line between the lid and base and still make it obvious that it has a lid. I'm not entirely happy with this first try but it's a start. I'm not thrilled with the shape of the lid either, especially the handle, so I might chuck it up and rework it a bit.
I "tucked" the join in a cove between the lid and base. Another view, rotated a bit:
I also wanted to try making a box that would still look nice without the lid, so it could also be considered a bowl.
The rim is slightly tapered, as is the inside of the lid. This makes the lid fit nicely without slop and is also easy to remove. Since both pieces are tapered, it is also easier to put the lid back on!
The bottom is slightly concave with just a bit of detail:
One thing about the turning that might be interesting. As I've mentioned before a time or two, I generally use small cabinet scrapers instead of sandpaper for much of my smoothing. These little scrapers are various shapes, oval, rectangular, etc. If you haven't tried them it might be surprising well they can remove ridges and center nubs and other tool marks. (Of course, a steady hand with the gouge helps too!) I use the scrapers hand-held off the rest, at slow lathe speeds and often with the lathe stopped. Sometimes I unscrew the chuck and sit in a chair and scrape a bit. They have to be sharpened correctly.
I haven't used my power sander in years. The scrapers work better for me, preserve fine detail, and there are no clouds of dust!
Working that way, this piece needed only 600 grit paper to start and to end with. I applied two coats of shellac thinned 1:1 with alcohol, then several applications of Watco oil and a bit of 0000 steel wool. No buffing or wax.
Comments are appreciated. I want to try some variations and hopefully improvements on this same lid design.
I wish I had saved a truckload of the elm blanks from that tree 10 years ago! They might make nice gifts for turners!
JKJ
