On Sun, 05 Dec 2004 14:08:58 -0500, anonymous
wrote:

mac davis wrote:

I've been turning what were called "round boxes" when i learned, and I
think are called jars or covered jars here???

Anyway, it's a hollow shape with a matching/fitting lid, ok?

I've always turned them with a faceplace, but My wife would like
several from some walnut firewood we got from a friend, and they would
roughly 2" or so in diameter...
My question is how do you hold the little buggers??
They're too small to mount on a faceplate and I can't imagine trying
to turn them on a screw center...
I know there has to be an easy way to do thais, any suggestions?


Mac,
I just tonight turned my first ever boxes. Here's what I did.

First, I followed this link to get a sense of what I needed to do and yes,
you CAN turn them on a screw center.But I didn't. I was intrigued by the
authors assertion (in Method Two) that "but this, too, has a drawback. This
is that the lid cannot be hollowed out" so I found a way to hollow it.

http://www.turningtools.co.uk/projects/box/box.html

I'm using cast-off poplar and oak 3x4's from my employer. By the time I got
them cleaned up in the jointer, my stock was small (~2.50") so I:

1) rough turned one end round in a 4-jaw utility chuck
2) reversed and turned 2nd end round
3) parted off top and set aside
4) ran a 1.375" Forstner bit into the box base to full depth
5) turned the mating lip about .250" tall and about 1/2 the original wall
thickness
6) parted it off from the chuck
7) put top in chuck and ran the Forstner bit in about 1/2"
8) brought recess in the top to size to match tenon on base, reserving a
1.375" step for chucking in step 9 & 10
9) removed 4-jaw chuck and replaced with the PSI internal chuck for watches
10) mounted and finished the top, including all shaping and sanding
11) mounted and sanded the base, including a slight depression in the box
bottom to encourage it to sit square on flat surfaces.
12) applied first coat of finish (Minwax tung oil finish), rubbing by hand.

that sounds like a good plan.. if ya have a chuck.. you suck.... lol

I was going to use the idea of a turned backing plate with a hole for
the stock & hot glue...
I turned a 14 or 16" piece of the walnut to as close as I could get to
a "perfect" spindle.. about 1 7/8 diameter once it was running true..

next step was to run it through the CMS to get box turning lengths
that the hot glue could handle..

I found out that on most of the pieces, I didn't need the glue... they
went in with help from my B.F.H. (not really, I used a rubber mallet)

I did a couple of them last night... it's a challenge for my limited
turning skills, as every "clunk" causes the piece to change it's
seating in the "jam chuck" and get out of true...

The boxes were pretty easy, but the tops were a PITA..

Since these boxes are for the wife, and my neighbor has a lot of these
walnut branches, I'm hoping (with a printout of the shopsmith lathe
chuck page accidentally left out *g*), that santa might bring a lathe
chuck this year..