Thursday, March 19, 2020

Turning a box with a threaded cap, out of bitter orange and apricot wood













Tools and materials I propose:

These kind of boxes are really cool for storing jewellery or stuff that is important to you.  Ofcourse they are a really cool excuse for all of us hobbyists woodturners to make something on the lathe.

I begun by turning my blank true, between centres using a roughing gouge. Then I squared both it’s ends with a bowl gouge. 

I filled any cracks with super glue and wood savings. 

Using a square carbide cutter and a skew I created the tenon for my chuck. 

I then mounted the blank on my chuck and using a parting tool I separated the cap from the body. 

To hollow my box I first removed material using forstner bits. The lathe was set at it’s lowest speed and I opened up my hole by gradually increasing the size of my forstner bit. 

Using the hook tool I removed material from my boxe’s sides. Then I used a round carbide scraper to finish hollowing. This is a really hard wood and I was hollowing end grain. So I really took my time here. 

I like to make my inner threads first. First I flattened the sides of my box’s lips. Then I used a special purpose scraper to open up a groove behind my threads. This way the thread cutter had some room to move. Then with the lathe set a low speed I begun thread chasing. Once you gently do the start then the chaser kind of falls into place and gradually creates the threads. 

To make the threads on the cap I first measured the inner diameter of my box. Then I roughly shaped the cap’s tenon slightly oversized.  With the parting tool again I created a relief groove behind my threads. As with the inner threads it’s nice to start at a diagonal. This way you create a chamfered threaded edge which makes it easier to close the cap. I created the male threads. I kept testing my fit back and forth until the cap fitted nicely in the box. 

I then closed the box and finished it’s shaping.  I added two decorative lines. I first opened a groove with the skew and then burned the lines with my metal wire. I parted the piece off the lathe.

At this point I added my bowl bottom cleaning jaws on my chuck and cleaned the bottom and the cap of my box. 

I sanded the piece until 320 grit. On the sides of the box I hand sanded parallel to the grain to avoid scratches. 

Next i mounted a piece of apricot on my pen blank jaws. I used the skew to shape the finial of my box. 

I glued the finial in my cap.

I finished my box with mineral oil!

My box was now ready. I hope you’ve enjoyed this project, because that was it. See you soon with a new project video.


Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, that at no cost to you, I get a small commission if you click through and make a purchase.

No comments:

Post a Comment