Rough Turning Boxes

[John Gbur]

I have a question about rough turning boxes. Does anyone rough turn boxes
from wood that not completely dry, then turn them again when dry? I am
curious if the tennons need to be returned like bowls or if they are okay as
is when turning them the second time. Does anybody do this with dovetail
tennons? I have done a few with the standard tennon but wasn't sure how
twice turning would work with boxes and dovetail tennons. Hate to find out
it doesn't work well after doing a lot of them! Thanks!

[Gerald Ross]

I used to use tenons and often had to re-round the tenon after
complete drying. I used a hole saw in the drill press. After a cut was
started I removed the center drill bit and finished the whole tenon
length. Then I trimmed off the offcut with a heavy knife.

Now I nearly always use dovetail recesses. Some woods do ok after
drying and some really get oval making a poor grip with the chuck. I
clamp the item in a jig with a hole in it the proper size and re-round
the recess with a router with a 12 degree dovetail bit and a guide
bushing. Works like a charm.

--
Gerald Ross
Cochran, GA

An apple every eight hours will keep
three doctors away.

[Ralph E Lindberg]

In article <4b3019a3$0$5819$ce5e...@news-radius.ptd.net>,
"John Gbur" <jg...@ptd.net> wrote:

I learned the following technic from Dan Ackerman. He mounts the box
blank on a waste plug. Built into the waste plug is a nut. The nut is
centered in the nut and positioned such that when the nut is tensioned
the box and nut are held firm to the lathe.

The drive on the lathe has a bolt attached, this could be with a custom
drive (what he does) or a collet with a bolt mounted.

The point in this system is it only ties up the waste block and nut, but
allows you to remove the box, set it aside, and remote it later, in
exactly the same position as before. Unlike using a tenon in a chuck,
there is no issue with the tenon changing shape and the box not being
centered

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[ebd]

I've done a number in wet black walnut. I had no problems once they
were dry. I don't think black walnut gets very oval, especially when
your turning end grain.

[Bill]

Someone brought to a woodturning club meeting, a lidded oval birch
box. He had turned the box and lid from very wet wood to as finished
surface as possible. He then let them dry and change from round to
oval shape. As I remember, many of his attempts at this did not work
but enough did to keep him trying. Anyway, by this process he avoided
the remount problem entirely.

[robo hippy]

I rough turn all of my boxes, no matter how dry the wood is. They all
'adjust' to having the bulk removed. Turn the cylinder, part off the
lid and bottom, rough out the centers (I use my hollowing tools as
they are a lot faster than a forstner bit) leaving about 1/2 inch in
the top or bottom, and maybe 3/8 inch thick walls. I tape the ends
together, and let them adjust for at least a week. Then I will glue
them onto waste blocks. I glued some on once before they had time to
adjust and lost about half of them as the wood shrank, but the glue
and waste block didn't.

robo hippy

[Bill Noble]

only wood turners want boxes with "pop" lids - no one else wants them that
way - literally everyone else wants loose fitting lids (not sloppy) that
lift off with one hand. So, the worry about the wood changing shape (which
it does, robohippy is right) is a non-issue if you make the fit that most
want.

"robo hippy" <reed...@comcast.net> wrote in message
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