Turnings

I band sawed off a 4 inch chunk, after it's square I mark the end centers, then beveled the corners off on the jointer the hardest part was following the thick black charcoal line with the band saw.
















Mounted on the lathe I find it easy to round, I've turned many things & it's all in how you hold the chisel & with the white wall behind my lath I can see the shape form with lots of light to watch how much to take off at a time.















All these turned boxes are random shape just what ever shape brings out the most bling in the grain, the only part is the outside rim of the bottom that has to be an exact size & for this I have to keep taking fine cuts & keep checking it, then finish with sand paper. When the boxes are shaped I use a parting tool to make deep cuts to separate the lid pieces from the bottoms then box & lids are cut apart with a hand saw.















Next I mount them in a vice on the drill press & drill out the insides of the bottoms & lids because I am unable to see well enough to turn them out on the lath anymore, so I take the fast & easy way.













Now with the centers turned out I mount them back on the lathe on spindle plates I turned to fit the inside diameter of the lids & bottoms. Mounted this way I finish the bottoms & tops of each & sand out any vice marks to a fine finish.

I like to carve odd little features into the lids & boxes, but the wood is too pretty these, so I only added some carving to the lid handle on one so far, these two are now ready for a lacquer finish.