Turning a wood Piggy Bank

[Clarence Martin]

Got an idea for making a Wooden Piggy Bank. It's like an old Crayola Crayon Piggy Bank from years ago. The inside diameter is 1 3/4 " . Height of the body of the Piggy Bank is 12 or so inches. The top looks like a giant Crayon point.


1. Any suggestions for cutting out the slot where the coins go in ? It's on an angle .

2. I was going to turn the outside of the base first and then bore out the inside of the base with a 1 3/4 " Forstner bit attached to drill bit extensions.


How thin can the wall be for drilling out the base after the outside has been turned first ?


On the old one, it looks like the wall is about 1/8 " thick.

[Tom Wilson66]

Sounds like a cool project. I think I would drill the hole first. That way if the bit wanders a bit you can see if the wall is getting too thin at one end.. If this is intended to actually hold coins, I would think it needs to be thicker than 1/8 inch, just to hold the weight of the coins, but that's just me. The slot could be cut by drilling holes at each end, then cutting between the holes with a coping saw. The edges can be cleaned up with files and sandpaper. Or use a Dremel tool with a slot cutting bit. Be sure to post a picture once you have it done.

[Timothy Mann]

Just a thought, what about trying to use a biscuit cutter to make the coin slot?

[Jim Underwood]

You could laminate pieces together to make your blank, and leave a gap for the coin slot.

[Col Smith]

With my "beehive" money box I left the box on the lathe & cut the slot with a biscuit machine.
I wanted to make sure the slot was neat.

HTH
Col