Small pine box

[David Walser]

Comments and critiques gratefully accepted.

Attached are photos of a small box I turned out of a re-claimed Southern yellow pine pen blank. Yellow pine is interesting to turn. Despite being dry and very old, it still gives off a strong pine scent. The wood tears out easily. To get a smooth finish on the tenon for the lid, I had to cut it with my skew. Even taking very light cuts, the parting tool would tear out 1/4" deep chunks of wood.

Sanding the pine is very difficult. The paper immediately loads up with resin. The resin will form lumps on the paper that will dent and gouge the soft pine. Higher grit papers behave worse in this regard. So, the surface you see is from the tool with a very light touch of 220 grit paper (with the lathe off).

To finish the box I applied two coats of lacquer as a sanding sealer (wiping off the excess almost immediately). The lacquer was applied to the exterior of the box only. The box then received several applications of Walnut oil both inside and out. (I filled the box with oil and let it soak for an hour.) The box still gives off a strong pine scent. I toyed with using a CA glue finish, but I was afraid I'd glue the lid on the box.

When I came in from the shop I handed the box to my eldest daughter. She promptly opened it and peered into the box's empty interior and asked, "Toothpick holder?" Smart kid. Our club challenge this month is to turn a lidded box and this is what I came up with. For some reason, a reason I cannot explain even to myself, I wanted to turn something small enough to carry in your jeans pocket, yet it had to be useful, too.

The box is 2 7/8" long. The cap (the widest part of the box) is just under 5/8" in diameter. The hole in the interior of the box is 3/8" diameter. (The hole in the cap is 1/2".)

Sorry for the poor picture quality. My wife has my "real" camera with her visiting her folks in Utah, so I had to use my cell phone camera. The pictures are a crop from a much larger original, which is why the thumbnails look better than the pictures themselves.

[David Christopher]

David, thats a very nice looking "toothpick box" .....when working pine I will soak it in laquer thinner for a few minuits then it will sand much easier and with less paper loading

[David Walser]

Originally Posted by David Christopher

David, thats a very nice looking "toothpick box" .....when working pine I will soak it in laquer thinner for a few minuits then it will sand much easier and with less paper loading

Thank you for the kind comment and for the suggestion to use lacquer thinner to make sanding easier. I guess that cuts the resin? Out West, what most of us call "pine" (a/k/a construction lumber) is really Douglas fir. Unless you hit a pitch pocket, Douglas fir sands fairly well and is not nearly as resinous as was this Southern yellow pine. So, I've not faced the issue before. Thanks for the tip.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Good looking toothpick box. Came out pretty well for a soft wood like that. I do like David does and soak it in lacquer thinner before sanding.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Nice work David! I believe this is the first turned toothpick box that I have seen! Great idea! Nice work on the small details!