Your technique on small boxes

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Hi, I got some white oak pieces about 4" in diameter and roughed them out using a Sorby Swan neck scraper. I first drilled a hole to the bottom of the piece. I'm thinking of letting it dry in a paper bag and then return. I'd like to know what you do here. Do you let them dry or just turn it to finish? What do you use for hollowing? This is just a 4" diam x 4" box and I was just wondering about other methods for this. Thanks!

[Bill Bulloch]

When I am turning a green hollow form from end grain and will be taking the entire pith out (hollowing from the bottom and drilling a hole in the top), I go ahead and turn it to the finished form. With the pith out, you should not get much distortion, if any. Might need to wait till it drys to apply the finish.

[Bill Bulloch]

I'm sorry, you are talking about a box, and I addressed a hollow form. Where is my mind today? For a box, I rough turn and bag it to dry.

By-the-way, Oak likes to crack, so make several and one good one might survive. Good Luck

[Bernie Weishapl]

Alan when I do small lidded boxes I use dry wood. If you use green wood or wood that has some moisture it will warp some to a lot. Then your lid is not going to fit at all. I had one of my first ones I was so proud of had the lid get stuff when it moved and it is still there. There is no way to get if off without some damage. If I do use green wood I rough it out and leave it pretty thick and then soak it in DNA, wrap, cut the ends open and let dry.

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Bill that's a good idea about making more than one; I was thinking of that but got too tired. So more tomorrow. Bernie, what do you mean by "cut the ends open"? Are you opening the bag? How long do you let it soak in DNA? Thanks guys!

[Reed Gray]

When I am making boxes, even if I start with dry wood, I will rough turn it, then let it sit for a week or two. Even dry wood will 'adjust' to having mass removed. I used to use a forstner bit for starting, but now use a small spear point tool, or just my McNaughton hollowers (the straighter ones). They are faster than a forstner bit, and there is no set up. You can use a hand held, or in a handle, drill bit as well for depth.

robo hippy

[Kyle Iwamoto]

I use the Benjamins Best bowl scrapers from PSI to finish up the box insides. It can make the sides pretty straight, since they have a long side bevel. I guess you could grind any scraper with a long side grind. I rough hollow with a standard bowl gouge. Sometimes I use a Hunter Carbide, if the box is deep. IMO 2" is small, 4" is rather large....

Green, I rough turn and let it dry. I put them in a brown bag with some shavings (a lot) and close the bag. If you don't let it dry, like the others said, they warp and your top will not fit. I've also had "kiln dried" wood warp after finishing, so maybe a week before final finish turning dry wood would help.

[David E Keller]

Richard Raffan has a video on turning boxes that I found very helpful. I follow his lead... rough out the shape and create a tenon on both ends of the blank then part into two pieces. The two pieces are then rough hollowed leaving extra thickness to allow for turning out any distortion that occurs during drying. The lid and base blanks are then taped tenon to tenon which allows air to circulate through the rough hollowed openings. He dates the pieces and lets them air dry, but DNA method could also be used. I've got about thirty or forty roughed out boxes drying right now. I've noticed that some oak and pistache blanks have cracked and will likely end up in the burn pile... maybe they wouldn't have cracked with a DNA soak first. Pear, maple, and sycamore seem to be doing alright.

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Lots of great ideas here. Never thought about kiln dried wood moving but it makes sense. David I'd be interested in your hollowing technique too. What do you use?

Scraping oak is very tedious especially knowing some will crack. Roughing out and bagging is the way I'm going to do this unless I want to experiment with DNA. I tried that on bowls but you need a lot of DNA for that to work. Smaller vessels would better accomodate that method.

THANKS ALL FOR THE GREAT IDEAS!!!! I will figure this out.

[Rick Hutcheson]

Guess I just have better luck here. I turn boxes from green wood start to finish. I turn them to under a 1/4" and make sure the bottoms are also turned at least that thin. I have never taken the pith out, I leave it as part of the box. I turn them to fit like I want them to fit or just maybe a little bit loose. Then sand and finish. Set them aside with the lid on the box closed up.
The next day they may not open because of the drying and wood shrinking at different rates. But then the next day, 2 days after turning, they open just like the way they did when I turned them. If they are a little tight a light sanding of the inside of the rim makes them fit perfect.
I may loose 2% to cracking, but when you turn at a rate of 10-15 boxes a day that is not much of a loss to me.
I tried soap soak on a batch of crabapple boxes. Of the about 15 that I did 100% of them cracked beyond saving. Of the crabapple that I turned green to finish I had the normal 2% crack. I have turned over 2000 boxes this way so for me it works.

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Rick, could you give a brief description on your hollowing technique. What tools do you use and what steps you go through. You sound like an expert with all the boxes you've made.

[Rick Hutcheson]

I actually do them a few different ways. I have a video on my web site that shows one way. I use that way when the grain is plain and you are not trying to line up a grain pattern between the lid and box.
http://www.scrollsaws.com/WoodLathe/woodlatheVideo.htm
Then if I want to line up grain I use a different method shown on the attached file.
http://www.scrollsaws.com/images/Lathe/SeminarBoxes.pdf

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Great site Rick. I recommend anybody who wants to do boxes to look at Rick's videos.

[Jim Underwood]

My first bit of advice would be to ditch the scraper. You're just going to torture yourself.

Get a 3/4 or 1 inch roughing gouge, sharpen it to a 40-45 degree angle, and learn to cut, not scrape. Once you learn to use that to make peeling and planing cuts on the outside, get a 3/8 spindle gouge and learn to hollow the inside with it.

You should be able to rough a simple cylindrical box within minutes of starting. With a scraper, you're just going to beat yourself to death.

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Originally Posted by Jim Underwood

My first bit of advice would be to ditch the scraper. You're just going to torture yourself.

Get a 3/4 or 1 inch roughing gouge, sharpen it to a 40-45 degree angle, and learn to cut, not scrape. Once you learn to use that to make peeling and planing cuts on the outside, get a 3/8 spindle gouge and learn to hollow the inside with it.

You should be able to rough a simple cylindrical box within minutes of starting. With a scraper, you're just going to beat yourself to death.

Yes Jim I totally agree with you. After scraping to rough out these boxes I was looking for a better way. I've seen your method on a You Tube video but the spindle gouge for hollowing takes some time to master. Yes scraping does beat you up and it's slow. Thanks!