Bocote box....

[Big Mike]

It has been a while since I posted anything here and I bet you can't guess what I am going to show you a picture of....a box....Surprise, surprise.

A friend on another forum hinted around that he wanted a box of this style out of bocote. I told him I did not have any bocote that was free of end grain checks. So he sent me a nice stick of bocote, some koa, some madrone burl and some curly walnut all appropriately sized for boxes.

Here is a clam shell box in bocote 1 3/4" tall and 3" in diameter.

 

[FredP]

perty wood and nice work.:eusa_clap

fred p

 

[DaveO]

Beautiful Mike, and your grain alignment/continuity is almost perfect. I can't wait to see what you do with the rest of the wood your friend sent you.
Dave

 

[sapwood]

But it's not square 8-O
Great stuff as always Mike :icon_thum
Want me to send you some wood ;-)

In awe again,
Roger

 

[FredP]

But it's not square 8-O

sur it is roger he just used some o my magic tape on the miters!:slap:

fred p

 

[cskipper]

Beautiful as always! :eusa_clap

 

[toolferone]

Neet shape Mike, and the execution is perfect.

 

[skeeter]

Great looking box. I really like the shape. How do you finish Bocote so the light grain does not darken? I'm having that problem with Wenge.

 

[Big Mike]

Thank you all for the feedback.

Charles, I am not sure I understand what you are referring to... What light grain in wenge are you talking about? Wenge is more or less black on black. It does get darker if you apply most finishes to it. Clear shellac might not darken the lighter black streaks but I cannot say that from experience since I have not tried it to know.

As far as the bocote the lighter wood does darken some. If you saw the wood before finishing it would have been more of a cream color and the finish imparted a slight amber tint to it.

Maybe someone else more knowledgeable about finishing can enlighten us about how to retain the lighter colors.

 

[MikeH]

That is beautiful. I love the matching grain. You did a great job Mike. :eusa_clap

 

[DavidF]

Nice job Mike, now you know why I need more lessons from you!

 

[Eaglesc]

Cool!
How do you make the peices fit so good?

 

[Big Mike]

Eagle, you do understand the process of turning an end grain box, right? You start out with a single turning square with the grain running parallel to the axis of rotation just like a pen blank. You round up the blank and part it in two using a thin parting tool, the thinner the better as the less wood you remove the better the grain match will be between the top and bottom of the box. It is difficult to have a perfect grain match unless the wood is perfectly straight.

After that it is just a matter of turning the top and the bottom and getting them to fit with one another. One real secret is to make sure you hollow, sand and finish both the top and bottom before you do the final fitting of the lid. You can have some distortion during hollowing and sanding can build up some heat and you can have some uneven drying causing the wood to slightly warp.

You should take up box turning. With the attention to detail you exhibit in your pen work you would probably be a natural on boxes. The mini-lathes you use for pen turning would do just fine for boxes. I like boxes because they give me an opportunity to use small pieces of precious wood into little jewels not unlike what you do with pens.

Again, thanks everyone for the feedback. I do appreciate it.

 

[Eaglesc]

Sounds complicated,besides I can use even smaller pieces for pens.:eusa_danc

 

[dozer]

I like it great work Mike.

 

[edspec]

:eusa_clap Beautiful Box!

What was your chucking sequence and method?

 

[Big Mike]

Steven, after rounding up the piece and turning a spigot on each end to fit my Supernova II chuck I parted the blank in two. I hollowed the piece that was to be the top and made sure that the lid flange was parallel. Then I chucked up the piece that was to be the body of the box, cut the flange on the body just so the lid would begin to fit and then hollowed the body of the box. Then I recut the body flange so the lid could be jam fit on the body of the box and turned and finished the outside shape of the box and the lid.

Lastly, I reversed the body of the box and after wrapping the body flange in painter's tape to prevent the chuck from marring it, I turned and finished the bottom of the box.

There is a tutorial in the Downloads Library in the Woodturning section that describes and provides pictures for turning a number of different types of boxes entitled "Introduction to Turned Boxes." It does a much better job of explaining the process than I can do in this short response.