Step 5

Finishing the box Click for enlarged view

Now mount the lid onto the base, taking note to line the grain up with when you parted it off. (Remember the line you drew in step 1.) Now for all intents and purposes, you have a solid piece of wood again to turn to whatever shape you like. More on that later.

If you're turning a cove on the lid lip area like shown, remember just how far you came out with the lip, or you will part your lid off for a second time, and I don't have a toilet tissue fix for that. When turning on the lid section, do remember that the lid is only jammed on, so leave the 2" roughing gouge alone and take fine cuts with sharp tools. Keep an eye to the lid joint as it is very obvious if the lid is going to come off.

You can now completely finish off the outside, again sanding and finishing to your own taste.

Step 6

Hollowing the base Click for enlarged view

Now remove the lid. This is the point where you find out just how close you got to parting the lid off again. Put it away, as you will not need it for a while. You can now proceed to hollow out the base of the box.

This is a little exercise in end grain turning, and there are probably a thousand experts with advice of how to do it, so ask one of them. I use a ring tool by Hi Turn, and distributed by Teknatool. How you achieve this is your own call, but there are a couple of rules to follow.

• Ensure you do not go past where you have deemed to be the bottom of the box. Pretty basic really.
• Try to keep the sides an even thickness.
• Be careful around the lip to prevent damaging it.

Once you have done the hollowing, you can also finish off the inside. I do mine a little different to others, in so much as I flock the inside. This means that I do not need to be too particular with this particular phase of end grain turning.

Step 7

Well now you are on the home stretch, and all that remains really is to make the bottom nice. You now need to make a jam chuck to hold the inverted base of the box so you can turn the bottom clean and sand it and all that. (See 'Ways of Mounting Wood' for information on jam chucks.)

Turn the bottom clean by careful use of fine cuts with a sharp gouge, or a skew if you are that confident, and then add any detailing you like. Give the bottom a final sanding and apply your finish.

Finishing

As stated earlier, I flock the inside of my boxes. This gives it that velvet appearance, at a fraction of the cost and the hassles. This technique also negates the need to be too fussy with the end grain in the base. I do not flock the inside of the lid, so the end grain there still needs the care it deserves.

Flock is the pile off velvet, or at least the shavings left during velvet manufacture, and is used in a range of craft and hobby work. I get mine from a model shop. They stock it for the model railway fraternity who use it to adorn scenery. Flock comes in a range of colors: red, brown, green, blue or black to name a few.

Application is easy. Simply paint the inside of the box (or anything you want to flock) with a very heavy coat of an appropriate colored paint. The paint should be the same color as the flock, or near to it. Then put some of the flock powder into the box and shake. The paint acts as a glue, and also makes up for any deficiencies in cover or wear later on. Make sure you do it right first time though, as it is not possible to re-coat it.

As for the outside of the box, and the inside of the lid, well the worlds your oyster. ( See our finishing articles for more information on finishing techniques.)

And that my friends is it.

The final product

Rex Haslip