This box was turned following a visit to our club by Jimmy Clewes. I was totally in awe watching him turn one of these in his demonstration. The blank is turned like an airplane propeller on the lathe. I decided that I would have to try one for myself, which is the result shown. Turning this from my old memory, it did not quite turn out the same as his. His lid wings turn down instead of turning up as this one. However, the upturned wings remind me more of the upturned roofline on a Chinese pagoda. It was a fun project.
My incentive for trying this came from preparation of a 24 Sycamore bowl blanks for coring. The blanks for this turning came from either side of the pith of the log and is therefore quarter sawn. The base had wind shake shearing clear through each wing as well as the turned box in the center. Those were not repaired for turning and still are not repaired. Really had my attention at 3000 rpm! Lucky that it did not explode. The ring on the top was turned from Pecan on 2 axes with a tenon on the bottom of the ring for mounting to the box top.
The box is 12 wide by 6 high. The Sycamore was ebonized, finished with 3 coats of Waterlox and buffed.
