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- Aug 22, 2009
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Hi all,
I've been spending a fair amount of time recently making boxes. Of course, with any type of wood that has alot a grain character, it makes a very attractive box if the join between the base and the lid is very narrow so that the grain can be aligned after you've fashioned a nice friction lid. I only know of 2 ways to accomplish this. The first and probably most accurate is to band-saw the top section from the bottom and then proceed with the box turning of the lid and the base. Of course, if you inadvertenly forget to leave a tenon on the ends of both the top or the base, you're sunk right after you cut the piece in half. And, to safely cut the rounded stock on the band saw, one has to also fashion a sacrificial "v-block" so as to avoid the cylinder rolling into the blade uncontrollably.
The second and pretty widely used method is to use a narrow parting tool.("1/16"). I don't know about you all but, I invariably end-up with a friction burn on the ends of the wood by parting in this manner. Yes, my parting tool is plenty sharp. Because we want our boxes to be finished nicely on all parts...inside, outside, top and bottom, this friction burn causes extra work to remove slightly charred wood at the base of the lid and, top of the base at the very least and, also at the "base of the base" when jam-chucked and finishing the bottom of the base. I understand that these various "ends" need to be trued up with a skew or spindle gouge (or both) but, in the case of the join, that just removes a little bit more wood. Sanding the charred portion doesn't seem to really work very well and, it can also lead to an untrue surface to fashion the friction lid if you sand too much at any given area of the end before you cut the rebate and spigot.
So, what to do with the "smoking burn" part with a narrow parting tool?
Thanks,
J
I've been spending a fair amount of time recently making boxes. Of course, with any type of wood that has alot a grain character, it makes a very attractive box if the join between the base and the lid is very narrow so that the grain can be aligned after you've fashioned a nice friction lid. I only know of 2 ways to accomplish this. The first and probably most accurate is to band-saw the top section from the bottom and then proceed with the box turning of the lid and the base. Of course, if you inadvertenly forget to leave a tenon on the ends of both the top or the base, you're sunk right after you cut the piece in half. And, to safely cut the rounded stock on the band saw, one has to also fashion a sacrificial "v-block" so as to avoid the cylinder rolling into the blade uncontrollably.
The second and pretty widely used method is to use a narrow parting tool.("1/16"). I don't know about you all but, I invariably end-up with a friction burn on the ends of the wood by parting in this manner. Yes, my parting tool is plenty sharp. Because we want our boxes to be finished nicely on all parts...inside, outside, top and bottom, this friction burn causes extra work to remove slightly charred wood at the base of the lid and, top of the base at the very least and, also at the "base of the base" when jam-chucked and finishing the bottom of the base. I understand that these various "ends" need to be trued up with a skew or spindle gouge (or both) but, in the case of the join, that just removes a little bit more wood. Sanding the charred portion doesn't seem to really work very well and, it can also lead to an untrue surface to fashion the friction lid if you sand too much at any given area of the end before you cut the rebate and spigot.
So, what to do with the "smoking burn" part with a narrow parting tool?
Thanks,
J