Question on turning boxes.

[Cliff De Witt]

I guess I have a real newbie question.

When turning boxes, should the lid have the spigot that fits inside the base or the base have the shoulder that fits inside the lid?
And if so Why?

 

[Brian Libby]

Depends on the design - I do both ways :cool2:

 

[Mark Warden]

I find it easier to leave a tenon on the lid you can finish the lid and part it off. Otherwise you'll have to figure out a way to re-chuck the lid to do the inside.

 

[Brian Libby]

If I do finials the lid fits into the box. When doing the other way I ususlly just create a friction fit jamb chuck to reverse turn . Just like most turning projects there are several ways to achieve the same end result.

 

[john lucas]

I make the male tenon on the bottom most of the time. The reason I do this is the contents of the box will not block the fit of the lid. Still I usually the design of the box and take in the fit and method of turning in the process.
I prefer not to hold myself to one style of tenon. I worry that it will stifle the design of the box.

 

[Mike Peace]

Generally I put the tenon on the body. Why? Mostly because that is what Richard Raffan says to do in his box book. Exceptions are unless it is to be a loose fit or a larger box. His reasons as I understand them:
1. If you make the base flannge too loose, you can usually redo the tenon and make the box body a bit shorter.
2. The overfitting lid doesn't occupy valuable storage space and
3. a long flange is easier to accomodate without affecting the form design.
4. the shorter flange on an in-fitting lid takes more finesse to make.

 

[MichaelMouse]

When turning boxes, should the lid have the spigot that fits inside the base or the base have the shoulder that fits inside the lid?
And if so Why?

Yes. Because some famous guys say so.

Lots of turning questions are answered that way.

I like the tenon below because I don't like to give a false impression of depth. I'd rather underpromise and overdeliver. If you can't decide, fit the spigot inside both the base and the lid.

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d160/GoodOnesGone/Bottom-Tenon-Box-2.jpg

 

[Ron Sardo]

I turn the tenon on the base, then jam chuck the lid on the base, this way I can better proportion the two.

I do it this way because I'm not famous

 

[mereditm]

Box design

It depends on the design of the box. The "standard" sort of box would have the tenon on the base fitting inside the lid. If you wanted a very thin lid, the tenon isn't seen so you can create the illusion of a fine lid by making the tenon on the lid.

Most of my boxes are threaded so length of thread is important. The male thread on the bottom is the usual method but not necessarily. An urn (a box with a very, very small lid) would have the female threads on the bottom.

No rules, just make it work for you.