Favorite Forms for Boxes

[Thomas Wilson]

Lately I’ve enjoyed turning boxes as a break from doing bowls. I’m curious what people’s favorite box forms are. I’ve searched a lot on line and in prior threads but was hoping others would share pictures of some of their favorites.

Here are a couple of mine that I turned this week as well as a couple turned a few months ago. The first 5 have suction fit lids, the last one with a knob is loose-fitting. All finished with yorkshire grit.

Mine are fairly simple, reflecting my skill level, but I’m just starting to play around with beads/grooves to hide the joint.

Maple, 3 1/2 x 2”

Maple 2 1/2 x 2”, maple 3 x 2”, African mahogany (I think) 4 x 2”

Pecan 3 1/2 x 4”

Cottonwood with black walnut, 5 x 3 1/2”


Thanks, Tom

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

The features that I have not done for at least 30 years is the suction fit lid and the lid and the body from the same piece of wood such that the grain is continuous through the lid and the body. The suction fit lid is subject to fit problems when the humidity level changes, especially without the pith in the middle, where the two halves can go oval. The continuous grain match rarely matches all the way around the the box.
In the 1990's I started experimenting with the pith included and found that it is possible and also presents the wood grain in a totally different way. The wood can still distort with seasonal changes and cause fit problems.
Red Oak body & segmented loose fit red oak lid with celtic cross knob, 6" diameter X 8" high.
Butternut or white walnut body segmented butternut loose fit lid with black walnut finial.

 

[Larry Copas]

A few of my boxes.



I really like making boxes that are beautiful and useful. I think the first two meet my goals, while the second two are nice to look at but are they really useful? I make lots of small variations on the first box, and it seems popular.

 

[Steve Tiedman]

No photos to show at the moment, but shapes found in nature are what pleased me the most vs. variations of geometric cylinders. Think apples, and acorns, and bell peppers (sort of...).