Redwood box with Oak "hardware"

Here we have a box measuring 5.5 inches square and 2.75 inches high, made with recycled 1/4 Redwood sides with 1/8 inch finger joints. The finger-joint latch on the front is white Oak (and purely decorative). The wooden hinges on the back are also Oak. bottom is inset Mahogany plywood. The top is Old Growth Redwood. The liner is green velvet flocking.

A 4-Inch Gift box

This is a 4 inch square box, 1.25 inches high. The sides are 1/2 inch Birch plywood with Mahogany veneer on both sides. The top and bottom of the box, and the corner splines are 1/8 inch Rosewood. The hinge on the back and the catch on the front are made of white Oak. The liner is a sprayed-on green velvet flocking.

Small Douglas Fir box

This is not a good wood for turning because it is a fairly soft wood with very hard growth rings. It will quickly dull your tools, and it's difficult to sand it properly because the soft wood sands away before the hard wood. Anyway, this is some pieces of scrap glued together to make a turning blank for a test. With carbide tipped tools I was able to get a pretty smooth surface which didn't need much sanding. I finished it with boiled linseed oil only.

Tiny Pear wood box

This tiny 1.5 inch long capsule is made from Pear wood . . . just to see if I could make something this small. Pear is a nice wood for turning, a pleasure to work with.

Wooden Hinges

Here is a selection of wooden hinges I made one day puttering around in my shop. I've been wanting to make some of these for some time now. To give you an idea of the size: the hinges on the bottom row are one inch wide and one inch long. The hinges at the top left and the ones on the bottom row are white Oak. The ones on the upper right are Cherry. A steel pin was used on all of these. The Cherry hinges were cut on a band saw. The ones on the bottom were done with my box joint (finger joint) jig. There was one more wooden hinge not pictured here because it was already on a box, which will be in a future post. These hinges will be used in upcoming posts as I make boxes with them.

Box with wooden hinge

Here is a 4 inch square box 1.25 inches high. Top and bottom are Redwood. The sides are 1/2 inch plywood with Mahogany veneer on both sides. The corner splines are Rosewood. The hinge is Oak with a steel pin. I'm working on a wooden latch for the front closure that mirrors the Oak hinge on the back.

Yeah, I know, another spalted Maple box

Here we go again with the spalted Maple. Sorry, but you have to use it or lose it. It's rotting wood after all. This box is a little smaller than the last two (1.5 inches high, about 2 inches wide), but a really nice piece of wood. I used boiled linseed oil only as the finish.

Yet another spalted Maple box

Another spalted Maple box, very similar in size to the last one I posted. This one is about 2" high and 2" wide. Finished with a high speed wax.

A spalted Maple box

Spalted Maple, 2.75 inches wide, 1.5 inches high. Finished with wood wax.

A small footed bowl

This is two pieces of pine glued together. Those Pine boards had stain on them. That's the dark line you see on the middle of the side and the inside bottom of the bowl.

Douglas Fir box

Douglas fir scraps were glued together to make a hunk of wood that I turned into this box. Douglas fir is not a good choice for turning. It's a soft wood with hard annual rings; the dark part of the grain. But it is possible, so I gave it a shot. This is what I came up with. I like the shape. I think I'll try it again with a nicer piece of wood. 

A small wooden toy top

I found this scrap of very hard wood, which I thought was Eucalyptus, but, I don't know . . .
Anyway, I thought I'd turn a quick top. They make nice gifts. I get to practice my lathe skills. This one's a bit of a fail though. It doesn't spin well. I think there's big difference in wood density within this piece of wood which makes it hopelessly out of balance.