Eliza's red cedar box

[ElizaLeahy]

Got up this morning all fired up to go. Put a piece of red cedar on the lathe and sized it up. It was 3x3x4 (inches) when I started with it. Now it's 2.5" x 3"

I'm just slowly building on the basic shape. I was going to put a huon knob on it, but I decided that I'm not going to waste my time with that at this stage. The platform I made for the knob looks ok as it is.

I have a question for those wise in boxes amoungst us.

When I put the lid on one way the lines of the box flow without interruption.

When I take the lid off, turn it half around, put it back on - there is a tiny lip (less then a mm) on one side and the same amount undercut on the other!

I can not work out for the life of me how this can be, seems to be agains the laws of physics!!!

But it's enough to make me sad.

Any suggestions on what happened, and how I can stop it happening again? The lid was a perfect jam for finishing the outside shape and the top.

[kdm]

I'll hazard a guess that it is sanding. Heavy sanding can get wood out of round.

Cedar is fairly soft so might be that.

Hopefully someone who knows what they are talking about can shed more light on this!

[rsser]

Yep. Esp with distinct early and late growth rings, widely separated.

[ElizaLeahy]

Bev suggested that it might have happened when I changed from working between points to working on the chuck. I'm going to have a clean of my chuck before I do anything else, in case some sawdust has built up.

I don't *think* it was sanding, because I'm pretty light handed - well, most of the time!

Do you think I could have got off centre moving between centres and chuck???

[rsser]

Yep*

So if you knew that why didn't you say so in the OP?

* though only if you didn't fully retrue the piece.

[ElizaLeahy]

Because I wrote it this morning. I went and showed Bev this afternoon. I came home and told you what he suggested.

I'm sorry - I'll move along shall I? I don't need that sort of ####.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Do you think I could have got off centre moving between centres and chuck???

:yes: If you're only out by 1/2mm when you rechuck, turning the lid around will show a 1mm difference.

You've got to be spot on when rechucking. It's very easy to let errors creep in. :sigh:

Personally, I'll rough it round between centres but do all the shaping in a chuck.

As final check, I'll often "jam" the lid back onto the box - bringing up tailstock support if necessary - and lightly sand/turn the lid/box intersection just to get rid of any discrepancies before applying a finish.

[joe greiner]

You've got to be spot on when rechucking. It's very easy to let errors creep in.

... and they're not always your own errors. Manufacturing tolerance can render chuck jaws and drive spurs not perfectly identical. So, for remounting on the same device, mark the workpiece to identify the jaw number(s) or a dominant spur. A "dominant" spur can be the one with a setscrew, or the you've marked with a file.

Cheers,
Joe

[kdm]

Eliza, what steps do you take making your boxes?

[ElizaLeahy]

Eliza, what steps do you take making your boxes?

1. turn between centers so it's round, has a dip on either side for chuck, decide where lid goes and turn that off.

2. put one end (either) in chuck and turn inside it until finished.

3. repeat other end until the two fit together jam tight

4. jam and cut outside shape and finish top of lid

5. depending on shape, reverve bottom in chuck and finish off base

[kdm]

Well I can't see where rechucking could lead to your problem unless you did nearly all the shaping in step 1 and at step 4 only too very light cuts and didn't notice that the piece was off center.

That is unless you got part way through step 4 and either removed and rechucked for some reason or had a catch.

It is of course possible the wood has moved (gone a bit oval all by itself) - particularly if you did the hollowing and finished off the box straight away. The design of the box won't disguise that sort of movement. Richard Raffan suggests beads or chamfers at the joint precisely for this reason.

[ElizaLeahy]

I checked the chuck this morning. There was a lot of buildup of very fine sawdust in the corners at the bottom of the jaws.

Oh great, something else I have to dust!

Beads to hide it. hmmm.

Maybe I'll glue on a bit of lace!

:D

Thanks :)