Boxwood box

[woudeye]

This is a small boxwood turning that I did a few years back. Turning was done on an attachment to a standard General 260 lathe. Box dim, approx. 2 1/2"D x 4 1/2"h. I hope that I have uploaded photo correctly as I am a newby on site and am not sure of my way around.

[dai sensei]

This is a small boxwood turning that I did a few years back. Turning was done on an attachment to a standard General 260 lathe. Box dim, approx. 2 1/2"D x 4 1/2"h. I hope that I have uploaded photo correctly as I am a newby on site and am not sure of my way around.

Welcome aboard woudeye. Very nice work. Can't say I'm familiar with boxwood, is it the dark or the light timber?

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

This is the sort of thing I really, really like. One that not only looks good but also has me puzzled as to construction.

At only 4 1/2" high (to the top of the lid or the finial?) there's either an awful lot of fine turning in there or that's one hell of an attachment on the lathe!

Care to elaborate?

[woudeye]

Welcome aboard woudeye. Very nice work. Can't say I'm familiar with boxwood, is it the dark or the light timber?

It is the light wood that comprises the body of the piece. It is Buxus Sempervirens. A very dense and fine grain wood, from Europe, a favorite wood of Ornamental turners because of its ability to take fine detail. Small tree, difficult to obtain,

[woudeye]

This is the sort of thing I really, really like. One that not only looks good but also has me puzzled as to construction.

At only 4 1/2" high (to the top of the lid or the finial?) there's either an awful lot of fine turning in there or that's one hell of an attachment on the lathe!

Care to elaborate?

The main body is comprised of a single piece of Boxwood that was turned and hollowed in the conventional manner. I then made a cutter that I ground to cut a 1/8" wide bead. This cutter is turned in a small high speed tool such as a Foredom. I then used an indexing plate that allows one to stop and hold the piece at specified intervals. This piece has a series of 19 rings around the body of the piece each comprised of 18 equally spaced cuts or a total of 342 cuts. A cut is made by advancing the cutter into the piece to a specified depth which regulates the length of the cut, the cutter is withdrawn and the piece advanced with the index plate to the next position for the adjacent cut and so on around the piece. After one ring of cuts are made the cutter is advanced down the piece for the next ring of cuts. This positioning must also be done in a precise manner advancing just the width of the cutter, in this case 1/8". The adjacent rings are also phased as to cause the cuts to be staggered, this gives a Bamboo effect, which is what I was looking to create. After mounting the basic turning, I made the 342 cuts on this piece in a little over on hour and a half. I hope this helps to explain some of what goes into a piece like this

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Ah, yes. Now that you explain it 'tis obvious. But isn't that always the way?


I had images of someone turning each individual segment and doing a massive glue-up dancing through my brain and I thought "Nahhh... surely not?" Glad I was wrong. :)


It's still a very nice piece; I'd be proud to have it in my display case.

[Moviefan]

Great Piece - Always wondered what the index functions were for :)

[TTIT]

Very cleverly done and a nice looking piece to boot. Would love to see the beading tool that got the segments looking more like they're stacked than cut. Gotta be worth a greenie;)

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

The system won't let me send two to the same post, even when they're merited. :rolleyes: