This was made from an Acacia blank with a touch of burl included, the size being 3” square.
The wood blank was mounted centrally between a steb centre and a live ring tool in the tailstock. Jason stated that the timber needed to be dry and well-seasoned. The blank was turned to a round with a tenon turned on both ends.
Jason said he tends to turn with the lathe at a high speed, normally up to around 2500rpm.
One of the tenons was then mounted within gripper jaws with the complete blank being supported by the chuck only. The diameter of the tenon was set by the chuck jaws with a pencil put between them to give an overall diameter which was near to a complete circle. This blank was then cut to 1/3 by 2/3 for the lid and the base, being turned apart with a thin parting tool.
To clean up the cut face Jason used a technique where he curls his finger around the tool rest when working and the gouge is controlled by his thumb. He used a bowl gouge to work from the centre out to remove the waste and get a flat edge. The centre was marked and the required depth was taken out using a spindle gouge as a drill to the required depth, then the waste was removed to a marked area and then hollowed out the area of the lid with a bowl gouge, and cleaned up and finished cut with Jason’s own design 3/4″ round nosed refinement tool. The lid rim was cut with an un-handled skew chisel to form a straight rim. The internal hollow & rim was sanded and polished with a wax finish.
This would be the time to mount the base via the tennon to the chuck. The size of the tenon required to fit in the rim on the lid was marked on the base. Then the outside of the box was shaped and the rim size was adjusted to a tight fit for the lid. The base was then used as a jam chuck for the lid so the outside of the lid could be shaped. Making sure they were running square together before turning.
With the lid removed, the same procedure as used before on the lid, the base was hollowed out. A triangle tip from an engineering cutting tool was used on a square bar to remove the additional waste not removed by the gouge from the inner box. A round cutter on the same square bar was used for the final cleaning of the inner area of the box. Both the lid and base were sanded smooth and a sanding sealer of 30% by 70% mix applied, this gives a better reaction time, and then the excess was wiped off polished with a wax finish. A tip from Jason was to remove the tool post and banjo away from the chuck, as you then can sand the piece with your hands close to the chuck.
A new jam chuck was turned so that the base rim will fit inside of it, never mount the base with the jam chuck going into the base, due to the possibility of it splitting. The base tenon can now be safely removed, sanded and sealed and then waxed and rubbed to a shine. Now, with a buffing wheel (4”) mounted on the lathe, the box can be polished to a high gloss.