Winged boxes inspired by Bobham

[Neil Dyball]

Hi All,

I was inspired by Bobham’s excellent video tutorials on Youtube to “have a go” at the winged boxes. I managed to complete two, and lost two during the fairly steep ‘learning curve’.

The two survivors were made from some offcuts of Iroko donated by a friend in the woodworking trade. The blanks were about 2” square by about 6” and 8” long respectively. The lids are some odd pieces I had lying around, sprayed with an ‘ebonising’ (or black!) paint. I prefer the longer, shallower curve but this obviously dictated by the length of the blank. I’ll probably play around with shapes now I’ve just about mastered the technique.

They’re quite challenging but very satisfying to make…. go on, have a try!

Also, apologies regarding the photo quality but I’ve never been remotely interested in photography!










Constructive (!) criticism welcome.

Cheers,

Neil.

 

[BMac]

I think you've done superbly well and can be justifiably proud of yourself. I tried these and had a couple of disasters but I'll try again.

 

[Bodrighy]

They look really good. On a design point I would probaby preferthem to be less square on the handle but that is merely taset. Not easy things to do and get a good finish. Well done ( he said sounding patronising but not meaning to :lol: )

Pete

 

[hog&bodge]

Top work Neil Dyball they look stunning from the pics
You should be more than proud, you have just stepped up your
turning skills to a whole new level....
As for the photographs I got a cheep tripod and it helped
get close and no shakes or blurring....
My wife said now they look difficult to do...lol

 

[TEP]

No criticism's from me Neil, lovely work.

I would change a couple of things, I would have curved the top of the lids to match in with the curve of the wings, and a fancier finial. Cos' I like flashy things! :roll: . Can't find any fault with those, and I've looked :twisted: :twisted: . These are only tips to try, I emphasise not criticism's.

 

[Paul.J]

Great looking pieces Neil
No crit from here either,never having attempted one of these meself,yours look fine to me.

 

[Neil Dyball]

All,

Thanks for the comments and compliments.

I've only been turning for 18 months or so, and then fairly infrequently due to more pressing demands on my time; work, house renovation, family, not to mention an entirely unexpected heart attack last August. This was definitely a step up the skills ladder fr me, but fun nonetheless.... otherwise what's the point!

Those who mentioned the lid/finial are spot on. I wasn't really too bothered about this on what were really 'practice' pieces. They'll probably be consigned to a drawer somewhere eventually. I'll make a more delicate finial in future and also shape the top of the lid to follow the sweep of the wings.

Hope to see other have a crack at these, if I can produce something half decent I'm sure lots of you guys could too.

Cheers,

Neil.

 

[Lightweeder]

Neil - that is weird. I hope you don't mind me sharing your thread. Incidentally, I really like yours.

I did my first one earlier this week and got a few things wrong. It certainly could have been more delicate, so I thought I would correct my errors in the first one, but look at the second one Any suggestions as to what I did wrong. The method, the wood and the chucking approach were all the same. I'm stumped

 

[Jenx]

Neil, thats brilliant !....
I've nothing but praise and admiration for those, they're great !

And Lightweeder , thats great too !

Round of applause for you both ! Fantastic 8) 8) :lol: :lol:

 

[Neil Dyball]

Lightweeder,

I think, like me, you're vitually there, just need to concentrate on the detail now. I had a little chipping on the edge, although not quite as bad as yours. I tidied up the edge by running it over a hand plane exactly as Bobham did in his videos. It could be the timber, or possibly the tool edge getting dull, the only other thing I can suggest is to have the lathe at top speed.

Jenx,

Cheers!

 

[bobham]

It looks like you are doing very well! If you want a shallower arch then use a thinner piece of wood in relation to its length. The one I turned in the video was turned from a piece that was about 7" long, 2" wide and 1" thick.

Lightweeder, it is hard to say why the edge chipped out so badly there. It could be just the way the grain was running in the piece, or, as Neil said, the lathe speed too low or the gouge getting a bit dull.

I had made at least half a dozen of the little boxes without a single failure before I decided to make the video. As soon as the camera was running I had two failed attempts in a row. Later on I had another couple that simply split lengthwise when they started to get thin. They were consecutive cuts from the same length of stock the had a very slight amount of spalting in it, so I concluded that this was not a good project to use spalted wood on.

Good work!
Bob

 

[Lightweeder]

Thanks for your responses both.

I was shocked at how badly this broke out, after the seamless run on the first one. I sharpened the tool within an inch of its life, and resorted to my trusty flat scraper - which also didn't work But it's good to know it can go wrong also for the experts.

Bobham - really appreciate you taking the time to help me. I've bookmarked your video and am going to watch it again (when we get the sound fixed on the pc :wink: :wink: ).

Thanks again

LW