An Oriental Style Lidded Box by Jason Breach
Jason started wood turning as a hobby at an early age and attended courses at Parnham House where he developed his love of wood.
After graduating from Buckingham College with a degree in Furniture Design and Management he began teaching and specialising in turning and carving to achieve pieces involving fine detail with interesting shapes. He particularly enjoys boxes, especially with an eastern influence, and his demonstration was a pagoda box.
The stock was elm 100mm square by 106mm long, already prepared with a spigot at each end and cut about 1/3 to provide for the body and the top. The position of
the cut was determined by selecting the most interesting grain
features which would show on the finished piece.
The top was mounted in the chuck, Jason warning to be very
careful with square and sharp edges rotating at speed. He
demonstrated gripping the toolrest safely with his left hand
and using his thumb to guide the tool.
The inner surface of the lid was formed ensuring the flange surface
was truly flat. Next the lid was hollowed using a spindle gouge
as a drill to mark the depth and the material removed with a bowl
gouge using an in-to-out technique. Finishing cuts were out-to-in push cuts with a sharp gouge. After a pass with a negative rake scraper, sanding, sanding sealer and some wax, a straight recess was made for the body using a small skew ensuring it was not tapered. The lid was set aside.
Next the box blank is mounted and the outside body shape turned. Jason demonstrated the use of a beading tool to form the small bead at the top. Once complete the lid was fitted, making sure of a tight fit, allowing the top of the lid to be formed. The beading tool was used again to machine the finial.
Jason explained he does not use the tailstock for support as it restricts tool positioning. To start the inside of the box, again depth was established by drilling with a spindle gouge and bulk removal with a pull cut bowl gouge. The inside was finished using a bedan tool, which allows cutting straight sides and a flat bottom. After sanding (done at high speeds to maintain crispness of detail) and sanding sealer, the inside only again was waxed.
To complete the underside of the box, firstly a jam chuck was prepared. This is a compression fit to avoid splitting the piece. After forming a hollow using a bowl gouge and a skew to create the shaped feet, a beaded finial was made as before. To finish a sanding board was used to remove band saw marks from the edges of the flanges moving only with the flange and not across to avoid breaking the edges. All the outside surfaces were buffed and waxed giving a beautifully finished and appealing pagoda box.
Jason was complimented on a very interesting, informative and entertaining evening.
Report by Bill Clyne
