Our meeting on Thursday 15th February 2024 was organized by Nick Simpson, Nick’s theme for the evening was making wooden trinket boxes, he had organized for 4 turners plus himself to be demonstrating.
The 4 turners were all making variations of wooden boxes, no 2 were the same. Nick had arranged to demonstrate how Flocking the inside of a box was done, Flocking is a method of using tiny particles of material that are adhered to the inside of a box as a softener to the inside of a box. The particles can be held in place by using a coat of paint or some PVA adhesive, Nick was to use the paint method.
Here are a few pictures of the evenings proceedings, most were taken by Susan Drew. We will start with Nick and his Flocking procedure.
Picture 1, Nick was to use red particles for the Flocking, so he started by painting the inside of the box with a suitable red paint. P2, the Flocking material being tipped into a shaker. P3, the shaker in use. P4, the result on the inside of a box after any surplus had been tipped out.
In addition to the Flocking, Nick had brought in his photographic tent and used one of Daniel Stewart’s turnings (5) to Flock the inside, the other 2 pictures were (6) another of Daniel Stewart’s boxes made at the demonstration and (7) a pair of Acorn boxes turned by David Hutcheson.
Now for the turners that Nick had arranged to demonstrate, on Lathe nr 1 was myself,
Picture 1, shows myself working a piece of Sweet Chestnut, here I’m just about to part the lid from the rest of the blank, you will notice I put a spigot on each end. P2, the lid part held on the spigot allowed me to work the inside of the lid. P3, here I am cutting a piece of Elm Burr to be used as an insert into the top of the lid. P4, with the insert glued into the lid I sanded the whole of the lid before sealing it with sanding sealer.
Picture 5, the whole box re-assembled and a n Ebony finial added to the lid, I was now about to mark out where the rest of the inserts were to go on the body of the box. P6, the first set of Walnut inserts glued into position, here I’m removing the excess with a tenon saw. P7, a completed box I had made earlier, the one I was working on ran over time.
On Lathe nr2 was David Hutcheson.
Picture 1, here is David Hutcheson as he makes a start on his box. David was to make a small Oak box in the shape of an Acorn. P2, the body of his box being formed. P3, now parting off the first section.
Picture 4, the lid of David’s box now formed, he then sanded, sealed and polished the lid, all that remained was for David to part off the lid. P5, here we see David holding his finished small trinket box. He had made another near identical box as an example that he got Nick to photograph using his photo tent.
On Lathe nr3 was Daniel Stewart.
Picture 1, here we have Daniel Stewart making a start on his project, he was to make more than one box, one fairly plain and two with some decoration and a finial on each. P2, here Daniel is working the inside of his first box. P3, here Daniel is sanding the body of his first box, this one had some of the decoration on the body.
Picture 4, here Daniel is applying some sanding sealer to the lid of one of his boxes. P5, here we see Daniel with the boxes he had made. Nick was to get one of Daniel’s boxes and do the inside with his Flocking system, Nick also photographed 2 of Daniels boxes using his photo tent.
On Lathe nr4 was David Hobson.
Picture 1, Here we have David Hobson making a start on his box blank, the wood is American Black Walnut. P2, here David can be seen removing material from the inside of his box. P3, the inside of the body of his box being sanded, he had created the upstand for the lid on this piece.
Picture 4, shows David working the lid of his box, time was also to defeat David as he was unable to complete his box, this was due to some very stubborn grain in the body of his box not working as it should have, however David did get the body sanded, sealed and polished. P5, here is David with the completed part of his project, he will go on to finish it at home.
That concludes the wooden trinket box turning for this meeting, Nick then thanked all the turners for their contribution to the evening, he commented that it appeared to have gone down very well and the members seemed to enjoy the evening, I was certainly asked many questions during the meeting.
Our thanks also go out to Susan Drew for most of the excellent pictures, these were only supplemented by a few pictures from Nick himself.
Our next meeting is on the 29th February and it’s competition time once again, this is the first shield competition for 2024 and it’s all about Honey Dippers and Honey Pots, do try to enter the more the merrier, thank you.