Rick Urban Wood Turner: Tools for Small Boxes

For these particular small boxes I use a drill press and forstner bits to drill the inside of top and bottom blanks. In this case I am using some 1 1/2" x 2 1/2" blanks, so my preferred sizes are 7/8" for the bottom and 1" for the top. That allows me a little wiggle room for the outside diameter, and I just have to size the bottom for a nice fit to the predrilled top. If I were only doing a small number it would be easier to drill them on the lathe, but the drill press is more efficient when doing a larger batch.

I have also made some fixtures for mounting the predrilled blanks. These have a morse taper for the headstock and are also held by the jaws of the chuck seen in the picture. That makes it possible to make small adjustments in the mounting so they run true.

I use a lot of different tools from time to time, but these work well for me for this project. The 1" spindle roughing gouge lets me round the blank and form the general shape quickly while the 3/8" bedan tool is great for peeling away the small sections of waste very quickly. There isn't a better tool than a skew chisel for leaving a clean final surface on this kind of object. This one is a 1" skew. The 1/16" parting tool separates the project from the waste without loosing too much of the stock.