Select a piece of stock enough longer than the height of the box to allow for waste. For boxes made from 1 3/4-inch squares, there will usually be about 1 1/2 inches of waste. Center the poorest end carefully, and if it is not square with the sides, make it square, either by sawing, planing, or chiselling, before screwing it on to the chuck.

Be careful to bore the hole the correct size so that the screw will hold as much as possible. If you put some tallow or lard into the hole before screwing the piece on to the chuck, you will not only have less difficulty about turning it up tight, but it will hold very much more.

Fig. 99. Plain Box.

Be sure that it is so tight against the face of the chuck that it will not spring sidewise the least bit.

Set the rest as shown in Fig. 100. The top of the rest should be level with the lathe center, and the end close to the chuck.

Turn the piece to a cylinder, rolling the gouge so it will cut close up to the chuck,

Fig. 100. Blank on Screw Chuck (See Fig. 113).

similar to Figs. 20 and 77. Do not attempt to smooth it, except with the roughing gouge.

Set the rest as shown in Fig. 101, and turn the end for the inside of the cover. To do this, use a gouge at first. The gouge should be held so that it will cut a shaving, but not so that it will catch in the side of the piece. Begin

Fig. 101. Turning Inside of Box Cover.

at the center and move it carefully towards the edge nearest to you. As it nears the outer part of the curve, roll it so that the corner will not catch (Figs.

101, 114, and 126). It will cut quite rapidly when properly held.

Finish the curved portion with the round nose scraping tool, as shown in Figs. 102 and 128. The scraping tool is held flat on the rest and quite horizontal. It is moved from the center towards the front side. This tool dulls very rapidly, because the wood passes at a right angle to its edge. The scraping tool is not a cutting tool, and should be used only for finishing. It should be kept sharp, which means that it must be sharpened very often. Read what is said in Part III about sharpening scraping tools.

Cut the square portion, H, Fig. 103, with the acute angle of the skew chisel, holding it as shown in Fig.

104. This part must be made carefully or the cover will not fit properly. If it is not square and

Fig. 102. Smoothing Inside of Box Cover.

Fig. 103. Cutting a Rebate.

sufficiently deep, the cover will not stay in place while you finish the outside.

Fig. 1O4. Cutting Rebate.

Fig. 103 indicates the position of the skew chisel in cutting the rebate in the cover. The heavy lines indicate the position of the chisel in cutting the outer surface and the dotted lines indicate the position at which the chisel should be held in squaring the bottom of the rebate. Before completing this end, hold the skew chisel against the edge of the cover rim, making it very smooth and square (Fig. 105).

Fig. 105. Squaring End of Cover.

Sandpaper and polish the curved portion, being very careful not to touch the square corners with either sandpaper or shellac. If you do get any shellac into the groove or on to the end, carefully scrape it off after the interior of the cover has been polished.

Start the curve for the top with the skew chisel and cut the cover from the remainder of the piece with the parting tool. This tool will cut either straight into the piece or at an angle. As this cover is not to have a knob, hold the parting tool as shown in Fig. 106.

Turn a rebate to receive the cover, first cutting with the point of the skew chisel, as shown in Fig. 39, and then lay the chisel flat, as shown in Fig. 107. Be careful to have the cover fit very tight, for it is to be turned on the outside after being put in place. See that the shoulder is square, and that the cover fits so tightly that there is no space at the surface where the two pieces join.

Place the cover in position, and finish the out-

Fig. 106. Cutting Off Cover.

side, polishing the box on the side and end. Where the cover joins on to the box, the wood may be too thin to work in the ordinary way. If it is, lay the chisel flat and scrape it to size, as in smoothing the end (Fig. 105) and the curve (Fig.

211). It will be necessary to scrape the rounded part of the cover; for, if the chisel is used in the ordinary way, it will shove the cover off.

The gouge may be used in finishing the top of the cover, as in turning the bead (Fig. 53) and the cover (Fig.111). Be sure to have the top of the cover smooth before applying the shellac. Before polishing the outside of the box, cut a small groove about 1/8 inch deep at the place where

Fig. 107. Cutting Rebate.

Fig. 108. Box Ready for Polishing.

you expect to cut the box off, after it has been finished (Fig. 108).

After polishing all the outside, remove the cover and cut the rebate a little deeper, so that the cover will go on easily. Cut out the inside and polish, being careful to smooth the bottom. Use the gouge and scraping tool for this work the same as in hollowing the inside of the cover (Figs. 101 and 102). If the box is large or deep, the rest may be set as in Fig. 114.

After finishing and polishing the inside, cut the box from the chuck with the parting tool. Write your name on a slip of paper and glue it to the inside of the box.

The stub, remaining on the screw, may be used for a napkin ring, as in Fig. 167, or it may be removed from the screw and placed on an arbor, as in Fig. 174.