This section is from the book "Turning And Mechanical Manipulation", by Charles Holtzapffel. Also available from Amazon: Turning and Mechanical Manipulation.
Several of the forms last considered may be turned from single pieces of softwood the plankways of the grain. The material would be mounted upon fig. 295, with the precautions given to place it square to the flange of the chuck, and to prevent the screw penetrating both surfaces. It would generally be desirable to obliterate the screw hole thus made from the finished work, for which reason the sequence in turning last mentioned would be reversed. The screw of the chuck is inserted in the surface to be afterwards hollowed, and the general external form being turned, the lower external curvatures and the surface of the base are then finished. The work unscrewed from the screw worm chuck, is next reversed and held by the bead or the plinth at its base, within a true internal rebate in a plain wood chuck; either adjusted to run true held only by the cylindrical portion of the rebate, by pressure of the hands, or gentle taps with a poised tool handle or the hammer, or more generally, as giving greater security, in contact with its true shoulder. The aperture and upper curvatures of the work are then made and finished.
Two or more pieces turned plankways, fitted one to the other, may be requisite to obtain sufficient height, as in figs. 629. 630; or it may be convenient to make the larger diameter of plankwood, as in figs. 635. to 637, mounted upon a stem the length way of the grain. The method pursued in fitting these pieces together will occur in following examples, and a section has been previously given to the manipulation of the softwood tools, employed in turning and hollowing the plankways material.
The Sugar or Flour sifters, figs. 621. to 623, ranging from about four to six inches in height, the String boxes, figs. 625. 632. 633, four to eight inches high, and the Toilet boxes, figs. 648. to 650, from three to five inches high; would all be made from two or more pieces, the separate parts being turned mounted in plain chucks and jointed one into the other, in softwood, usually by plain fittings, in hardwood and ivory, either by plain fittings or screwed together. The first named, would probably require but one plain joint for the removal of the heads, the hollow being in the latter and the fillet upon the main piece. The joints would be placed beneath the two little fillets of the head of fig. 621, below the fillet beneath the large bead of the head of fig. 622, and beneath the second bead of fig. 623. The heads would be roughed out to about their largest diameters, the aperture would then be turned as an internal cylinder, under the guidance of the callipers fig. 342, its internal concave surface also completed and then the annular external surface turned accurately flat; after which the head would be cut off from the piece remaining in the chuck, and remounted by its aperture on the rebate of a plain wood chuck, to turn the external form. The same division would obtain with the toilet boxes, except that from the increased size of the base in fig. 649, it might be convenient to make this of a separate piece from the cylinder. The string boxes of larger dimensions, would probably be made in three or four pieces. Taking fig. 625 as an instance, the joint for the lid would be immediately below the ogee, the foot, neck and large moulding terminating and jointed to the cylindrical portion, would themselves probably be of two pieces joined somewhere at the neck, the larger if in softwood probably being plankways, while in addition it might be convenient to make the cylindrical portion in more than one piece.
Plate VI.
Excepting that which is perfectly plain, the Bouquet holders, about five to six inches in length, turned in softwood, hardwood or ivory, figs. 640. to 644, would all be made in two pieces; the bell jointed or screwed to the stem, which would be inserted in the former. Both portions would be turned nearly to their finished dimensions, and then mounted on wood chucks to be completed; the stem being supported by the popit head.
Plain joints connecting parts of the work so closely resemble the external and internal rebates turned upon the wood chucks, that their formation requires no further description, additional care however is given in turning the shoulders on each piece square to the axis, as pointed out by the diagram fig. 355. 356, that the two may everywhere arrive in precise contact, both for stability and to make a close joint. In inferior works the two surfaces are frequently turned at a slight angle, which, from leaving their margins more prominent attains the latter result; most permanent plain joints are also slightly glued or cemented, prior to being finally placed together.
Either half of a joint may be turned the first and the other fitted to it, as may prove more convenient to the progress of the work, but it is perhaps generally safer to turn the aperture first, and to reduce the pin or the external rebate to fit within it. The latter order will also sometimes dispense with the wood chucks. Thus the Toilet or Sovereign box, fig. 645, and other hollow work of fairly parallel form, would be turned from material driven into a plain metal chuck; this, being turned concentric and surfaced, a shallow internal cylinder and surface would be turned in the end for the aperture of the cover, the general external form of which would then be given, and this short piece cut off. The hollow for the lower part of the box would then be made in the remainder of the material, and the external rebate of the joint turned upon it, so as to tightly fit the finished aperture in the cover; it then serves to carry the latter while its external form and surface are finished. The cover being completed and removed, the internal cylinder and surface, and the external form of the lower half are in turn completed, after which the external rebate of the joint is slightly reduced in diameter and its arris rounded, that the two parts when in use, may be sufficiently easily separated by the fingers. Lastly, the lower half of the box is cut off from the piece remaining in the chuck, upon which latter an external rebate is then turned to carry the lower half by its aperture, while the under surface of the base is turned flat.
 
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