The lid

The initial idea about how to make the lid did not end well. I got to a point where I had a working lid, like so:

After using the hole saw, I cut off the waste with a hand saw. The fit into the container was SNUG, perfect friction-fit. Yanking the lid off, created that POP sound.

But the problem was that the lid did not really “go” together with the rest of the box. So I decided to make a new lid from a different wood since my initial idea failed. I grabbed a small piece of teak which I turned on my mini-lathe. And not you might wonder: WHY did I not just turn the whole piece on the lathe? Good question, and I just don’t know. But one reason is that I wanted to test out making a friction fit lid using a hole saw and a corresponding drill bit. Which worked perfectly, but the piece I cut for the lid was not really big enough.

The other reason is that I wanted to try to make a round doohickey using hand tools. I have done so before, just not in this scale.

And I thought a different colored wood would look good, so there you go…

A piece of nice teak was quickly transformed into a nice, round shape using mostly the skew. I undercut the shoulder of the tenon, and I made a concave top on the lid to make it interesting.

Afterwards I used a gouge to remove the small sprue from the turning, and used a gooseneck card scraper to clean the top of the lid. A bit of sanding, and it looked rather posh.

I also rounded over the bottom of the container using a rasp and then sanded it smooth. By inserting the auger bit, work holding was a breeze!

This is all hand tool work! Except the sanding bit, though I did hold the sanding block with my hand so….

Summary, images

I gave the parts a coat of beeswax and polished them lightly. I borrowed a felting needle from my wife – that cute penguin is made by her – for the photoshoot. You can click the images to expand them.

This was a good practice run for making round objects without a lathe. And with a lathe, but that part is rather easy.

As evident from the images, the walls are not perfectly uniform and the “roundness” of the piece is not perfect. But for what it is intended for, it is well within the realms of good enough.

I wrapped the present and put i under the tree – and it was very well received. A small hand-made piece is always a joy to receive, because you know the maker has put time and effort into it. Especially if you know the piece is made for YOU – that makes it extra special.

In my not-so-very-humble opinion, at least.

My wife is the true artisan, though – be sure to check out her Instagram page: