Finally finished the cocobolo box

Drew Watson

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Salt Spring Island, BC Canada
I glued up some Cocobolo blanks from LV so that I could try it out. I love this wood as it has such a shine to it when it is buffed out. Anyways I hollowed this out the best that I could and made a cap for it and one spike for the top. I have another one to make for the bottom , but I am not sure if I like the color contrasts or the materials that I am using. (Horse chestnut and ornimental cherry) I am still on the fence with regards to the design too of the cap and finnel. Any suggestions? Comments? I appreciate the input. I was thinking of building an external stand for it.
 

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I glued up some Cocobolo blanks from LV so that I could try it out. I love this wood as it has such a shine to it when it is buffed out. Anyways I hollowed this out the best that I could and made a cap for it and one spike for the top. I have another one to make for the bottom , but I am not sure if I like the color contrasts or the materials that I am using. (Horse chestnut and ornimental cherry) I am still on the fence with regards to the design too of the cap and finnel. Any suggestions? Comments? I appreciate the input. I was thinking of building an external stand for it.


Don't care for the pinkish spike on the top. Doesn't work with the strong grain below. What if the spike was the same cocobolo with that white ring separating it?
 
Don't care for the pinkish spike on the top. Doesn't work with the strong grain below. What if the spike was the same cocobolo with that white ring separating it?

I was thinking the same thing Art so I went and picked up another block of cocobolo to do it. ( my other block is missing in the shop somewhere:dunno:) The ornimental cherry was just something I had on hand to play with on the design. I have never turned a finnel before. I am not happy with the design of it anyways. I also have to figure a way to sand the deep inside of the form as my fingers just don't reach far enough.
 
Real pretty hollow form, Drew. I agree that the tri-color approach doesn't seem to fit on this piece. I think My personal preference would be a black (ebony, or dyed hardwood) collar and finial (and base, for that matter). If you do go with the cocobolo finial, then I still think a black collar would look better than the light collar. I've just never been real fond of light woods when contrasting with nicely-figured darker woods like cocobolo.

On the inside sanding issue, I usually don't worry too much about the parts I can't touch, but if you've got tool marks and such that you'd like to remove, you can use a pair of hemostats to hold a wad of padding with a piece of sandpaper wrapped around it. I use this with the lathe running, but I'm careful to not put my fingers in the finger holes on the hemostats. ;)
 
Thanks for the input. I had been thinking along those lines the more that I have looked at it but just wasn't sure. So do you think it would look funny if the top was a combination of black and cocobolo for the finial?
 
...So do you think it would look funny if the top was a combination of black and cocobolo for the finial?

Combinations like that can look good. Here are a few examples:

From Keith Burns...

http://woodturnersamerica.org/index.php?view=detail&id=28&option=com_joomgallery&Itemid=54

http://woodturnersamerica.org/index.php?view=detail&id=32&option=com_joomgallery&Itemid=54

http://woodturnersamerica.org/index.php?view=detail&id=34&option=com_joomgallery&Itemid=54

From Robin Costelle...

http://woodturnersamerica.org/index.php?view=detail&id=177&option=com_joomgallery&Itemid=64

http://woodturnersamerica.org/index.php?view=detail&id=91&option=com_joomgallery&Itemid=64

http://woodturnersamerica.org/index.php?view=detail&id=92&option=com_joomgallery&Itemid=64

These all follow a similar theme, but there are other ways the top and finial can incorporate contrasting woods.

BTW, you can browse around the galleries at http://woodturnersamerica.org/ to see all sorts of finial design ideas. :thumb:
 
pre noob to finials myself, but to my eye sometimes the simplest forms and combinations are the most elegant. Too busy without mastery of color and form doesnt work for me. The basic:thumb: form is a super start!
 
I had a basic form in my head as to what I wanted and like many things I build they are a work in progerss. Thanks Vaughn for the links they have put my head in another direction now. So one question is what is used to get the buffed black look? Is it an ebony stain or is it black gloss paint?
 
I had a basic form in my head as to what I wanted and like many things I build they are a work in progerss. Thanks Vaughn for the links they have put my head in another direction now. So one question is what is used to get the buffed black look? Is it an ebony stain or is it black gloss paint?
Drew i'm not Vaughn:rofl: But i use ether Black lacquer, or dye my pieces in vinigar and steel wool. There are folks that use trans dye, india ink,but the best way is to use ether ebony, or blackwood. Nice piece by the way:thumb:
Steve
 
Drew i'm not Vaughn:rofl: But i use ether Black lacquer, or dye my pieces in vinigar and steel wool. There are folks that use trans dye, india ink,but the best way is to use ether ebony, or blackwood. Nice piece by the way:thumb:
Steve

Thanks Steve. I have not gotten into the dying side of tunings yet. Vinegar and steel wool? So does the steel wool react and color the vinigar? With any dye of stain can it be buffed up like regular wood? Does that raise the grain and can it be sanded after or is the final sanding done first? Are there any books on this subject or links to an online site? Sorry for all the questions.
 
Thanks Steve. I have not gotten into the dying side of tunings yet. Vinegar and steel wool? So does the steel wool react and color the vinigar? With any dye of stain can it be buffed up like regular wood? Does that raise the grain and can it be sanded after or is the final sanding done first? Are there any books on this subject or links to an online site? Sorry for all the questions.
Drew i learned this from Don.Take i bottle of vinager and brake up a piece of steel wool place the steel wool in the bottle and let sit till all the wool is gone. I do sand my pieces first though it does need some light sanding after you take it out and let it dry. They say it works on most wood but cherry works best. I looked for the thread on here (not real hard) coun't find it but i know it's here some where.:(
Hope this helped a little bit.
Steve
 
Ok after lots of thought and some design changes due to some great ideas that have been passed on ( thanks to all that provided) I put it all together today. I turned two balls the size of marbles out of cocobolo and one on the bottom stand and one on the lid. I tried a few die ideas that just didn't work out for what ever reason. Anyways I was making some tops for the kids for Christmas and I thought I am dying the tops with felts why not give it a shot. So magic marker and buffer wax and the finals are black. It seemed a shame to hide the maple but it looks ok I think. Honest opinions and critisisms welcome. Yes I need to make a light box to get rid of the shadows.
 

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Oh yeah, I like those colors better. :thumb: The black showcases the cocobolo much better now, in my opinion. Great job, Drew. :clap:
 
Thanks Vaughn. I agree but I am a little disapointed in the color of the two small spheres out of cocobolo that I incorporated in the base and lid finals as they are darker than the body. I was hoping to get the same colors as the body. Oh well this being the first one I am expecting to work out the bugs for the next one. Janet loves it and hinted as to what she wants for Christmas, so guess who is getting what for Christmas :rofl:
 
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