Within this woodturning project collection, you can find 25 drawings and 3D models to help you make turned wooden boxes.
We dedicate this project collection to lovers of woodturning technique. For each box, we have provided you with a 3D model created in FreeCAD software and a drawing (within a 3D model file and as an image) withall the dimensions you need. The collection includes various types of turned boxes, so the dimensions are different. If you want to change the purpose, i.e. the size of the box you have chosen, based on the drawing you will very easily adjust its dimensions to the new purpose it is supposed to serve.
This project was drawn using the free 3D CAD software FreeCAD.
We will leave to you to choose the material, finish, chisels as well as the lathe technique. We were inspired by similar boxes owned by us, our friends and relatives, but also by pictures of already made boxes found in various magazines, woodturning books and on the Internet. We hope that you, too, feel inspired to make at least one of these boxes or that you got interested in creating your own box design based on some suggestions offered here. Turned wooden boxes like these are simply ideal to be given as gifts or sold at various fairs. They are visually satisfying and their functionality has been confirmed for centuries.
Note: In 2D drawings, all parts have the same hatch. Unfortunately, FreeCAD (0.20 and 0.21) doesn't yet know how to assign different hatches to bodies, and I don't have time to manually edit each body's hatch. Also, since these types of boxes are mostly made by hand on a lathe, it wasn't my goal to dimension the drawing properly, but just to show most of the important dimensions.
With the use of adequate tools, making such boxes is really simple, not only for professionals but also for beginners. What is not simple, but really important and complicated, is the preparation and drying of wood intended for this type of turned objects; if the wood is not prepared and dried in the right way, the finished box will crack, often much later after production. Therefore, if you don’t have any experience with this, we recommend that you first get well informed about this type of wood turning and then start practicing making turned wooden boxes. Also, be prepared that you will initially have lots of scraps from cracking boxes due to contraction of wood.