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Weather improving making plans to resume turning Music box discussion and plans

Hi Everyone,

Welcome Back!!

Well, weve had a long cold winter here but according to the weather report, its going into the 30s next week and with any luck it will stay there. So time to make hay while the sun still shines.

Heres the story behind this next project:

Our first project for the year will be a music box for some young cousins of mine who are having their first baby next month. Im going to follow some music box plans along with some box plans that were recently posted on Woodturning Online and you can see both plans at:

Music box plans by Sy Plonsky: http://www.woodturningonline.com/Turning/Turning_content/Music-Box.pdf

Small box plans by Pam Reilly at: http://www.woodturner.org/community/youth/projects/Box.pdf

Im going to use the music box plans to plan out the construction of the box and the placement of the music mechanism but turn it to resemble the small box produced by Pam Reilly.

Plans
The box that Pam made looks like it was turned out of a block of pure white holly. Its a really lovely looking box and the finial just sets of the color beautifully. The down side is that I dont have any holly and Im not sure where I could get a kiln dried block of it (this is necessary to get this project completed in time for the birth of the baby). So Im going to use a portion of a block of kiln-dried basswood instead:


As for the music box mechanism, Im going to use an 18-note mechanism from Music Box Attic-they have Teddy Bears Picnic, a personal favorite of mine. Here is their website: http://www.musicboxattic.com/18notebuy.html#.Uvu3teCLqeE.

And the finial on the top will be made out of a pen blank that I have. Its a lovely reddish-purplish-brown and should look nice. Im also going to try to include a pexiglass interior lid to keep dust off the mechanism while allowing folks to be able to view the mechanism as it plays.

So we have a challenging project ahead. Stay tuned and keep your fingers crossed that the weather holds up through the completion of the project.

Stay tuned,
VW