Tea Box Sarahs Calico Box finish photos

Hi Everyone,
I came back inside after working on the calico box because it was cold and I was rather hungry and I brought the box inside with me. Well, it sat on my kitchen table looking at me and it seemed like it really wanted to be finished. So I had lunch, made some bread and went back down to the shop to finish it.
Here is the finish photo:
I decided to oil it. End grain boxes look so cool when theyre oiled and the white ash wood looks great. I couldnt resist it:

I managed to get the surfaces of the box and lid very smooth so it didnt take a lot of sanding to finish off the box. Here is a starting photo of the lid on the lathe. I used 120-400 grit sandpaper on both the box and the lid sections:

After the sandpapering, I took a big handful of wood shavings, turned up the speed to 900 rpm and pushed the shavings into the wood. This has the effect of polishing the wood and it makes it very smooth and shiny. Ive just finished doing this in this photo:

Here is a photo of the box and lid sections. Theyve been sanded, polished and they are ready for oiling:

The end grain on the box section is absorbing the oil like a sponge so its going to need at least another coat or two of oil for the full finish. And the white ash wood that the lid is made out of is soft it will probably absorb at least one more coat of oil as well. 

After oiling Im going to let the finish cure for several days and then it will be ready to send off to Sarah. I hope she has a successful college experience and a very happy life.

Ok, were done with this box and the pine box is almost finished so its time for another project. I have some partially decomposed maple in my shop that will make some interesting projects so that is probably were well go next.

And the Mothers Day Marathon project is going to be a full sized bowl out of rainbow poplar. More about that as we get close to May 12.

Thats it for now-as always thanks for stopping by the wood shop.

Best,

VW