Terry started off with an interesting story about some of his Deer Antler Boxes having pride of place between tow intricately carved antlers worth over a million dollars each.

The buttons are what is shed after the antlers are harvested for their velvet a supposed aphrodisiac.

Terry started by flattening off one side on a belt sander so it can be mounted on a wooden faceplate with hot melt glue. He drilled a hole in the centre of the button and the face plate was prepared with a nub in the centre for location purposes.

The assembly needs to be turned relatively fast (2000rpm) as the surface is uneven. With the handle of the gouge well down cutting above centre. Terry explained that wider wings and a smaller bowl look better and a smaller piece of button can then be used for the lid, the spigot needs to be flat an parallel. There is no grain so a good finish can be achieved with a skew used as a negative rake scraper. Sand to 400 grit and then use the sanding pad for a finer finish. Apply EEE or Shellawax finish. The item will take the Timberly Textura well.

Remove any wax from the foot before remounting for the upper surface. Use a hot air gun to remove from the faceplate or it can be parted off.

Mount in a small jaw chuck and flatten the top. Drill a hole in the centre to the depth required and measure the wing width to scribe a circle for the hollowing. A recess and small bead can now be cut for the lid to fit into, the inside can be finished with a small round nosed scraper.

Another button mounted to a faceplate as before is now prepared and cut to fit the recess prepared for it rough shape the lid. Using the base as a jam chuck finish the lid using tailstock pressure for safety. Finish as per the base.

A hole is drilled in the lid to take a piece of dark wood to make the finial, which is glued in preferably with 5 minute Epoxy sand before reducing the finial point as it will be very delicate and could fly apart as Terry’s did.

The body can then be mounted onto a chuck using the lid recess to carefully reduce the spigot to for a neat foot of your choosing.

Thank you Terry once again for a well put together and informative demonstration.