There are essentially three types of turnings:
- spindle turnings where the wood is parallel to the center line of the lathe and you turn the outside
- lidded box turning where you turn the wood on the inside and the grain is parallel to the center line of the lathe
- bowl turning where the wood grain is perpendicular to the center line of the lathe
Lidded box turning requires a special set of tools to turn and provide unique, decorative, and also functional round boxes with lids on them.
I have turned many of these and found that customers love these to put monetary birthday gifts in or just as a part of a display for their mantle. Larger ones may be used to store things like jig saw puzzles made of a favorite photo (also a great gift). I am able to make wood backed jig saw puzzles for you should you want to do this using your favorite photo.