OBITUARY:
MICHAEL BOX
1922
- 2016
The members of the Cork Chapter were
particularly saddened to hear of the recent death, at age 94, of our oldest
member and friend, Michael Box.
Michael lived at Two Pot House, outside
Mallow, Co. Cork where he hosted many Chapter Workshops over many years. Following the death of his wife some years
ago he continued to reside in the family home outside Mallow where he was
lovingly cared for by his daughter, Jackie, to whom we now offer our sincere
condolences.
He was from Gloucestershire in the
Cotswolds area in England and despite many years living in Ireland he never
lost his accent. He served in the Fleet
Air Arm of the Royal Navy before relocating to this country. England’s loss was Ireland’s gain.
He was a talented turner in both metal and
wood.
In an interview he gave to John Ahern for
the Cork Chapter Newsletter Michael explained that he had no history of working
with timber but was a mechanical engineer and toolmaker by trade. When he retired over 30 years ago he took up
woodturning because, as he said himself, “Unlike metalturning, woodturning is a
much more skilled and difficult discipline because when the metal lathe is set
up it will do the work itself. In
woodturning you have to do all the shaping by hand and by eye.” At the beginning he attended a course in
Craft Supplies under Chris Stott.
Michael’s work was very artistic and he
preferred faceplate work. He was heavily
influence by Greek artwork and liked especially one-off pieces that included
twist work. Air-dried ash, yew and
sycamore, sourced locally, were his favourite woods.
For his artistic work he designed and built
a home-made router jig that is quite unique, was very versatile and that he
used to great effect for his intricately designed pieces.
Though his health had declined with the
passing of years Michael attended the Chapter monthly workshops up to quite
recently where he occupied a front seat, making sure he took everything in.
Rest easy, Michael Box. You will be greatly missed.
