Peter Brown's ShopTime

Liquidambar 6" wide by 2 inches high. Finished with Danish Oil. Not terribly interesting grain or wood but completing a bowl is a big deal for this spindle turner. Certainly a very different experience to a box or even a cup. It was the transition from the bottom to the wall that was so unexpectedly complicated. As with anything I imagine it comes with doing.

Claro Walnut and CA finish Claro Walnut Burl and CA finish Juniper and CA finish Madrone and Maylands finish With Friends!

Well, just like a new suit can change a man, a new coat of paint can really change a tool. The cabinet has been painted, the top cleaned and the inter-workings of the saw re-installed. Here are some glamour shots. Oops! No motor! I'm not done yet. I still have to save enough green to get my motor repaired and take some time to clean up and paint the fence. But it feels good to put it together for a bit and remember where I've come from.

All parts cleaned and waiting for cabinet completion and reassembly. The fence and other "non-guts" will be done after re-assembly in an effort to maintain my sanity. Wire Wheel---- Wire Wheel---- Wire Wheel---- I'm declaring the top done for now. Once it's all resembled if the bug hits, I'll give it another goings over...

It's amazing what can be done to a decade of rust with 4 green scrubbers, a bit of WD-40 and two hours of your time. Sure it's a bit tiring, but honestly worth the effort! Before After

Now you can see what my sphere was for. I turned a cup out of some oak 1x1's glued up into a 3X3 block. Hollowed with a fortsner bit and then cleaned up and sized with a round nose scraper. Sanded to 600 and finished with Mylands. Ball is a near perfect fit witch makes the game enjoyable even for a 32 year old!

Turning a ball is more work than you think. I first tried a simple method.. Turn a blank round Form the ball Part off and sand. Clearly, not a ball... On to step two! Chuck up a chunk of walnut, and scrape out a cup... Part off for the tailstock.... Scrape out an matched set for the chuck side.. They should match up. Insert square block.. Okay. You turn off the edges, rotate your block. Turn off more edges, rotate your block. Etc. About 15-20 minutes later... You can see how I turned a way the jam chuck as I went. The closer you get to spherical, the less you remove each rotation. Like anything practice till you're happy with it!