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This sphere was really fun to do

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Aug 29, 2020
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It was my first time turning a sphere it is not perfect but it was not a failure was a good exercise for gouge control. I just need to improve the way I held it in my lathe time to have another look at the Mike peace video on how he secured the wood to avoid the marks on each axis. I also only posted a picture of the good side where there are no marks from my makeshift holding system
 

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Joined
Aug 29, 2020
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Good job. Spheres are great to practice tool control.
Thanks Emiliano nothing like doing stuff to improve skills and it is a nice break from bowls and hollow forms I could have gone and bought a sphere turning jig this week from Ebay if I wanted to while splashing out on extra acessories and wood turning tools for my new lathe but to me I felt I would be defeating the purpose of refining my chisel handling.skills if I did that.
 

hockenbery

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sphere looks good from here.
Spheres are great fun to do and can be an end to themselves or an element of a piece.
Soren Berger, your countryman, does a lot with spheres.

I use a cup In the headstock and a flat pin 1/2” diameter on tailstock, simple to make.
Marks from the cup disappear with the 320 grit paper.

Skills mastered in turning a known curve make the curves on bowls and hollow-forms better.
holding spheres on the lathe with pressure alone increases confidence and

when I was asked to do demos for the Smithsonian museum show of furniture, I chose to do spheres as several pieces in the show had spherical elements.

you might be interested in this thread of a Ball in a ball.
https://www.aawforum.org/community/index.php?threads/ball-in-a-ball.15698/

Includes video of a demo from 2010 at the AAW. There may be some things you might want to incorporate in your style. And you might want to try the ball in the ball.
 
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Spheres are fun, and as Emiliano says, good practice ...
IMG_20200921_170825856 - Copy.jpg
 
Joined
Aug 29, 2020
Messages
51
Likes
90
Location
Hamilton, New Zealand
sphere looks good from here.
Spheres are great fun to do and can be an end to themselves or an element of a piece.
Soren Berger, your countryman, does a lot with spheres.

I use a cup In the headstock and a flat pin 1/2” diameter on tailstock, simple to make.
Marks from the cup disappear with the 320 grit paper.

Skills mastered in turning a known curve make the curves on bowls and hollow-forms better.
holding spheres on the lathe with pressure alone increases confidence and

when I was asked to do demos for the Smithsonian museum show of furniture, I chose to do spheres as several pieces in the show had spherical elements.

you might be interested in this thread of a Ball in a ball.
https://www.aawforum.org/community/index.php?threads/ball-in-a-ball.15698/

Includes video of a demo from 2010 at the AAW. There may be some things you might want to incorporate in your style. And you might want to try the ball in the ball.

The ball in a ball is pretty cool but there is one that stumps me which is the boule de captive (SP?) a turner over here called Gideon du toit makes them
 
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hockenbery

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The ball in a ball is pretty cool but there is one that stumps me which is the boule de captive (SP?) a turner over here cslled Gidron di toit makes them

these have been done for several centuries and museums have them turned from ivory

David Springett studied the ivories and popularized these in wood and made tools to turn them with
David called his chinese balls (maybe because the ivories were made in China)

The 30 second explanation is you drill a bunch of equally spaced holes (14?) then use a tiny curved scraper to undercut the edge of each hole. This turns the surface of the inside sphere while cutting it free from the outside sphere. Plugs are glued in undercut holes with hot melt to keep the inside sphere in place until it is cut free all around. When all holes are undercut the piec is put in the microwave for a few seconds to unglue the plugs.

A great book is woodturning wizardry by Springett
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/woodturning-wizardry-david-springett/1000348037

davids tool set Is still available
https://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/p/138/3497/springett-Chinese-Ball-Tool-Set

Fred Holder article on using David’s tools plus some aids he came up with.
http://www.aawcontentsource.org/aaw_cs1_pdf/AW2603p32-39.pdf
 
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Joined
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Messages
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Location
Hamilton, New Zealand
these have been done for several centuries and museums have them turned from ivory

David Springett studied the ivories and popularized these in wood and made tools to turn them with
David called his chinese balls (maybe because the ivories were made in China)

The 30 second explanation is you drill a bunch of equally spaced holes (14?) then use a tiny curved scraper to undercut the edge of each hole. This turns the surface of the inside sphere while cutting it free from the outside sphere. Plugs are glued in undercut holes with hot melt to keep the inside sphere in place until it is cut free all around. When all holes are undercut the piec is put in the microwave for a few seconds to unglue the plugs.

A great book is woodturning wizardry by Springett
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/woodturning-wizardry-david-springett/1000348037

davids tool set Is still available
https://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/p/138/3497/springett-Chinese-Ball-Tool-Set

Fred Holder article on using David’s tools plus some aids he came up with.
http://www.aawcontentsource.org/aaw_cs1_pdf/AW2603p32-39.pdf

I just watched the video of your ball in a ball now that I am home from work and picked up on some very good tips from it especially how you marked it out a big thanks for sharing that
 
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I also love sphere turning. No sphere jig, but a jamb chuck. Good warm up exercise and a few in a bowl makes an interesting centerpiece...
Al, as you can see, I followed you tutorial, thanks for a fun project, I enjoyed the challenge.

Bowl o'speres.jpeg
 
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Dennis, looked up ellipsoid and found "planar ellipsoid". I'm going to give it a try. The only way I've come up with so far would be to turn one half using a template,
flip the piece and repeat. Anyone with other methods/techniques?
 
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