Finish for Croquet Balls

[Dennis J Gooding]

I have been commissioned by one of my favorite daughters to make a croquet set for her. Traditionally, the six balls are all of different colors. Does anyone have advice on what to use as a finish and how to get the several colors needed?

 

[Tim Connell]

I think I would use dye for the colors. Probably be much longer lasting than any kind of paint. As for a top coat, I'd probably go for the lightest colored oil (tung?) I could find to give them some moisture resistance.

 

[hockenbery]

a fun project. A set of 6?

The balls are solid color and each is paired with a mallet with the same color stripes on the head and sometimes the handle. The wicket pegs get all the stripes.
I have not made a croquet set but have colored quite a few balls.

when I do these multiple I would turn a a couple of head designs and choose the one I like. Copy that one and make a few extras and pick the 6 I like the best.

I would use airbrush and paint. Can be brushed on if you don’t have an airbrush. But you could use dyes. On the heads and stakes this you can turn the edges of the dyed bands after you do the dying to get a crisp line. With airbrush paints you can mask the lines or turn the edges.

for a final finish I would use Waterlox partly because I use it a lot. It is used a floor finish so it takes a lot of wear. Waterlox does not change color very much. White wood still looks almost white.
Is water resistant enough to leave the set out in the rain for a day.

this is ball that was dyed green, masked off, sandblasted then airbrushed with orange and a bit of red.


for the heads I would drill the handle mortis on the drill press. Using a vee block.
Vee block is a 2x4 run through the table saw twice with the blade at 45 degrees to rip out a resting place for the mallet heads to drill the mortise for the handle.
This is how I drill gavel heads.

 

[hockenbery]

Be sure to round over the edges of the mallet head so it won’t chip or split it it hit off center

also you may want to thread the handles to the head.
This makes it easier to carry the set in a duffle bag disassembled.

 

[Gary Beasley]

I would think spar varnish would be the way to go, less inclined to chip. Not sure about the colors though.

 

[Dennis J Gooding]

Some good ideas there Al. What size wood tap and die would you think--3/4 " or 1" ?

 

[hockenbery]

Some good ideas there Al. What size wood tap and die would you think--3/4 " or 1" ?

?? I suppose it depends on the diameter of the shaft of the handle.
I think you are in the ballpark.

this is one of those “simple” projects that has thousands of branches on the decision tree.

you also have a color palette to decide on. We have Dick Blick store in Tampa. Ends up being a day trip for us.
Great selection of coloring materials and there is always an enthusiastic salesperson that likes to solve problems.

also whether you want an opaque color or show the wood grain with dye or Transparent airbrush paint.

I think a fluorescent set of colors would make a nice set. I’ve used the green on Christmas ornaments.

 

[Dennis J Gooding]

I have been commissioned by one of my favorite daughters to make a croquet set for her. Traditionally, the six balls are all of different colors. Does anyone have advice on what to use as a finish and how to get the several colors needed?

Here is the result. I could not get the intensity of color I wanted on that yellowish maple with dyes so I used a home brew penetrating finish on everything and then applied spray enamel for the color. The hardest part of the project was the handles. Lacking a local source of satisfactory wood , I bought some tool replacement handles (maybe ash) and turned them down to the diameter I wanted. The purchased units, although pretty straight had just enough bow in them that one could not get a straight cylinder at the desired final diameter. I ended up using my steady rest in artful ways to get the straightest result at the desired diameter.

 

[Richard Coers]

Handles look like southern yellow pine, not ash. Nice job.

 

[john lucas]

Cool. Good.job. I had to redo an antique set and used wipe on poly.

 

[Perry Hilbert]

Interesting. Nice job. The commercially made sets I have seen and played, only had stripes of color around the balls. ie not fully painted. I have no idea why they were that way. I also remember hearing that such sets are made from a particular species of wood because of the resistance to compression . Darn if I can remember what type of wood. .(Beech and Elm were the favored woods for wheels on naval cannon carriages, but I don't know why)

 

[Dean Center]

That's terrific, Dennis. You may be her favorite Dad after this.