April 2025 Challenge: Turn an Egg!

[Michael Anderson]

Hi everyone!

This month's challenge is somewhat seasonal. Eggs are the name of the game, so let's turn one. Or ten. This challenge is open to interpretation, so feel free to make a single egg, a set of eggs, and/or get as funky and creative as you desire. For a bit of inspiration, here are some some eggs laid by Betty Scarpino, Bill Ooms, Lowell Converse, and yours truly.






Good luck with the challenge. The most important thing is to have fun. Eggs are good practice pieces, and a surprisingly large number of people have not turned one. If this is you, please join the challenge this month. Here are the rules, as determined by AAW Forum legal counsel Dewey, Cheatum, and Howe:

• Entries must be posted in this thread by ~11:59 pm Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) on April 26, 2025.
• Maximum of two photos of your egg (one is also fine). Please leave a bit of margin around your egg, so I can fit your name in the voting thread photo.
• As always, this is a turning contest, not a "moldy oldie" photo contest, so in fairness to everybody, make sure your work is something you have made since this challenge was issued on April 7, 2025.
• You may not post any photos of your entry in this month’s challenge in any other thread or in the gallery until the voting has ended and a winner has been declared.
• Voting will take place from April 27, 2025, through 11:59 pm UTC on April 30, 2025.
• Solicitation of votes will result in disqualification.
• The winner might have to pass a lie detector test before collecting the grand prize of a dogleg high-carbon continental gouge. Good luck, have fun, make shavings, and let the chips fall where they may!!

 

[John K Jordan]

What an excellent challenge! When I decided to turn some eggs a few years ago, to get the shape I wanted I used a tiny point-source light 10’ away to cast a shadow of a “typical” egg onto a note card, then traced and measured the shadow to make a template. So far I’ve turned chicken-sized wooden eggs as well as guinea, turkey, and peacock. Just a few days ago someone gave me a goose egg to incubate - it’s way bigger than even peacock! - made me think it might be fun to turn a series someday from robin to goose size.

THIS PICTURE IS NOT A CHALLENGE ENTRY, just an old moldy idea for a turning aid. I hold a square blank in a chuck to turn and sand most of the egg, then part it off and hold it in my “egg chuck” to quickly clean up the end. Made the chuck from soft and somewhat flexible cedar with a hard dogwood 1.25x8 threaded insert glued in the end. Not really needed but something like this could speed things up if going bonkers and turning enough, say, to fill an egg carton!



I won’t be able to turn eggs this month, so if anyone nearby wants to borrow the chuck just ask. Chicken egg size…

JKJ

 

[Bryan Thompson]

Michael, Here is my submission. The biggest egg is 3.5" tall and 2.5" wide. The smallest egg inside is 1.75" tall and 1.125" wide. All three eggs are made of spectraply.

It was a fun little exercise!

Bryan

 

[Jaramiah Severns]

Haven’t participated in monthly challenge yet, so figured I’d give this one a shot. Decided to add some additional parameters to the challenge to really push myself: 1) Can only use a skew and 2) Work from memory (no references).

I this 2”ø x 2.5”h ebonized cherry egg was the result. The skew left a nice surface, though I had to do a little sanding with 400 to smooth out the transitions. Ebonized with some black tea and iron oxide before applying several light coats of Danish oil. Once the DO cured, I buffed with brown Tripoli and cleaned it up with an empty flannel wheel.

 

[Phil Hamel]

Once again tragedy has struck for me!
I spent an hour searching for just the right piece of walnut.(brown eggs are local eggs etc.)
Got it on the lathe and turned and hollowed such a perfect piece that I even impressed myself!
I hurriedly grabbed it and ran upstairs to show my wife the perfect creation I made.
Wouldn't you know half way across the kitchen I dropped it!!!


Here is the result!

Lol on the story!

 

[Jaramiah Severns]

Once again tragedy has struck for me!
I spent an hour searching for just the right piece of walnut.(brown eggs are local eggs etc.)
Got it on the lathe and turned and hollowed such a perfect piece that I even impressed myself!
I hurriedly grabbed it and ran upstairs to show my wife the perfect creation I made.
Wouldn't you know half way across the kitchen I dropped it!!!


Here is the result!
View attachment 74729
Lol on the story!

Very clever, Phil!

 

[Alan Weinberg]

Once again tragedy has struck for me!
I spent an hour searching for just the right piece of walnut.(brown eggs are local eggs etc.)
Got it on the lathe and turned and hollowed such a perfect piece that I even impressed myself!
I hurriedly grabbed it and ran upstairs to show my wife the perfect creation I made.
Wouldn't you know half way across the kitchen I dropped it!!!


Here is the result!
View attachment 74729
Lol on the story!

I guess the yolk’s on us!

 

[John K Jordan]

I hurriedly grabbed it and ran upstairs to show my wife the perfect creation I made.
Wouldn't you know half way across the kitchen I dropped it!!!

Yeah, right. Clever idea. Guess it would be hard to turn a chick. (I have over 100 eggs in the incubator now. On a certain schedule they must be "candled" with a bright light to check for development - It's amazing when I can see the embryo moving inside!)