Playing With My Balls

[bowlman]

Here are a few pix of my latest endeavor. I have been experimenting with spheres for about a year now and I think I have gotten the hang of it. Tell me what you think. Woods are paduak, zebra wood, walnut, maple, maple burl, bloodwood and cocobolo.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Anybody we know in #2?

Looks like #3 has some sanding scratches.

Great balls of fire, you done good!

 

[Mark Mandell]

Quick! Somebody call Harryhausen! They're multiplying!

Very nice, and round too.

 

[Sean Boyle]

were they done freehand or using some type of jig. I have made several ball and cup toys and can't get my balls that round

 

[Mark Mandell]

Round

can't get my balls that round

Doesn't matter as long as they fit in the cup . .

 

[Charles M Gillingham]

I would like to know how it's done.

 

[hockenbery]

I would like to know how it's done.

Turning a sphere is about the complexity of turning a natural edge bowl. There is a good article in the youth projects section of the web site. A better name for this would be projects for kid 8-89. http://www.woodturner.org/community/youth/projects/Sphere.pdf


I frequently demonstrate turning spheres and conduct workshops. Turning balls with a side ground bowl gouge is easy, fun and if you use bowl gouge techniques you practice bowl turning when you turn a ball and you practice ball turning when you turn a bowl. If you turn 5-10 balls in a week the next week the bowls you turn will magically have better curves.

Below is a few slides I show to set the stage for a ball demo.
http://aaw.hockenbery.net/Overviewballweb.pdf

I have found that turning balls under 2" in diameter is a lot easier with a jig.

Al

 

[bowlman]

Al,

Great PDF slides. Reminds me of the way Soren Berger of New Zealand does it. I have used that method as well. My first 50 or so balls/spheres were done using the cup chucks and the 3 axis method first shown to me by Richard Raffan. It is also shown on one of his first 2 videos. Then, after getting quite a few orders, I moved up to a jig. The jigs, in my opinion, do waste a bit more wood, but the trade off is a nearly perfect sphere. And of course there is the learning curve and set up time. So I guess you can say I have used all 3 methods ... freehand, cup chucks + freehand, and jigs. By the way, for removing the end nubbins, I still mount between cup chucks. Ditto for sanding.

 

[hockenbery]

Al, Great PDF slides. Reminds me of the way Soren Berger of New Zealand does it. I have used that method as well. My first 50 or so balls/spheres were done using the cup chucks and the 3 axis method first shown to me by Richard Raffan. It is also shown on one of his first 2 videos. Then, after getting quite a few orders, I moved up to a jig. The jigs, in my opinion, do waste a bit more wood, but the trade off is a nearly perfect sphere. And of course there is the learning curve and set up time. So I guess you can say I have used all 3 methods ... freehand, cup chucks + freehand, and jigs. By the way, for removing the end nubbins, I still mount between cup chucks. Ditto for sanding.

Nice bowl of balls by the way.

I think this is the way balls have been turned for at least a hundred years.

I use one cup and 1/2 diameter flat pin on the tail center.
I learned it from Christian Burchard It seems to center not quite round balls better and the wooden flat pin can be made to fit most rail centers.

I do some free hand too using just the ring to check.
Generally I find it faster to do 3" balls with a gouge.
Particularly if I'm turning 4-5 of slightly differnt sizes. I can usually get within a 1/8" desired diameter.
Small balls 1-2" go a lot faster and better for me using a jig. Just don't have the working room to use tiny cups efficiently.
And it takes me too long to turn them by eye to be round. If they just have to look round I can do them by eye quickly.

Also new jigs using Hunter carbide do a pretty nice finish cut on the spheres.
The older jigs with HSS scraper bit worked okay on dense woods but not too well on softer woods like walnut.

Al

 

[Charles M Gillingham]

Thank you very much for those links. It seems perfectly achievable for me. My need arises from wanting to make beads of less than a 1/2" in diameter. A perfect sphere isn't always the goal. The challenge is achieving a good finish all way around and the small size. I've been working between centers and using a tenon. I'll have to turn some cups and give it a try. Thanks again.

cmg

P.S, By the way, nice work,but difficult to comment on