Making a Globe Ornament

by Andrew Hilton

	I start out by roughing a piece of wood (Kentucky Coffee tree here) to a cylinder and putting a tenon on one end.
	Then turn the wood around and put that tenon into a chuck. I'm using a scroll chuck here but you can use a jamb chuck if you want or whatever else you can dream up to hold the wood securely.
	I pull the tailstock up to support the wood whenever possible.  I've formed a rough "squashed" globe shape on the end.  This shape lends itself to easier fitting of the cap and drop finial (described below) to the globe as you don't have to undercut those 2 other pieces as much to fit well.
	Pulled the tailstock out of the way and have drilled a 1/4" hole all the way through the globe.  Use whatever size hole you want to fit your hollowing tools and how large of a cap and drop finial you'll be making.
	I'm using a homemade shear scraper hollowing tool here.  This tool get things started...
	.... and this other tool finishes up the hollowing.  It doesn't take much to hollow these things out. Get it as thin as you dare.  It's just to lighten the thing up so it doesn't weigh down a tree or whatever it'll be hanging from.
	Hollowing complete, I sand the outside up to around 600 (for this wood).  Do as much of each side of this globe as you can.  You can always hand sand it later but that's a pain.
	Put some finish on there if you want right now.  This is a friction polish.  You can always just wait until everything is complete and the ornament is glued together by using a spray finish if you want too.
	Here's the backside (what will be come the bottom of the ornament) of the globe.  I'm showing a thin 1/16" skew here (also commonly called a "parting tool") that I'll use to cut down until I get into that hole we drilled earlier with the 1/4" drill bit.
	I'm going at a slight angle to match the curve of the rest of the globe.  I do want the top and bottom of the globe (where the holes are) to be close to flat so the cap and drop finial will sit well.
	What will become the top of the globe.  Notice that the hole is a little larger than when we first drilled it.  That just happens sometimes when hollowing through it.  So plan for that.  You'll ream it out.
	What will become the bottom of the globe.  There's no finish on the very bottom but that's not a problem. The top of the drop finial will cover that much.
	A side view.

Go on to Page 2, The Drop Finial