Making a Globe Ornament
by Andrew Hilton
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On to the cap and drop finial. I'm using some spalted maple here. Rough to round and put it into a chuck as well. Don't have to use a chuck but it's sure easier! Again, I use the tailstock as much as I can as you can see here. |
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I've started at the "end" or what will be the bottom of the drop finial and just making shapes. I almost exclusively use a skew for such things but you can use whatever you want. A small shallow-fluted gouge (commonly called a "spindle gouge") works well here too. |
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Do a little bit, sand it, and put a finish on it as you work up the drop finial. That is, if you're not just going to spray a finish on it later or perhaps dip the whole thing into a finish and then let it drip dry. Almost to the top of the drop finial here so I have to take a measurement.... |
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I'm measuring the hole in the globe that the drop finial will insert into. It should be 1/4" because that's the drill bit I used. However, that's not always the case because of blowouts and the thing chipping or etc. So, be sure to measure it AND the flat-ish portion around it that doesn't have any finish on it. You'll want to cover that with your drop finial as well. |
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Transfer the measurements to your drop finial and form your tenon. |
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It looks like in this picture that I went too far. I guess that's because I don't have the calipers very close to the tenon I made. You want the tenon to fit snugly into the globe hole but not tight. Different rates of expansion/contraction between the two woods can cause cracks! It's not the tenon that's going to hold the thing together. It's the glue. The tenon just aligns things. |
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Showing the use of a 1/8" skew (again, commonly called a "parting tool") that I used to form that tenon. |
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Making my careful cuts. |
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I switched to the 1/16" skew again to form my
undercut. It doesn't take much for this kind of globe design.
The undercut portion doesn't have to look pretty. Just the rounded over portion (largest diameter of the drop finial here) needs to be looking good, sanded, and finished as it's the only part of it that's going to show. The rest will be hidden and glued. |
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Yet another shot of it. You could very well use a larger skew (1/2") to do this as long as you have enough room between where you're wanting to cut and the rest of the wood on the left side. Just be careful not to take too bit of a bite at a time. A full 1/2" cut at a time on this small of wood will easily rip it right off the lathe! |
Go on to Page 3, The Cap
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