Turned a couple spheres lately....

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Roy G

Roy
Senior User
Michael, turning spheres is sort of addictive. You'll find you have a use for all sorts of scraps now. Nice looking ones you turned,

Roy G
 
Michael Mathews

Michael Mathews

Michael
Corporate Member
Yep, that and the challenge of trying to turn one is what got me going on this adventure! The big sphere started as a log that was never split and had some cracks showing. I didn't know if I would be able to get rid of them. As it turns out, there are some still visible, but they just add to the piece! Thanks for the comment Roy!
 
drw

drw

Donn
Corporate Member
Michael, nicely done and I really appreciate the pics showing the process! I often wondered what chucks were used to turn a sphere; that said, what purpose do the numbers on the chucks serve?

Thanks for sharing!
 
Michael Mathews

Michael Mathews

Michael
Corporate Member
Both cone centers are identical. Either one can be threaded onto my live center or gripped in my chuck. If gripped into the chuck, the numbers and lines help me line them back up with the jaw numbers in the chuck so I know they will rotate exactly on center. Great question!
 
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Jeff

New User
Jeff
Bocci balls or croquet balls?

What type of wood is it? Thick bark too.
 
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Michael Mathews

Michael Mathews

Michael
Corporate Member
found wood...gift wood....I don't know. They were in my stash and I wasn't privy to what tree they came from. Unfortunately I'm not schooled on identifying wood. :|
 
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Roy G

Roy
Senior User
Michael, I have a 5" cube of heart pine if you would like a challenge. Best part of heart pine is it makes dandy kindling if the turning goes awry.

Roy G
 
Michael Mathews

Michael Mathews

Michael
Corporate Member
Dreuxgrad said:
Nice work MM. What is the tap for live center? Could I borrow it? lol
Ed
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Ed, go down to your local hardware store and buy the size bolt that fits your threaded live center. Mine is a 3/4" x 10 TPI thread. I bought a 3/4 x 4" (10 TPI) bolt. Using a 4-1/2" angle grinder, I ground flutes in it paying attention to keeping the cutting edge clean on the leading edge side as the bolt is threaded into the hole. Then on the drill press, I carefully drilled a small dimple of a center hole in the back of the hex head for my live center tip to ride in. While the cone center was still in my lathe with just a hole in it, I set the bolt in the hole, just put the live center tip in the dimple and gave a slight push and with a wrench turned the bolt to start cutting the thread. As the bolt advances into the wood I'd turn in the live center to keep it tracking straight. Every so often I'd back it out to clear chips. Oh, my spindle has a head lock so it wouldn't turn. Also, it's much easier to thread wood if you soak the ID with Mineral Oil prior to threading. That's why in the pics the wood looks wet. Both Cone Centers run true on either the chuck or live center!
 
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Jeff

New User
Jeff
Michael Mathews said:
could be! I can say the bark was very deep between the high points. I'm not sure by the pics in the link if that's what it really looks like or not.
Click to expand...

Would you recognize a hickory tree in your yard if you saw it first hand? Maybe a neighbor can show you one. It's hard for me to tell much more from your pics of the log mounted in the lathe. Was the log green or had it been laying around in your stash for awhile?

It's not a big deal anyway, but you turned some nice spheres!
 
Michael Mathews

Michael Mathews

Michael
Corporate Member
I showed the large sphere to a good friend that does woodworking. He thought it was black walnut. Looking more at the color, grain, and pics, I believe he's correct. I think this is black walnut.
 
sawman101

sawman101

Bruce Swanson
Corporate Member
Thank you for the pictures and all the valuable info Michael, it is greatly appreciated.
 
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