Ken Appelt

[Ken Appelt]

Revived my interest in turning..,.Have had a nice Rockwell lathe for 50 years. Saw little use lately because I needed a new grinder to sharpen. Then I saw carbide tools, researched them and got a set of Rikon tools.....very nice set! So much easier, and way less fooling around re-learning how to sharpen tools.
I am interested in turning spheres, or balls, of many sizes, and types of wood.
I’ve watched many YouTube videos on turning balls, best one probably being the young man from Eastern Europe. Some of the videos go way overboard on technique, or needing jigs, He turned a nice ball in ten minutes,,,

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

Welcome to the forum. I am not into spheres but someone will come along. You also might search the forum as there have been several discussions on both freehand and jigs.

 

[hockenbery]

Welcome!

I turn a lot of spheres and have taught hundreds of people to turn them.
the most important thing is to not cut deeper than the sphere’s surface.
Obvious but lots of 3” spheres end up at 2.25 because of cuts that went too deep.

the carbides should give you a decent sphere. If you can master the finer points of the carbides they can give a fine surface. If you don’t you will get horrific tearout. The better ball jigs use hunter carbides at an angle which leaves a fine finish.

I do my spheres with a bowl gouge with an Ellsworth grind fast and easy once you learn how
I turn them in three axes.

After you turn a dozen spheres you can pretty much do it by eye.
What I do in demos and workshops is give what I call a training wheels for spheres.
A simple layout and straight line cuts gets you almost to a ball.
Just cut off corners, and cut off remaining corners and you get to a sphere.

I also use a cup on the tailstock and flat point about a 1/2 wide on the tailstock center- easy to make from wood.
A ring is very useful in showing you where the high spots are.

Here is a handout I use in demos - following this layout will keep you above the big sphere’s surface-
http://swat.hockenbery.net/Turning_a_ball_the_easy_way.pdf

the 2010 AAW techniques video shows me doing a ball in a ball.

 

[John Torchick]

Welcome. Bet you are having a ball turning spheres!

 

[Mike Johnson]

A sphere turning jig is one of the easiest tools to make for a wood lathe, you can rough turn the sphere by hand and make a couple of finish cuts with a sphere jig and get a perfectly round sphere. I turn a number of different sized wood spheres that are used as molds to make shell casings for the pyrotechnic guild. The largest one so far is for a "24" casing.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Welcome aboard, Ken.

 

[Ken Appelt]

Thank you, Bill... and Mike Johnson,, I’ve already made a jig that I saw on a video,,,,,probably will do some modifying on another one,, However, for now, I am doing pretty good freehand..

 

[Mike Johnson]

Ken

Which method are you using? There are several approaches that can be used, if you are able to mark your (3) different axis lines on a blank you can rotate the piece between the different axis to true the sphere to the final shape. The other method is to mark the sphere blank into quadrants and take measurements at these sections and work your way to the final dimensions and then chuck the sphere up between cup centers to finish sanding and polishing the sphere. A soft surface on the cup centers will help prevent ring turning marks on the sphere. A cloth measuring tape is another useful tool when turning spheres by hand, you can measure the circumference on the different axis and determine the areas that require more work. Anther common practice is to use a round ring, cup, coupling, pipe, etc. to roll over the surface of the sphere, any out of round surface will expose a gap under the edge of the ring laying flat on the circumference of the sphere.

 

[Ken Appelt]

Thanks, Mike. Like I said, so far, I am going freehand, and doing pretty well, I think, I do have some pieces of metal shaped in curves I use to true up the edges. I am using green wood, cherry, (wild or black), maple, oak, poplar, sassafras (that is fun to work with), and have access to apple, peach, and sweet cherry wood. I cut all my own trees, so have wood that is basically round. I just chuck it up and cut away anything that doesn’t look like a ball...the diameter of the wood determines the size of the ball. I made some cup centers,(if that’s what they are called, when I want to turn the ball 90 degrees or so, and turn some more. They have hard foam on them so I just chuck them up tight,
Though the last few balls, I turn to almost my final shape and then cut it off at the tail stock end,,,smooth it some more, and finish by cutting the head stock end. Leaves only a tiny bit to smooth by hand.

I have two YouTube videos I like, One is the young man from Eastern Europe, the other is an American, however he uses some un-safe techniques, though both finish a ball in less than ten minutes... Is it okay if I reference those videos here? Some body else might like them, though I am thinking not many people here are interested in turning balls??//

 

[Mike Johnson]

Ken,

Everyone turns spheres sooner or later it does take some skill to free hand them and get them truly round. You might try turning some egg shapes or casting some highly figured wood on one side and lightly colored resin on the other side, when you polish them up they look like crystal glass snow globes. Some of these can really bring the beauty out in burl pieces where the resin magnifies the view of the burl pins and points. The main thing is to turn items that you enjoy turning or challenge yourself with a new item to expand your turning skills, its all fun most of the time when the wood stays between centers.

 

[Ken Appelt]

Thanks for the encouragement, Mike. I have having lots of fun turning spheres....don’t seem to be having much trouble getting them as round as I wish.. I like your other suggestions, may try them some day, However, now I am relearning a few old turning tricks,,,,and really enjoying playing with all the different wood I have. Probably will turn some canes of walking sticks, but for now, it’s spheres, and spheres...
And by the way,, loving the new carbide bits I have.