Woodturning is said to be the safest form of woodworking, that said it can still be dangerous and care should be taken at all times

The methods and procedures I show here are what I do at the moment and feel safe doing, I am not suggesting that you should do things the same way, that is up to you, if you don’t feel safe doing it one way find another way of doing it.

Above all take care and remember if this is your hobby it is supposed to be fun so enjoy it.

These are fun items to make and children of all ages love them.

Below are my basic instructions for making them

Materials and tools

• Hardwood Balls 35mm
• Hardwood dowel 6mm x 2 ¼” long
• Suitable chuck and jaws
• Leather or sandpaper strip
• Jacob’s chuck
• Sanding pad and paper
• 7/8” Forstner bit
• 6mm Drill bit
• Skew or weapon of choice
• Super glue
• Colour pens or finish of choice

Method

Wrap the leather or sandpaper strip around the ball and hold it in the chuck

With the Forstner bit in the tailstock drill a hole to a depth of 5/8”

With the 6mm drill in the tailstock drill a hole in the middle of the ball about ¼” deep

Glue the dowel into the hole

Mount the Jacob’s chuck in the headstock and then hold the dowel by the part that will be cut off

Sand the ball and finish as required

Cut the dowel off 5/8” from the top of the ball

With the sanding pad in the Jacob’s chuck tune the top.

For more detailed instructions go HERE This is a PDF file by Eugen Schlaak and explains in greater detail how to make them, this is where I learnt from.

All material on this site is the copyright of John Taylor unless otherwise stated