This is the last ball winder I was able to create in the last few days. It’s too cold in the garage/shop to do any real work out there for the moment. Hoping I can bundle up tonight, and get a couple more turned out. This one is purpleheart on the outsides, with walnut in the center.

Each successive one that I create, the wife says is her favorite.

This one also is going up for sale and my wife’s Etsy Shop Online.

Thanks for dropping by!

I’ve posted three of these so far, and they’ve all been of solid blocks of wood, so I thought I’d try my hand at a laminated piece or two. This was the first of the laminated pieces. My experience with wood glue in the 7th and 8th grades (due to going to a poor school) was not so positive. We rarely had shop projects that would hold together for more than a week.

For these laminates, I used Titebond III, and I am extremely impressed. I’ve seen the wood shear before the glue joints failed. This piece is laminated purpleheart, maple and walnut. I intentionally turned this one off center, so the laminate wasn’t in a uniform direction or thickness when the piece was finished. Unfortunately, there was a bit of tear out on the purpleheart, due to dull tools.

As with the other ball winders, this one is for my wife to sell in her Etsy Shop Online.

The major change I made to the laminate pieces to follow was during finishing. The first three solid wood pieces were finished using paste wax, and tung oil that I applied while the lathe was at finishing speed, and then buffed. For this piece, I thought I’d try just some mineral oil, and some “wet” sanding. I stopped the lathe, and applied a generous coat of mineral oil, and let that soak in for an hour. I brought the lathe back up to finishing speed, and applied another coat of mineral oil, then sanded with steel wool, and then did a final buffing using 100% cotton rags (t-shirt material)

Another ball winder, perfect for the yarn spinner, knitter, or crocheter. This one crafted from a single piece of purpleheart. I am producing these for my wife’s Etsy Online Store.

This is my second successful turning. This one is made from a single piece of maple. I am making these for my wife’s Etsy Online Shop, Rumplestiltskeins.

My first successful spinning project. I have a Shopsmith, and didn’t think to double check my setup. I had the cup center inserted in the tail stock, but the tail stock was inserted backwards, so there was no stability! Anyhow, once I turned the tail stock around, I was amazingly able to keep my turnings from exploding once I turned sections to under .75 inches in diameter! DUH! This is turned from a single piece of walnut.