Balls of Fun!!!

very cool,nice work.

-- W James Brokenbourgh Custom furniture maker http://artisticwoodstudio.com/

Some of these could pass as planets.

Have you thought about making a model solar system? What wood could you use for the sun?

I like the crevasses in some of them it makes the look very organic as opposed to monolithic!

That is quite some technique you developed for making these!

-- "I never met a board I didn't like!"

Nice work! Maybe a set of pool balls instead of planets? ;-))

-- "some old things are lovely, warm still with life ... of the forgotten men who made them." - D.H. Lawrence Wake Up America!! Please read; http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/01/26-0

Great job. I like the turquoise inlay. I have been wanting to try some of the inlaying. Where do you get the turquoise?

-- Dewayne in Bainbridge, Ga. - - No one can make you mad. Only you decide when you get mad - -

Very nice and you are right, it is very hard to make something completely round…strange when you think about it, it should be easy but it is not

-- Cosmicturner

Great job Scrappy. Do we meet at the bowling Alley at 3.

-- I've been blessed with a father who liked to tinker in wood, and a wife who lets me tinker in wood. Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

Those are really nice! Great ingenuity for developing the chucking system.

-- Randy Morter, Phoenix, AZ

Wow! Scrappy!!! what work you have done here!
You are becoming a master of the lathe aren’t you?
I like them both but I love that walnut one!
I guess next you’ll be making bowling balls lol!
Great job keep it up!

-- Robert B. Sabina, Ohio.....

Awesome balls! Great technique and control turning them. Like the walnut with turquoise inlay. Great and unique decorative piece.

—www.sawblade.com

Cool ! Thanks for the outline of how you did it.

-- Dwight - "Free legal advice available - contact Dewey, Cheetam & Howe""

Scrappy those are nice pieces and I like them a lots. I also would like to add that they are very skillfully done. Congratulations.

helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com

-- If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. Henry David Thoreau

Thanks for all the great comments everyone. These were a lot of fun and a challenge to make.

oldnovice, I could do a set of planets, sound interesting. The sun could be OSAGE ORANGE. It has a great yellow/orange color to it. I think the earth would be the biggest challenge. hat wood for BLUE and GREEN?

Idl, They sell turquise around here in Arizona in several places. I got mine from a yard sale of another wood worker. (he had to retire after a stroke). Check on line and craft stores.

Karson, A bit small for bowling, and my lathe is only a JET 12×20. Would tax it for a bowling ball. haha

I do plan on making several more of these. They will look great in a turned wood bowl on the TV stand. Have to keep trying different wood for a more full range of colors and sizes.

Thanks again for the comments.
Scrappy

-- Scrap Wood's the best...the projects are smaller, and so is the mess!

Scrappy, those look really cool and incredibly difficult.

I’ve no turning experience, but my class just received a lathe from another school. I’ve been asked by the local civil war re-enactors to turn some cannon balls and another shell used by the local battery, not to fire, just for discusion and exposition. If you could give me some resources that would provide some guidance it would be greatly appreciated. Never having turned, I think I understand, but could use WAY more explanation. If you would prefer to pm that would be fine. Hoping this may get my students not only interested in the project, but working with the history.

Thanks, Tom

Definately up to your usual high standard :)
Nice job
Pete

-- Pete G: If you always do what you always did you'll always get what you always got

Very neat and a clever holding method!!...............Jim

-- Jim Jakosh.....Practical Wood Products...........Learn something new every day!!