Ranger Dick
>H'mmmm.

Maybe I could get some shots up for you later this weekend. In the meantime, I'll attempt to give a verbal description for you.

I use maple almost exclusively because it has all the right characteristics needed for good looking tops. Oak and other similar woods make ugly tops. The grain isn't tight enough. Poplar is too soft.

Start with a 2.5" x 2.5" x 6" blank. Turn it round. Make alot of 'em while your at it. This is a great production item.

I chuck this resulting cylinder into my Stronghold with #2 jaws in place. (On my Jet mini I use the Talon Chuck.)Bring up the tailstock. Make sure you are pretty well centered.

Crank the speed up to where you are comfortable. I generally use around 2000 rpm. Using a small spindle gouge form the business end (cone shape, with the point on your right) of the top. Cut from th e outside in. Obviously, you are going to turn away the spot where you have been contacting the blank with the tailstock center but that's OK. It's only there to support it a bit while you start your cuts and only needed for the first top.

You want this to be a fairly shallow angle. The secret to a good spinning top is a low center of gravity. Make sure to make a smooth cut all the way from the rim to the point and that the point is sharp and centered exactly. If it's wobbling, the point isn't centered. Check this by feeling it lightly with your finger. The angle from the rim to the center will slope something like this - / . This - > - is too much of an angle.

Next, using a parting tool or some other tool you are comfortable with, make the top surface of the top. I use the same gouge so that I don't have to stop and pickup another tool. Continue this until the center shaft where you place your fingers when you spin the top is about 1/2" in diameter. Then make a parting cut 1 1/2" to 2" to the left of your first parting cut. (Don't cut all the way through yet!)Then clean it out between the two cuts. The top is starting to take shape now. The shape of the spinning shaft is a personal thing. Mine resemble a minature version of the upper portion of a bowling pin. Don't make it too thin or you'll break it off when you do the chatter work (if you chatter it. Some folks paint 'em.)

Move the toolrest back to a point a couple of inches off the point on the bottom of the top. Using your favoritw chatter tool, create a nice pattern on the bottom face. Then do this to the top surface. Then, using permanent marker colors with a small flexible tip, lightly touch these patterned areas to create really neat color patterns where the chattering is. Be creative and check to see what sort of technique produces what sort of pattern. This takes some experimenting, but you'll figure it out.

Sand the center shaft after you have formed it and put some color bands on it if you want. At this point you will not have shut off the lathe unless you have stopped to check your work.

Gently part off the top from the blank using the point of a skew. It will drop into your hand. Sand the portion where you parted it away and you are done!

The next top is waiting in the rest of the blank! You should get at least two from each blank. I get three when I'm "in the zone."

Hope this helps you out.

Dick