Knowledge You Can Build On — Est. 1998
spheres
Dick Coers
Closing in on finishing my demo prep. Good thing, it's Saturday afternoon. Front row is two double dyed soft maple, 2 catalpa, laminated cherry and walnut, walnut, and the threaded lid sphere box in the back row. I'm discovering that doing final sanding and sanding the finish on these things is no fun with aging hands. You have to squeeze them hard enough to work and my hands are fatiguing. I'll try some rubber coated gloves next time so I don't have to squeeze so tightly.
Re: spheres
john lucas
Very Nice Dick. I sand mine a little at a time while they are still between my sphere centers rotating them on axis as I go. My wood centers used to leave little shiny marks that had to be hand sanded. I was going to make some soft plastic centers before I moved and now that my shop is almost back up maybe I can finally get that done. One of many projects that were on the books before I moved. I'll have to live to at least 105 if I want to get them all done.
Re: spheres
Brad Vietje
Agreed -- nice work, Dick! Good luck with your demo tomorrow.
Safe spinning,
Brad Vietje
Newbury, VT
Re: spheres
John K Jordan
Those spheres look great! And difficult. I've never tried one over 1/2" diameter.
John, the best thing I've found to support things without making a mark is thin closed cell foam. (Ethafoam) It will compress some and holds well since it is not slippery. I keep a variety of thicknesses from 1/16" up; I most often use 1/8 to 3/16.
Sometimes I cut a cylinder from thicker stuff and use it in the tailstock to eliminate chatter when I can't use the one hand steady rest method. (Blocks of the thick stuff are useful to protect gouge ends when headed to a class or demo - I just push the tool an onch or so into a chunk.)
JKJ
Re: spheres
Cyril Griesbach
John,
My experience with wood sphere drives is that they polish the wood less when they are faced with MDF.
Enjoyed your demo
terry quiram
I enjoyed your demo today. I even leaned something new. Thanks.
thanks
Dick Coers
Regret that I hurried at the end, but I wanted to fill the allotted time.
