Turning spherical shapes freehand is not my strong point, but I've been asked to make a load of balls for the coconut shy run by a local scout group.It's certainly good practice for me, but I don't relish mass production on a polelathe.
The balls are about two and a half inches in diameter. In the hope of maximising my production speed I decided to make upto six at a time using each billet of ash.
The wood was a bit drier than I'd have liked which made the job even longer and harder. But I got there in the end.
I am little annoyed that the shape is not entirely spherical. But for the coconut shy keeping them the right diameter was more important than a perfect shape. As usual I spent more time on the balls than I should have done, price being an important issue for the scouts. I don't think coconut shy balls will be one of my more profitable lines, but it has certainly been an interesting challenge and a learning experience.
1 comment:
I did the same thing about 10 years ago. They wanted 50 and I said £1 each - they took three days but I really learned how to use the skew!
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