Keith Gotschall demo

[Kathy Marshall]

Our club hosted an all day demo today with Keith Gotschall. The demo was great, learned a few tricks and Keith was a great demonstrator. He kept everyone interested, had plenty of stories and a good sense of humor. I'll be spending tomorrow with him and some other club members for an all day hands on class.

One of the projects he demo'd today was turning a perfect sphere, so when I got home I found a small hard maple spindle blank and cut off a piece and gave sphere turning a try.
This is the result. It's just under 2", sanded to 600 and no finish as of yet. It looks to be as close to a perfect sphere as it gets. Not sure what I'll do with it, but at least I know I can repeat it.

This shows it in the jam chuck I used. The fit was a little too good and I had to basically cut it out to free it. Once I cut it out, the fit was perfect and I was able to use it as is to finish turning the ball and do all of the sanding.
2012-03-24_21-20-033.jpg
The finished sphere.
2012-03-24_21-21-052.jpg
And just to show one use for keeping a big pile of shavings behind the lathe (make a really nice tool rack ).
2012-03-24_21-22-045.jpg
Thanks for looking!
Comments and critiques are welcome.

[Dennis Ford]

You learn fast! Watched a demo and went home and turned that sphere, I am impressed. Your tool rack would be a mold problem where I live with high humidity but if it works, go with it.

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

Kathy,
Pass on the secret to us all. Whatever you learned, you learned well.
faust

[Doug W Swanson]

Wow, are you a fast learner! Does that mean I need to post a vessel of illusion tomorrow since I saw a Trent Bosch demo yesterday?

[Jerry Marcantel]

Kathy, nice looking ball, or sphere. Is it maple? If you do another, drill a through hole in your jam chuck, about 1/8", and when you're finished shaping the sphere, take the JC from the lathe, and use air to release the sphere from the JC..... Jerry (in Tucson)

[Steve Busey]

Looks like you had a "ball" with that project, Kathy. Looks like a technique I'd like to learn (along with a zillion others...).

[Kathy Marshall]

Thanks Guys!

You learn fast! Watched a demo and went home and turned that sphere, I am impressed. Your tool rack would be a mold problem where I live with high humidity but if it works, go with it.

Dennis, humidity isn't a problem here, the shavings are almost dry by the time they hit the floor .

Kathy,
Pass on the secret to us all. Whatever you learned, you learned well.
faust

Faust, I may try another tomorrow night. If I do, I'll take some pics of the process. It's really pretty simple, and pretty much fool proof.

Wow, are you a fast learner! Does that mean I need to post a vessel of illusion tomorrow since I saw a Trent Bosch demo yesterday?

Doug, I'll be waiting to see the vessel of illusion you'll be turning .

Kathy, nice looking ball, or sphere. Is it maple? If you do another, drill a through hole in your jam chuck, about 1/8", and when you're finished shaping the sphere, take the JC from the lathe, and use air to release the sphere from the JC..... Jerry (in Tucson)

Jerry, I thought of that after the fact, hindsight and all. I'll definitely do it in advance next time.

Looks like you had a "ball" with that project, Kathy. Looks like a technique I'd like to learn (along with a zillion others...).

Stay tuned.....
I may just end up with a bowl full of balls in the near future.