Practice piece

[Adam Petersen]

So I thought it would be cool to turn a series of helmets from ancient warriors. Greek helmets, Roman helmets, and other historical helmets from antiquity. I pulled up a Thracian hoplite helmet and gave it a go. I started with a piece of cottonwood which I promptly turned into firewood. I then grabbed a piece of wet cherry and left the pith in it. I wanted it to look like it'd been in battle and thought the cracks would add to that appearance. I also added some "slice" marks with a grinding wheel on my dremel.

I'm just feeling "meh" how it turned out. Which is fine as I'm trying to work the form and mask dimensions before I really give it a go. The face shield needs to be longer, the rear of the helmet needs to be longer too. I need to turn it thinner. It's about 1/2" and being green it was tough to saw the eyes and nose out with my fret saw through that thick and wet of wood. So, I'm going to take these lessons and try again when I have time to see if I can master the Hoplite helmet. Later I'd like to add the officers plumage to the top and turn a base like a pillar at the Parthenon. I think that'd be a cool design. Oh, I added a blue accent as I put this on my desk at work. I'm in law enforcement so I thought it'd be a cool look. Gratuitous selfie included. :-)

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[Allan Ferguson]

Very interesting turning adventure your on. Looking at your lathe motor control box, may I suggest facing it at about 45 degrees toward the tail stock? Much easier to see and reach those control buttons from a turning position. Have fun.

[Adam Petersen]

I'd love to, but there's not enough wire from the motor.

[Allan Ferguson]

Would rotation of the motor make it work?

[Adam Petersen]

No, I think there's less slack since there's no junction box and it's coming straight out of the motor. I actually like how it's mounted.