# First Ornament



## Sylvanite (Dec 8, 2009)

I thought I'd give an ornament a try, and here is the result.  The globe is spalted willow oak, and the accents are african blackwood.

Comments are welcome,
Eric


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## NewLondon88 (Dec 8, 2009)

ooo that one's a keeper..


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## rjwolfe3 (Dec 8, 2009)

That is beautiful!


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## clement (Dec 8, 2009)

Really nice, I like it very much


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## PenTurnerfromMaine (Dec 8, 2009)

It alooks great.  I have only tried this style with sea urchins, but globes are next.  Hope mine turn out as well.


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## jskeen (Dec 8, 2009)

Sweet!  is the globe hollow?  if so, How?


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## Sylvanite (Dec 8, 2009)

jskeen said:


> is the globe hollow?  if so, How?


No.  Here is a picture of the parts.  I simply drilled a hole in a block of oak, mounted it on a pen mandrel, and turned it spherical.  I turned a tenon on each accent piece to match the hole.  I drilled a small hole through the top piece so the loop emerges from the center.  I'm planning to replace the thread with black or gold before gluing everything together.  The oak has a CA finish.  The blackwood polished up glossy without any finish, so I left it bare.

Regards,
Eric


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## ed4copies (Dec 8, 2009)

Eric,

LOOKS great.  One of the things people look for in an ornament is weight, or lack of it.  That's why they are typically hollowed out.

I'm sure there are people here who sell them, I don't.  But that's my understanding of the "market".

Good luck with the process!!!

Another small hill to climb.


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## AceMrFixIt (Dec 8, 2009)

It looks nice, good idea for family gifts for next year. The weight is a good question. Is spalted wood lighter than non spalted wood?


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## glycerine (Dec 8, 2009)

Wow, that looks great!


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## artme (Dec 8, 2009)

Lovely doohickey. Very well turned and finished.


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## Sylvanite (Dec 8, 2009)

AceMrFixIt said:


> The weight is a good question. Is spalted wood lighter than non spalted wood?


Yes, spalted wood (at least this piece) is much lighter than non-spalted.  The ornament is over 6 1/2 inches long and the whole thing weighs less than 3 ounces.


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## LandfillLumber (Dec 8, 2009)

Very well done.Victor


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## fiferb (Dec 8, 2009)

Beautiful work! I hope my first, whenever I get around to it, looks as nice as yours.


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## nightowl (Dec 8, 2009)

That is beautiful.  I have made a couple out of maple and cedar, but I am having a hard time getting the bottom icicle to may liking.  I really like your design and the top if very nicely designed also.  Good work.


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## nava1uni (Dec 9, 2009)

Nice looking ornament.  I like the design and how it is assembled.  Thanks for showing all of the parts.


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## mickr (Dec 9, 2009)

great ornament..very nice job...yes ornaments are hollowed or they will weigh down the branch of a christmas tree..if one is hanging somewhere else, the hollowing not so important


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## thefunkyP (Dec 12, 2009)

Very nice!  I had been thinking of doing some ornaments, but hadn't given it much thought thinking I would mostly do little christmas trees or something, but you have given me a whole new direction to try.  Amazing job, great wood combination too.  Course I feel that the ebony goes with nearly everything, but I like the spalted willow with it.  Thanks for sharing.


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## writestuff (Dec 12, 2009)

*That's great!*

a very nice ornament, and the tree will never tell if it is hollow. 
WS


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## JimB (Dec 12, 2009)

Beautiful work. One of the members of our local club demonstrated making a hollow ornament. He has made hundreds of them as he has been turnning for about 25 years.

To hollow it, basically what he did was turn it round and then cut it in half on his bandsaw. He then remounted each half in a chuck and hollowed it out. He would then sand the cut edge smooth using sandpaper on a flat surface (off the lathe). He would use ca to glue it back together and mount on lathe again for final sanding. His prefered method of hiding the glue up, and the one he demonstarted, was to use a thin piece of contrasting color wood glued between the 2 pieces he was gluing together. This created a contrasting ring in the center (or off center if you want) and the glue up became part of the design just like any other segmented work.

I've never made one but his demo was amazing.


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## rjwolfe3 (Dec 12, 2009)

That looks awesome!

Unfortunately my wife saw it so now I have to figure out how to make one.


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## GaryMGg (Dec 12, 2009)

Nice looking ornament.


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