If you happen to have technical difficulties, this video is also posted on YouTube and FaceBook. But it is best right here.

Both my clubs are participating in a Christmas themed fund raising event. The club members are contributing Christmas tree ornaments to decorate trees which will then be auctioned off for charity.

My ornament has a center body and two finials.
The body is red bud and the finials are hazelnut.

For the body, I wanted more than a traditional globe. Inspired by my recent pumpkin project, the body is a multi-axis turning with deep coves at right angles to the original turning axis.

The trick, in this case, is to ensure the coves are well spaced and at right angles to the original axis. To be well spaced, I adapted a cup chuck to have indexing marks.

To ensure the new axes are at a right angle, I drilled a 0.25 inch hole through the body before turning it into a sphere. By inserting a rod through this hole (later in the process), I could measure the distance from the rod to the headstock. Equal measures on both sides means right angles.

Since I now had a hole through the body, I needed to use a pen mandrel to rough turn the sphere. This hole also receives the finials’ tenons.

Of course, the octagon process helps to turn a perfect sphere. Just remember two measures to use the octagon process: 0.293 times diameter and 0.414 times diameter. Please see my other videos for context for these measures.

Enjoy.

p.s. Would you like a more in depth demonstration? Please contact me for an IRD (Zoom Demo) on this or other topics.