can't carve balls

[Robert Cahill]

I was going through some back issues of WCI and saw an ad for carved pens. It had 8 pool balls on top. Well I thought it would be a neat gift for my son but I"ll be darned if I could get them round . I now have some type of worm pen. Oh well try again. Anyone else do one of them

[Alice in Wonderland]

I have been trying for years to make something round :-( my husband just laughs ,he even made me a "schablone " but I have no luck, you are not alone.

[MackTheKnife]

Hey, Bob. The way I look at it, as long as you aren't going to actually be playing pool with them, close is good enough. Just make sure you start with enough wood!

The Other Bob

[Robert Cahill]

Alice, neither I or my Oxford dictionary know what a schablone is but now at least I know I'm not the only one.

Bob, You may be right I started with a 1" square that is what I carved the other pens with actually they were wizards and santas basically using Tom's pattern. I will go larger and see what happens. (hope its not a bigger worm lol)

[dart]

It's not easy to make round balls on a wood lathe. Not easy to carve either.

[Alice in Wonderland]

Robert, it is a German name ,if I can explain it right? my husband who was a tool/diemaker made this ,it is the roundness of a ball except the ball is cut out? so when you put this on a round carving, it shows you where to shape more or you took off to much? or it could be the outside of a round ball???does it make sense? maybe Doris can jump in here ??D O R I S :-))))

[pallin]

I recommend that you carve a few Ball-in-Cage projects. When you get the "ball" free from the corner rails, you have to keep trimming until it will rotate in all directions. Then you may have a round ball.