Mesquite Sphere Salt Shaker

[Kathy Marshall]

So tonight I took the techniques for turning a sphere and a funnel salt shaker (wish I knew what it was really called :eek:) and combined them to make a salt shaker sphere from mesquite.
It's 3" diameter and I made a flat spot on the bottom (where I attached/inserted the funnel) so it would sit upright (can't have a salt shaker rolling around on the table). I gave it just a light coat of danish oil.

The jamb chuck technique from my other post worked fine for turning the sphere, but I needed something a little more secure to do the hollowing. So I cut 4 slots in the sides of the jamb chuck, inserted the sphere, then used a hose clamp to squeeze the jamb chuck around the sphere. It worked very well and held securely.
I think it turned out pretty well.

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Thanks for looking!
Comments and critiques are welcome.

[John Keeton]

Kathy, that sure is a nice job on the sphere! You have mentioned this funnel shaker a few times, and may have covered how it functions and I missed it. So, I did a quick search, and found this .pdf (http://www.jaxturners.org/tech/Magic%20Salt%20Shaker.pdf) on how one is made using the method demonstrated by Nick Cook. I thought that might help folks like me understand what you are doing.

[Dennis Ford]

Very nice salt shaker, the mesquite should hold the sphere shape without warping at all.

[Dale Miner]

Very nice Cathy.

I like your take on this project.

[Steve Schlumpf]

That's different! First time I've seen a spherical salt shaker! Nice work!

[Jerry Rhoads]

Oooh, that is prety Kathy. Well done.

[Russell Eaton]

Brings new meaning to "pass the salt". Nice job again Kathy. Thanks to John for the link.

[Doug W Swanson]

Brings new meaning to "pass the salt".

I can just see the next big dinner at Kathy's house. 'Can you roll me the salt?':)

Looks great!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Nice Kathy. Pretty wood.

[Robert Henrickson]

Neat idea, and thanks to John for the pdf reference.

[Baxter Smith]

Neat project Kathy. That salt shaker was one of the things he partly turned in a demo I saw. Rather ingenious!

[Brian Kent]

You are one of my new heros, Kathy. Your turned spheres are just so much fun. They are beautiful.

[Larry Pickering]

different, and that's a good thing.

[Dave Mura]

Looks good! Nice job!
http://chdsolutions.com/img/11d867796d85db8cad5280ac44cec7c1.jpghttp://chdsolutions.com/img/a57d48399922b03419153a9760c5ce53.jpghttp://chdsolutions.com/img/cabad3b9bc0afe08cd9ec861638ed1d9.gif

[Pat Scott]

It's commonly referred to as a "Magic Salt Shaker", because people don't know how it works.