Top of the Mornin to Ya

[Pete Jordan]

After blowing up two box elder bowls today, I thought I might want to wait until Dennis gives us another lesson. While I was waiting, I tried to make some tops for the kids. I will make a few more and give them to their friends at church tomorrow.

Thanks for lookin,

Pete

[Bernie Weishapl]

Hey Pete you just made some kids happy. Those are some mighty fine looking top. You did a nice job on them. Guess I ought to try one of those one of these days.

[Pat Salter]

Yeah, very nice.
Our local club (San Diego Woodturners) makes tops throughout the year and offer them up for donations and then we give the money to the Marine corp "Toys for Tots" program. We offer them for $5 donations. sometimes we get more, sometimes we get less. So, having seen several hundred of those puppys IMHO,

Yeah, very nice. :D

[Bob Noles]

Now Pete.... those are "Kewl" as the youngsters would say. Nice job and you are about to have many new friends :)

[Ernie Nyvall]

Very cool Pete. I need to give hose a shot.

Ernie

[John Hart]

Yup...I have to do some too.;) Those are so cool.:)

[Erin Raasch]

Pete,

Do you turn those in one piece, or are the stems turned separately and glued in? I'm wondering how you get the nice pointy bottoms on them. I tried doing one in one piece, and while it works pretty much as intended, I had to finish the point by hand so it isn't quite as nice as I'd like it.

Erin

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Erin.........I've made a couple of boxes with pointy ends........I used a gouge for the basic shape.....fine planed it and cut it free with the skew.

Nice tops Pete!

[Erin Raasch]

Erin.........I've made a couple of boxes with pointy ends........I used a gouge for the basic shape.....fine planed it and cut it free with the skew.

Nice tops Pete!

I'll have to give it another try. I was trying to make one last weekend, just to get some practice with the skew. Ripped a 2x4 down and cut a couple of blanks. On the first one, I got a nasty catch and messed it up good. The second one was coming along really nicely, nice smooth surface and all, but right where it was supposed to come to a point, I found a knot. Tried to salvage it, but couldn't do it, broke in two just above the knot. Ended up 0 for 2. :(

Erin

[Dick Parr]

Those are some great looking tops Pete!

[Frank Chaffee]

Wow Pete,
Them’s some very nice tops!!! Beautiful.

At first I was going to ask what king of string you use with those, but then I realized that those tops are simply spun and launched between thumb and forefinger. Cool. These tops are wonderfully simple machines that develop coordination in children and introduce basic principles of physics at an important age. My mother works with children, helping them to create traditional toys that have been used by kids for the last 40,000 years or so, and she would introduce a project like this.

But as a once and future kid, and as one of those with a bit too much testosterone in the mix, let me share some thoughts that you may (or may not), wish to consider.

Once a kid experiences the joy of creating an ongoing effect (still spinning…!!!), he or she often wants the opportunity to take the force to the next level. This is where the watch w/ stop watch capability comes into play.

The tops I played with when I was a kid were conically shaped to about a 35° included angle, like a shortened, squat plumb bob. We wound string around the tapered part from the wide portion towards the narrower tip, IIRC, a delicate and tenuous task at this tender age I must say, so that the top gained RPM when we threw it towards the ground and it unwound. At this stage the kids will be coming to you for steel tips that wear well on concrete, and parents, after you provide those tips, will come at you with skillets and butcher knives, angered by the damage done to floors in the home.

When kids can watch tops spin for a long time, they will observe the increasing wobbling that occurs as the tops inertia is spent. This is when the lesson of precession can be introduced.

If you set up a contest and perhaps even offer a prize, for the first kid whose top can match the precessional cycle of the Earth, the lessons of perseverance and patience can also come into playtime activities.

Frank

[John Hart]

I remember the tops that Frank is talking about. We had a lot of fun with those too.:)

[Pete Jordan]

Erin
I do turn them in one piece using a chuck though it gets a little dangerous when you get too close. I get my point and shape with a half round bowl scraper and fine tune with a scraper and use a skew if needed as Ken said.

Frank

You could already see my progression in progress. After viewing this page, http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/top.html, I was more confused than ever. I found this site with videos and knew I was in over my head.http://www.spintastics.com/TopVideos.asp
Thanks for the heads up about the irate villagers chasing me with pitchforks. I am not as fast as I used to be. The most comprehensive site about tops with links is this http://www.baldufa.com/webang13.htm

There are some very talented people out there!

Pete

[Pete Jordan]

Update!
I think Stu got wind of this top thing and has already put Team Mcgiver on the job! http://home.wanadoo.nl/gouwegroep/detolvancor.html

[Ken Fitzgerald]

How'd you like to friction polish that rascal?:confused:

[Pete Jordan]

How'd you like to friction polish that rascal?:confused:

I use Mylands wax and then Beall buff it. It gets a little hairy!

Pete