Christmas Presents for the Kids ... Spinner Tops

[Shane Whitlock]

Finally got some free time to do a little turning so I made some tops to hand out to all the kids at our Christmas party.

Making 3 or 4 was fun, 20 of them was a pain in the butt. The tops will probably be a little boring for the X-box generation, but if they don't like them I am sure the parents will.

I know I had a blast playing with them. I think I spent more time playing than turning. My record was 14 tops all spinning at once and the longest one spun for just under 5 minutes ... told ya I was having fun :D

Nothing fancy, the spinners are made out of maple and the handles and knobs are walnut. I drilled a hole in the bottoms of the tops and stuck in a piece of brass dowel to protect the bottoms.

http://www.shanewhitlock.com/photo/d/728-1/IMG_0918.jpg

http://www.shanewhitlock.com/photo/d/730-1/IMG_0919.jpg


Happy Holidays,
Shane Whitlock

[Jim Underwood]

Very nice Shane,

Can you give us a picture of one put together and wound up ready to spin?

[Steve Schlumpf]

Looks great Shane! I can't imagine a kid who wouldn't love getting one for Christmas! Very nice work!

[Jeffrey Fusaro]

sweet!

nice looking tops.

that looks like fun.

good job, shane.

[Don Orr]

Those look great-very nice work. Looks like fun to me !

[Tom Sherman]

Cool stuff Shane.

[Burt Alcantara]

Shane,
I love the colors. What pens/brushes did you use?

Thanks,
Burt

[Bernie Weishapl]

Shane those are some great looking tops. The kids will have ball with them. What pens or paint did you use? I use a artist pen that has a flexible tip that can be had from a artist store. They work pretty good.

[Shane Whitlock]

Thanks for the comments everyone. The tops were a big hit :D

I gave them out tonight at the party and the kids loved them. Their fancy electronic toys sat on the floor while they played with the tops all night.


...Can you give us a picture of one put together and wound up ready to spin?
Sorry Jim I wrapped them up right after taking the pics. If ya look at the middle of the bottom pic you can see one ready to go. They are simple to wind up. Hold one end of the string against the handle with your finger, stick the spinner shaft through the hole in the handle and then tightly wind the string around the end of the shaft. Give the string a good pull and away it goes.


... What pens/brushes did you use?
Burt

Burt and Bernie I just used some Crayola markers. Just touch the tip to tops while they are spinning on the lathe.

Thanks again for the comments.

Happy Holidays,
Shane

[Dan Forman]

Glad to hear they were a success. One can never tell what kids will go for these days, guess some things are just timeless.

Dan