first finials on xmas ornaments

[tom lucas]

My first finials on xmas ornaments. Much harder than I expected. Practice, practice, practice.
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[Jon McElwain]

Good looking ornaments! I bet you'll have some friends or relatives who will be thankful for those.

I picked up a couple of sea-urchin shells when we were in Oregon this summer with the intent to make some similar ornaments. I think I first saw them done be Cindy Drozda. I always wondered how to attach the sea urchin to the finials. Is the finial two pieces that are attached to each other through the center of the shell? Are they doweled together?

My experience with long slender finials is to finish them as you go. Maybe an inch at a time, and finished through final sanding before moving on. Then you can get pretty narrow (less than an 8th) if you want. How about yours?

[Chris A Lawrence]

I like to round the entire finial then shape it keeping it thick. Once i am happy with the shape i work from the tip back thinning it down using my opposite hand as a steady. Sanding can be done with the opposite hand steady to support it.

[tom lucas]

The finials are 2 separate pieces simply sized to fit snugly in each end. Then glued with wood glues. I had to round out the holes in the shells and sand down the bumps that inrtefered with seating the finials.

My frustrations were with detailed spindle gouge run back. I ruined a few of them due to that. It was usually when I was just about finished, trying to get that last little bit of deep detail. Toward the end, on the last one (the yellow one), I finally was able to control the gouge in the deep details ..... well mostly.

BTW the wood on the yellow one is ebonized walnut in an attempt to look like ebony. The light colored one is spalted maple, two are some variety of exotic, as is the black mottled one. Anyone know what that mottle wood is? It's pretty, but wasn't great to turn. Wood kind of came off in big chips at the color boundaries. Looks great on the end grain though.

[Ronald Fox]

When I have made them, I used 1/8 wooden dowels. Just drill 1/8 holes in the upper and lower prices and dry fit the pieced together until I had the dowel length right and then glued them up. They do turn out nice and those you give them to (or sell) appreciate them.
Ron