carving challenge and question

[curtis rosche]

i am almost finished my attempmt to make a ball from figured maple, why is it so hard to make a ball? can some one make a tutorial so i can see if i did it right? i will post pics of it when it is done

also, why is wenge to hard to carve?

[mike holden]

Curtis, One of the problems is that it is geometrically exact - any deviation and you do not have a ball. Second, is that circles, like straight lines and right angles are easily identified by the brain, and deviations are noticed.
Any reason to make the ball? Or are you just trying things out?
The only instructions I can remember seeing used a lathe and a router in a jig, or a lathe and a hole saw (!!!!) in a drill motor. Scary, but if one thinks about it, it will produce a sphere.
The router was making spheres for the tops of posts, the hole saw was to make bocce balls.
Mike

[curtis rosche]

just playin around with a peice of maple and a chisel. its not perfectly round but it is pretty close. i will put up pictures next week

[Mike Henderson]

also, why is wenge to hard to carve?

Wenge is hard and splits easily. Not a good carving wood.

Mike

[Tom Frei]

Get a compass and paper, make a circle outline, cut out a half circle the size you want, and use that for a guage, and very sharp blades.

[Lee Chadwick]

also, why is wenge to hard to carve?

I totally despise wenge. It is a very grainy wood that you could sand for years and still have voids in the grain. I make turkey calls and will sometimes use wenge for paddles. I tried to carve it ONE time and learned NEVER to do that agin. I now just cut it and leave it plain.