Ball finial and base for summerhouse

A large hardwood globe finial for a summerhouse.

Ball finial

This ball finial requested by Fiona is larger than most that we have made. Given its size, it was made from 6 blocks of mahogany (the genuine article, from a stock of old blocks recovered from a garage clearace a couple of years ago).

The finial was supplied untreated in its natural wood state. The customer intends to apply oil; linseed oil or tung oil are recommended for mahogany.

Some pictures of construction are shown below. A sphere this size, even made from glued up blocks, does create a lot of shavings.

Other views

2½ x 5 x 5, 2½ x 5 x 8 and 2½ x 8 x 8 blocks glued up to make the sphere.

GLUE-UP FOR A GLOBE

Mahogany FN188

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Turned finial and base for a summerhouse. On the lathe,starting to shape up.

BLOCK ON THE LATHE

Mahogany FN188

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A 9" diameter globe is 3.3 times the volume of a 6" globe. Turning removes a lot of waste material inthe form of shavings, despite using carefully dimensioned blocks rather than a single large block (which would be very difficult to source and very likely to split).

SHAVINGS EXCEED finiaL!

Mahogany FN188

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