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If you would like to be notified when I post a new article, send me an email. I'll only use the list for that purpose, and I'll mail blind cc so your address won't be any the worse for spam. Secret Santa Ornament as 6 page pdf Intarsia & Veneer Versions Pattern
SECRET SANTA ORNAMENT
INTRODUCTION:
At first glance this year’s ornament looks a lot like my earlier sphere
ornaments. It’s a sphere, and I even
did a couple with the Moon Santa design which you might have seen if you looked
at the gallery on my web site. Ah,
but this Santa ornament has a secret—it’s actually a box that you can use to
hide a small present right on the tree.
I saw Sharon Doughtie demonstrate using pairs
of magnets to close a box at an AAW Symposium.
I thought it was a really cool idea and ordered some small magnets as
soon as I got home. Didn’t get
around to trying them though.
Several years later Robert Rosand had an article on ornaments that were also
boxes. Likewise a cool idea, but I
think he used chased threads, and those and I and the need to use some really
rare and expensive wood with hardness measured on the Mohs scale don’t get
along. I sketched a snowman
ornament/box with magnet closure, but never actually tried it.
Then last year one of the variations of the sphere ornament I did had a
moon Santa pattern. I think the
pattern was originally from a carving book—I carved when the kids where small
and taking naps—now I’m the one taking naps.
There was no way I could pass up making an ornament with the cute title
of Secret Santa Ornament, so here it is.
Briefly the ornament starts with a maple body
and a walnut design background. Two
thin pieces of maple and walnut set the body and design apart.
After cutting the walnut background the design and body are joined
together with a temporary joint. The
elements of the Santa are cut out on a scroll saw and glued in place.
Rather than trying to cut them so that the kerf is invisible the pattern
makes a virtue out of a necessity by making the spaces deliberately wider and
filling the spaces with black tinted Bondo, giving a stained glass effect. The
blank is turned to a sphere and then magnets are inlaid in the body and a steel
arbor shim in the cap. The body and
cap are hollowed and a finial added.
BUILDING THE BLANK:
Since the method of doing the Moon Santa design, and hollowing two thirds of a
sphere as well as using a magnet closure may be new things for you, it would be
prudent to try the techniques separately.
You can do a regular sphere ornament with the Moon Santa and an all maple
magnetic box ornament to practice the techniques.
Or if you don’t mind possibly wasting some work then jump right in.
Start by collecting the materials you need
for the blank. For the body you need
a piece of maple (or any other wood you like) 3” wide, 2-3/8” thick and 4” long.
To separate the design from the body, as well as to make the hollowing
more manageable use two pieces of wood 1/16” thick, 3” wide and 4” long, one of
maple and the other of walnut (an alternative would be a 1/8” piece that
contrasts with both maple and walnut).
The design background is 1/2” thick walnut that is 3” wide and 4” long.
For the design you’ll 1/2” thick pieces of maple (for the face) padouk or
other reddish wood (for the hat) and holly (for the hair and hat trim).
The materials are shown in Fig. 1.
Figure #1:
The materials.
Make 3 copies of Drawing A, or download a
copy with multiple images from
http://www.DavidReedSmith.com/articles/SecretSantaOrnament/MoonSantaPattern.pdf
and print it. Use the whole pattern
for the walnut and the holly. Cut
around the hat of the third pattern for the padouk and the face for the maple.
Apply 3M #77 spray adhesive to the backs of the pattern pieces as in the
left image of Fig. 2.
The bamboo skewer was used to keep the pieces from flying away when the
spray was applied. Then, following the directions on the can to let the adhesive
set up, apply the pattern pieces to the various woods as in the right image of
Fig. 3.
Pay attention to the grain direction so it all runs the same way.
Drawing A:
The Moon Santa Pattern.
Figure #2:
Applying the pattern.
Drill an access hole for the scroll saw blade
somewhere in the middle of the Moon Santa of the Walnut piece.
Thread the blade through the hole as in the left image of Fig. 3 and then
cut out the middle as shown in the right image of Fig. 3.
If you don’t have a scroll saw you could use a fret saw or a coping saw.
You could also buy a scroll saw—one good enough for this kind of work
would cost less than a good chuck or wood burning outfit.
And you won’t necessarily be taken over by the urge to make painted geese
silhouettes or baroque clocks. I own
two of them (hate to change blades) and I’ve never done either.
Figure #3:
Sawing out the walnut background.
Now prepare the temporary joint.
Since the joint is not in the middle of the sphere it is disgustingly
obvious that something is missing when the pieces are put back together.
Conveniently, the thickness of two layers of blue tape and one layer of
copy paper are about the same as the two layers of construction paper that will
be used to cover up the magnets and steel that make the box work.
If you don’t mind letting the mechanics show, then you could probably use
a single piece of kraft paper for the temporary joint.
Put a layer of original blue masking tape on the top of the maple body
and one side of the 1/16” walnut piece.
Cut out a 3” x 4” piece of ordinary white paper.
Using a cereal cardboard square as a spreader, put a thin coat of glue on
one side of each mating pair and assemble the blank.
From the bottom it will be maple body, blue tape, paper, blue tape, 1/16”
walnut, 1/16” maple, 1/2” walnut.
Fig. 4 shows the set-up for the temporary joint.
Clamp the joint until the glue cures.
You can work on the design pieces in the mean time.
Figure #4:
The set-up for the temporary joint.
Drill a hole for the eye in the maple piece.
Then cut out all the pieces. A
zero clearance throat, or at least a throat narrower than the smallest piece
will be helpful. Cutting out the
maple and padouk pieces is straight forward.
For the holly pieces, cut lines with a narrow margin first, as in the
left image of Fig. 5. As the cap
trim was already cut out, the top of his hair piece had a narrow margin and was
cut first when there was still a substantial amount to hold on to.
If you would rather not deal with this issue, print a few extra copies of
the pattern and glue separate pieces on the holly.
The right image of Fig. 5 shows all the cut out pieces.
The pattern is left on to indicate which side goes up.
I added an arrow on the hat trim as well.
Figure #5:
Cutting out the design pieces.
Now glue in the design pieces.
You can use tweezers or the point of a knife to hold and position the
pieces. Place some blue tape on your
work surface to protect it and put some glue on the tape.
You can dab the piece in the glue, wipe off the excess on the tape, and
put the piece in place as in left image of Fig. 6.
Try for equal gaps between pieces.
After all the pieces are in place, set the blank aside to let the glue
cure as in the right image of Fig. 6.
Clamping might yield a better bond, but is also likely to disturb the
position of the pieces. The Bondo
applied in the next step will also serve the glue the pieces in place.
Figure #6:
Gluing the pieces in place.
The gaps will be filled with black tinted
Bondo. To avoid a reddish tinge you
can use a white cream hardener instead of the red hardener that usually comes
with the regular Bondo. White
hardener can be ordered separately or you could buy 3M All Purpose Filler which
comes with the white hardener. Alas,
the base of the All Purpose Filler has a white pigment mixed in, which may make
your colors somewhat pastel. Or just
use more black pigment. Although I
had some success tinting Bondo with such things as acrylic paint, dry pigments
work better. You can get dry
pigments in most colors at an art supply store, but I found some cheaper on
eBay. You could also use something
else to fill the gaps. Plaster of
Paris, after grinding with a mortar and pestle to avoid white lumps, can be
colored with acrylic paint. Sawdust and
glue is a possibility. I imagine epoxy would also work but I have no experience
with it.
Put on disposable gloves.
Set-up for mixing the Bondo as shown in Fig. 7.
Put some of the base in an appropriate disposable mixing container (like
the bottom of a yogurt container).
Add black pigment and stir thoroughly.
If you don’t use black and mix your own color, reserve some unhardened
mix for filling defects after turning.
Then add the amount of hardener recommended on the can as in the left
image of Fig. 8 and mix thoroughly.
Work the black Bondo into the gaps between pieces using the stirrer, your gloved
finger, small pieces of cardboard, or a trimmed bamboo skewer.
The result is shown in the right image of Fig. 8.
Set the blank aside and let the Bondo set.
You have a choice here. If
you let the Bondo cure overnight the bonds will be stronger.
But it will also dull your tools more quickly.
Figure #7:
Mix the Bondo
Figure #8:
Insert the Bondo
TURNING THE SPHERE:
Find the center of the blank at both ends using your favorite method and
mount the blank between centers on the lathe.
Turn the blank to a cylinder as in the top image of Fig. 9.
If you’re going to use the shadow sphere jig to turn the sphere (see
references) set it up at this time.
You can use an excess pen tube (or any similar object) to line the light up
directly over the center of the blank as in the bottom image of Fig. 9.
For the pattern to match the shadow to make a circular pattern that has
radial lines perpendicular and parallel to the lathe axis.
Center the pattern lengthwise to the blank.
The pattern should also be centered lengthwise to the blank.
Santa’s nose is about on center.
Use any pointy object held on the nose adjust the pattern so that the
shadow of the point falls on the radial line as in Fig. 10.
It’s difficult to center the pattern EXACTLY which is why I didn’t try
hollowing the body and creating a tenon on the lid before turning the sphere.
But this method will get you within the wiggle room left in the design.
Figure #9:
Turn the blank to a cylinder and line up the light.
Figure #10:
Center the pattern to the blank.
Turn the blank to a sphere using a spindle
detail gouge. The Bondo does tend to
dull the tool so you may wish to sharpen it after turning the Bondo area before
doing finishing cuts on the end grain.
A pyramid point tool used as a shear scraper is also helpful in improving
the finish off the tool. Turn the
sphere down to supported by nubs. It
would be prudent to leave the nubs somewhat thicker than in Fig. 11.
Figure #11:
Turn the blank to a sphere.
Take a good look at the fill lines on the
design. If there are no filling
defects please write and tell me how you did it, perhaps also including a
lottery ticket. If instead you’re
mortal, remove the blank from the lathe, mix up a little tinted Bondo and fill
the defects as in Fig. 12. As the
rest of the Bondo is cured, you only have to wait the time suggested on the can
before continuing. Remount the blank
on the lathe. You can use a foam
padded sanding strip to sand off most of the excess Bondo as in Fig. 13.
As who knows what’s in Bondo it would be prudent to use a mask as well as
dust collection when sanding it.
Figure #12:
Filling defects in the Bondo.
Figure #13:
Hand sand off excess Bondo.
Now sand the sphere using progressively finer
abrasives as in Fig. 14. If you have
a vacuum set-up you could consider doing the primary sanding after removing the
nubs. If you are using just tape to
hold the sphere in the chuck flipping it around for each grit would likely drive
you crazy.
Figure #14:
Sand the sphere.
Thin the nubs to where you can cut them off
with a utility knife as in Fig. 15.
A shear spear is a nice tool for this (see references).
Remove the sphere from the lathe and cut off the nibs.
Figure #15:
Thin the nubs.
Mount a sphere chuck on the lathe (see
references). Mount the sphere in the
chuck and sand the nub area of each end in turn as in Fig. 16.
The sphere chuck makes an excellent holding device to start splitting the
temporary joint. Carefully align a
putty knife with the temporary joint and tap it with a mallet to start the split
as in Fig. 17. Then remove the
sphere from the chuck and finish splitting the temporary joint.
Remove the tape and paper from both body and cap.
Figure #16:
Sand the nub areas.
Figure #17:
Starting to split the temporary joint while held in the sphere chuck.
MAGNETIC CLOSURE SYSTEM:
Before you start preparing to mount the magnets, prepare some
construction paper to cover up the metal parts and replace the missing thickness
of the temporary joint. Red or green
is traditional. You’ll have less
trouble with the paper fraying if you “harden” it with lacquer sanding sealer
first. Cut out a piece big enough to
cover the body and cap, roughly 3” x 6”.
Lay down some waxed paper to protect your work surface and paint both
sides of the paper with a generous coat of lacquer sanding sealer as in Fig. 18.
Then hang it up to dry via a wire poked through one corner.
Figure #18:
Stiffening construction paper.
Three 3/16” x 3/16” rod magnets will suffice
to hold the cap on. There isn’t
enough thickness at the rim of the cap for magnets.
It’s also very difficult to center the body and cap exactly enough to
place the magnets exactly, and magnets tend to self-center on each other.
A thin flat piece metal is a better solution.
After browsing an Industrial Supplier I found Arbor Shims.
They’re thin and narrow and come in a variety of diameters.
I used ones that are 2-1/8” OD,
1-1/2” ID and .010” thick.
Mount the body in the sphere chuck using the
flat front of the tailstock ram as in Fig. 19 to push it into the chuck.
This will ensure the flat face of the body is perpendicular to the lathe
access. If you have a drill guide
set it up on the lathe with a 3/16” drill bit mounted.
Use the lathe indexing system to equally space the holes for the magnets.
If you choose not to cover the metal parts with construction paper orient
the holes so that they will look symmetrical when the ornament is done, say with
one hole top dead center. Drill the
holes 3/16” deep as in Fig. 20. If
you don’t have a drill guide, then drill the holes with a hand held drill to
marks laid out with the indexing system and cover up any errors with the
construction paper later. Remove the
body from the chuck and insert the magnets as in Fig. 21.
Put some blue tape on your work surface to protect it and put a drop or
two of CA glue on the tape. Using
some sort of flat metal rod as a handle (chuck screw T-handle hex wrench works
nicely) dip the magnet in the glue and then place it in the drilled hole.
Measure how far the rim it will be safe to hollow the body later and
pencil it on the outside of the body somewhere.
Figure #19:
Use the tailstock ram to align the body in the sphere chuck.
Figure #20:
Drill mounting holes for the magnets.
Figure #21:
Insert magnets.
You’ll need a smaller sphere chuck for the
cap. If I was planning to do a lot
of these ornaments I would make a dedicated chuck with a recess the size of the
cap to aid in alignment. You may
need to use an extra 2mm foam gasket to get a seal between the cap and the chuck
as shown in the inset of Fig. 25.
Again using the tail stock ram for alignment, mount the cap in the chuck.
Double check by rotating the spindle to make sure the alignment is
correct. You can bring up a corner
of your tool rest very close to the cap and watch the gap between the tool rest
and the cap as you rotate the lathe.
Layout the recess for the Arbor shim with pencil, and then check the layout by
holding the arbor shim on the cap by hand as in Fig. 22.
Then use a standard parting tool as a scraper to cut a recess for the
Arbor Shim as in the right image of Fig. 22.
Rough up the surface of the Arbor Shim with some fine sandpaper.
Place a few dots of CA glue in the recess on the cap and put the shim in
place. Fig. 23 shows the set-up for
gluing in the Arbor Shim and it glued in place in the inset.
It’s not a great fit—I think the cap shifted in the chuck—but the paper
will cover up this sin.
Figure #22:
Create a recess for the Arbor Shim.
Figure #23:
Glue the shim in place.
Now glue the hardened construction paper to
the body and cap. The first time I
tried this I used my usual 3M #77 spray but found when I trimmed it with
sandpaper after hollowing that it tended to roll over and stick onto the body
and become hard to remove. So use
some kind of regular glue that will stick to metal such as Locktite Go2.
Using the cap as a template, cut out slightly larger circles with
scissors. Spread a thin coat of glue
on the paper and place them on the cap and body.
You can clamp them together with a piece of waxed paper in between.
Fig. 24 shows the set-up for gluing on the paper.
Figure #24:
Glue construction paper over the magnets and shim.
HOLLOWING:
Using the
smaller chuck, mount the cap for hollowing again using the tailstock ram and
tool rest to assist with alignment.
You may need to use a 2mm craft foam gasket as seen in the inset to get a good
vacuum seal as in the inset of Fig. 25.
Since you know the ID of the shim you can pencil in a line just inside of
where it’s safe to hollow. I don’t
recommend hollowing into the design area—it doesn’t look attractive and you may
pull chunks of Bondo out. Make a shallow depression as in Fig. 25.
If you want to use a friction polish you can polish the bottom of the cap
at this time.
Figure #25:
Hollow the cap.
With calipers, measure the distance from the
flat face of the body to the opposite side of the sphere.
Set a depth drill to a safe amount less than this distance.
Mount the body in the larger sphere chuck, again using the tailstock ram
to help align it. Measure in from
the rim the safe hollowing distance and mark just inside that with pencil as in
Fig. 20. Turn a starting dimple in
the middle of the face and then use the depth drill, as in Fig. 21, to indicate
the hollowing depth.
Figure #26:
Mark the width of the rim.
Figure #27:
Use a depth drill to mark hollowing depth.
One way to start hollowing the body is to
start with a small bowl gouge as in Fig. 28.
You should be able to hollow to the width of the rim down to the bottom
of the depth drill. Trying to
undercut the rim with a gouge in such close quarters is a good way to have a
catch and destroy all your previous work, so switch to some kind of scraper like
the Stewart System handle show in Fig. 29 to undercut the rim and finish
hollowing. A shear scraper (1/2”
drill blank sharpened to a45° bevel), as in Fig. 30 should both smooth out the
surface and lessen sanding time.
Figure #28:
Start hollowing with a bowl gouge.
Figure #29:
Complete hollowing with a scraping hollowing tool.
Figure #30:
Refine the surface with a shear scraper.
FINISHING:
A small foam cone sander (see references), as in Fig. 31 will make the
initial sanding of the inside of the body go more quickly.
If you don’t want to fuss with sanding the interior an alternative would
be to use Suede-Tex.
Figure #31:
Sand the interior.
Trim the construction paper to the contours
of the sphere by carefully centering the cap on the body and holding it in place
with a blunt tailstock center cushioned with 2mm craft foam as in the left image
of Fig. 32. You can trim most of the
excess paper away with scissors and then sand away the rest starting with 150
grit or so. The result is shown in
the right image of Fig. 32.
Figure #32:
Trim the paper to the sphere contour.
If you want to use a friction polish then
polish the inside of the body at this time as in Fig. 33.
You can friction polish the outside of the ornament in stages.
Polish the front half of the body in the same mounting as for the
polishing inside as in the left image of Fig. 34.
Reverse the body and polish the back of the body as in the center image
of Fig. 34. Then mount the smaller
chuck and polish the cap as in the right image of Fig. 34.
Figure #33:
Polish the inside.
Figure #34:
Polish the outside.
Turn a finial of your choice.
If you want to use the style finial in
the pictures see references. Measure
the wall thickness of the ornament where you want the finial with a pair of
calipers. If it’s thick enough (if
not, use some kind of backup to drill through cleanly and adjust the tenon to
the same length as the thickness), mark a drill matching the diameter of your
finial tenon for less than that depth.
Make a starting dimple for the drill with an awl and then drill a mortise
for the finial. Finally add a
hanger. The completed ornament is
shown in Fig. 35.
Figure #35:
The completed ornament.
VARIATIONS:
There are many changes you could make to the basic idea.
I’ve written an addendum (see references) showing how to make the make
the Moon Santa using Intarsia and veneering techniques.
You could use maple for the entire ornament and paint, ink or wood burn
the Santa. You could use two
temporary joints so that you could hollow the ornament as hemispheres.
Have fun and send pictures.
TOOLS AND MATERIALS:
Lathe and normal tools, Scroll or Fret Saw,
shadow sphere jig, sphere chucks, putty knife, drill bits, vise grips as depth
drill holder.
Spray Adhesive, 3” x 2-3/8” x 4” maple, 1/16”
x 3” x 4” maple and walnut, 1/2” x 3” x 4” walnut, small pieces 1/2” thick
maple, holly, & padouk, Bondo & white cream hardener, black pigment,
construction paper, lacquer sanding sealer, 3 each 3/16”x 3/16” rare
earth magnets, arbor shim, Locktite Go2,
2mm craft foam.
REFERENCES:
Shadow Sphere Jig:
http://davidreedsmith.com/Articles/ShadowSphereJig/ShadowSphereJig.htm
Shear Spear:
http://davidreedsmith.com/Articles/ShearSpear/shear_spear.htm
Sphere Chuck:
http://davidreedsmith.com/Articles/SlidingEccentricSphereChuck/SlidingEccentricSphereChuck.htm
Foam Cone Sander:
http://davidreedsmith.com/Articles/FoamConeSander/FoamConeSander.htm
Finial:
http://davidreedsmith.com/Articles/SphereOrnament/SphereOrnament.htm
Intarsia & Veneer versions:
http://davidreedsmith.com/Articles/SecretSantaOrnament/Addendum.htm
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