Christmas Ornament

 

A Pictorial Article by Bob Hamilton

 

This ornament is similar in appearance to an “inside out” turned ornament but can be made much faster since you don’t have to wait for glue to dry.  It is made from a single piece of 8/4 stock rather than 4 pieces.  I started with a black walnut blank measuring 4 inches long and 1 15/16” square.  I measured 1 ½” from one end and squared a line around all four sides.

 

Photo #1:  Blank

 

I set up my drill press with a fence and 1 ½” sawtooth forstner bit.  The fence was set to locate the blank so the hole would be bored on center.  I marked a line on the table where the center of the bit was located to aid in aligning the holes.

Update Nov.30, 2008 Since I found I was having too many failures due to the webs being too thin I have been boring the intersecting holes at 1 3/8" using 8/4 stock to leave a bit more stock in the web between holes.

 

Photo #2:  Drill press set-up

 

I bored a hole about half way through the blank and then flipped it end for end, keeping the same face against the fence.  I aligned the mark on the blank with the line on the table and bored another hole to meet the first hole.  If you are doing several of these it is worth taking the time to set up stop blocks to locate the holes.

 

Photo #3:  Second hole bored to meet first.

 

I repeated these two steps to bore an intersecting hole through the blank.

 

Photo #4:  Boring complete

 

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