Turning the Drop Finials - My Turning Needs Practice

The next step in building the table for me is to make the two drop finials which are attached to the bottom of the apron.  I had made a drawing of the sizes and shapes for the finials. I used pictures from various books to select the design that I liked.  It is somewhat similar to those that are on the table at Winterthur.

Here is the first one that I turned.  It has an ugly turning catch in the top but that is what practice is for.   I decide that it is too small and the ball needs to be larger.

So I turned another.  I should get better, right.  Wrong. The second one the ball looks like a tomato but no catches this time.  Here I am turning the cylinder.

Then mark out the design by putting the lines on the cylinder.

Then turn the shapes.  The ball is the hardest for me to get it to look like a ball.

This is not going to be the best one.  You see the ball looks like it is squished.  I need to start over again.  But I am getting quicker and I have now memorized the dimensions.

Finally an acceptable one.  I made it larger and the ball a little bigger.  The rejects are on the right.

Now to do another like this one. These two look pretty good.  Now if I were a better turner I would have the ball on the ends all one piece.  But since I am not I will turn the ball separately and glue it on.

Turning the ball for the end of the finial.

Looks ok.  So now I have to make another and glue them on.

Glued on

Here how it looks with them attached to the table apron.  This is only temporary, I will finish sand them first before gluing them on.

Now I will start to work on the top.  So here is today's video: