What am I going to do with this Massive Fir Ball?
Вставка
- Опубліковано 1 чер 2024
- In 2019, I acquired a large chunk of fir from a tree I slabbed up. The piece of fir has been sitting outside next to the shop for the last 4 years. I finally pulled it out and decided instead of getting rid of it, I would turn it into a massive sphere. I had a little trouble getting it mounted on the lathe. I had to get a chuck spur so I would be able to hold the piece of fir on the lathe. I used the band saw to cut off the excess wood so that turning wouldn't take quite so long. I did a first pass of turning by getting the piece as spherical as I could. I then went through the process of making a sphere by rotating the workpiece about its axis over and over, getting it more and more spherical. Even after it was done, I still wasn't quite sure what I would make out of this sphere. Right now it just lives in our backyard.
Tools used in this project can be found at
www.frankmakes.com/
To see upcoming projects follow me on social media
Patreon patreon.com/user?u=16151185&u...
Instagram / frank.howarth
Facebook / frankmakes
0:00 (introduction)
0:44 (woodturning prep)
2:36 (woodturning)
6:52 (conclusion) - Навчання та стиль
Since it is a Fir Ball and you have cats, my vote is to hollow the sphere, hang it from the ceiling or make a stand, place some padding inside, position the hole so the cats can access the sphere from the side. Cats in a Fir Ball!
This is the winner right here.
furballl fir ball! but yeah old school MCM orb chair, i second this idea
That was exactly my first thougt too. Would look fantastic!
I like it!
scratch my suggestion. this is much better.
You could turn it down to an egg shape and put it in the yard next to a sign that reads "Beware of Chicken"
Hahahahaha omg that would be so funny
You won🎉
Or "Protected T. Rex Nesting Area - Do Not Disturb Wildlife"
That's a Death Star. The spot where one of the branches grew out is where the laser thing from the Death Star goes.
now that would be cool.
I thought the same thing.
Frank's already done a death star!
@ajmerkahlon8890 history has shown us that you can't have too many death stars. 👍
Frank has already made a Death star from bamboo, if memory serves me correct but given there were two Death Stars, this would be perfect opportunity to make the mk2.
The subtle Rover references from "The Prisoner" were a nice touch.
If this is this year's Christmas ornament I can't wait to see the size of this year's Christmas tree 😮
Frank's ornaments just keep getting bigger but the tree never does! 😂
Look up artist David Nash. The specific piece is called “Wooden Boulder” and that thought of “what do I do with this big ball of wood” is exactly what happened to him. He eventually just pushed it into a drainage ditch, but over time it started to move with the seasons. He started documenting its journey until it made it to the ocean where it met its final resting place and was lost forever. Reading his words about this hunk of wood was heart-wrenching. It started to feel like his child.
You won🎉
You won🎉
Awesome use of The Prisoner sample at the end!
Drill one hole straight through the center, run a long threaded rod with an eye hook on top and an extended pointer on the bottom. Connect the eye hook to a long cable and suspend it from a strong tree branch and allow the fir ball to move as a giant pendulum. Build a sandbox under the pendulum so that the moving pointer can create a design in the sand as the pendulum moves.
Foucault's pendulum.
Cool idea.
You won🎉
You won🎉
I love that you turned this just for the sake of doing it not really having a purpose in mind for an end product
I have made hundreds of spheres that size for the pyrotechnic industry, they use them as a mold to make round fireworks ball shells' They put the waxed wooden sphere on a machine that wraps a wet glued paper tape onto the ball to make the paper ball shell that is then cut off of the ball in halves after it dries.
You won🎉
You won🎉
Make some giant bowling pins as you already have a giant lawn-bowling ball
You won🎉
It'd be an absolute bear of a project to pull off, but filling all the cracks with resin could be really cool - especially coinciding with the table idea. It'd remove the structural problems and stop it from further deteriorating, but, like I said, it'd be a real bear of a project to pull that off.
To riff off this idea, I suggest hollowing out the interior, sealing the outside, and making a light fixture. Possibly exterior.
Turn in into a community bird house with several openings allowing 4 or 5 families of birds. You'd have to put on on stilts or some sort of raised platform, of course.
You won🎉
I like the "let it roll around the yard" idea. My dad always used to say "I don't have time to work on it, so I'll put it outside and let the weather work on it".
I love the cat sphere idea though, my immediate thought was the fir ball/fur ball pun!
You won🎉
You won🎉
Enjoyed the background audio. :-) Maybe you can inlay some pretty architectural gingerbread form Portmeirion where "The Prisoner" was filmed.
Super cool as always, Frank. Leaving it to roll around the yard is my favorite idea. Maybe turn some pins and have a giant lawn bowling set??!? Keep us posted, thanks!
When you showed the table idea I instantly thought of you making that the "destroyed" deathstar where the side is blown out.
Frank, you are the best.
How about a disco ball that instead of having tons of small pieces of mirrors you carve out some holes with the CNC in random places to then fill them up with some kind of epoxy that has small lights on each piece. Then you hang it and put a motor to rotate it and have the coolest disco ball in the world.
Nice fir ball! Maybe you could dimple it, make a tee for it to sit on and turn it into the worlds largest golf ball. Have your very own roadside attraction. Before you know it, you could have Paul Bunyan's driving range.
Great Balls of Fir. Isn't that a song by Jerry Tree Lewis?
Hi Frank. My name is Ella I am 8 years old. I like watching your videos with my dad alot.And l think you should just use it for decor.😊
I would suggest that it be used as a base for a coffee table with either a glass top, slab or cookie (Nakashima style) Keep the cracks, maybe a bow tie or two if you thing it needs to be stabilized.
Thanks for sharing
I just have visions of seeing it rolling around in the background of future videos 😅
Those large cracks remind me of the Valles Marineris on Mars! Making a topographical globe of Mars (or some kind of exoplanet) would be cool.
Put it in a basin with a water spout to make it like, one of those globes you can spin around.
Love the Rover references!
Fill the cracks with resin. Put it back on the lathe to smooth.
Cut it in half on the bandsaw.
Use the cnc to carve a pennyfarthing bike in the top.
Fill that with a colored resin.
Now it can be an indoor Prisoner-themed table!
I liked the golf ball idea. Seeing you lathe a tee that size would be fun too. It would probably need to be stabilized, as many have suggested. I would like to see you figure out how many dimples are required, their size, and then a way to get them symmetrical.
This has been mentioned a few times, and is by far the most fun, whimsical and challenging to do right. I would love seeing the process as it unfolds.
You won🎉
Honestly the table idea looks pretty awesome!
I saw this title and immediately thought of the cult horror movie critters 🤣 I don't know why but that would be a cool build! Cheers love your videos!
I know it has already been suggested but, Frank, you have a Death Star.
I can't believe I didn't immediately see the pun in your video title - I must need a nap more than I thought!
Good foundation for making a Kirby statue out of wood. Got to admit the cats in a fir ball is really appealing though 😂
Fill in the crack's with black resin, saw it in half like a Weber grill, hollow it out, water proof the interior, mount it on 3 legs, fill with ice and beer
Now that you’ve made the Perisphere, I’m looking forward to the Trylon build
Giant eyeball sculpture. CNC the rhetna.
Make two more and have an outdoor snowman decoration. ❤
The shot where you had it up in the air to me was really beautiful. Maybe it's silly, but I'd suggest to keep it as an art piece, install it on some thin invisible spoke somewhere and just a have a ball of huge wood grains in your yard.
I really liked the idea, to make a table out of it, it's not such a crazy idea, more like an experiment in which you play with form and volume. Love the channel! love the projects! cheers from Romania
OK so I'm not the only one who saw Death Star. Starkiller Base was another good suggestion. Did an image search for wood sphere and the vast majority were just that: objects of beauty with no other function. If it must be put to use somehow, maybe a giant candle holder? Chandelier or lamp? Cut in half it could be a home for a star projector / planetarium projector. The first hemisphere could be the used as the legs for the 2nd. Huge or they could become serving bowls for vast quantities of walnuts. Bore a hole in it and it's the world's fanciest birdhouse. Heck, at that size, the cats could fit inside. I know if I were a cat, I'd love to own a hollow Death Star bed. ;)
You've got the first piece of a truly epic pool table! 😁
Truly a Prisoner to your own impulses.
glad for an update and new project to watch :)
Love your videos Frank :)
Best thing I've seen for turning large pieces like this is a router mounted to the lathe on an articulated arm. with the lathe turning very slowly, the route roughs out the piece with minimal effort. I would think your CNC might be able to rough out the initial shaping too. As to ideas, apply a mirror finish, mount it on an acrylic shaft and stick it in your garden. A floating mystery ball.
Frank I just wanted to I think you are an amazing human being. You're creativity is inspirational. In my humble opinion I feel like you're work shop is second to none. No disrespect for our fellow woodworkers out there. There definitely some amazing shops out there..
I second this. Frank you are a genius!
Looks good Frank. I like the globe idea. And then build the axis so that I can spin like a globe.
You won🎉
Make a big cup for it to float in with as little water as will float it, then it could be a tactile spinning sculpture. Great vid, many thanks!
Here's a video of a cool cat hacking up a fir ball. 😂
Frank. I like your style. Your dry sense of humor and willingness to go against the grain puts every new video of yours at the top of my watch list.
Now, I know you enjoy the craft more than your jokes, but hear me out. What could possibly be funnier than turning the sphere back into a log, just smaller obviously. Maybe I’m wrong, but I think that would produce a very unique experience for your loyal viewers. How often do you get the opportunity to simultaneously entertain your viewers while also crushing their double digit IQ, rainbow goop dreams.
Or I’m the one with rainbow goop dreams, and a double digit IQ. It’s hard telling.
I love it, Frank! It’s a beast!
A wooden Sputnik, a funky lamp or coffee table, a design speaker, a flowerpot, ...
Hi Frank! You could make this the first of a planet series, use epoxy to smooth/refine the exterior. Maybe this could be Jupiter? Then find a way to suspend them into a huge outdoor? indoor? mobile.
You won🎉
Gonna be interestng no matter what you decide!
Amazing Frank.
looks like you had some fun
I was wondering why the Number Six music in the beginning until I saw the sphere rolling around on the grass and "aah OK"
The last shot kind of reminded me of the Eye of Sauron. You could use the crack to turn it into a huge creepy eyeball rolling around the garden!
I think you should make a giant spiral track that this giant "marble" rolls down, and an elevator to lift it back up to the top again on loop. Channel a bit of Colin Furze and keep going with the oversize scale.
Nice Prisoner reference 😂
It’s so big, it would be so satisfying to see it in some kind of perpetual motion. Like how those huge crystal balls float on a garden water feature. Or some kind of spinning mechanism? I’m not sure how, but it’d be so cool to see such a lump moving gracefully. Tho I can hear myself,, I understand that’s a tall order on the engineering side of things. I’ll comment if lightning strikes
It seems a good start for some oversized bowling alley. You've got the ball. Now all that is left is to make ten (segmented) oversized pins.
Was anticipating your next video. What a pleasant surprise. I see this as a base for a larger piece. Thanks for the inspiration.
I think that it can be a firt part of snowman with stand in corner of garden and will hold a new yraerly make christmass ball.
Judging by the amount of cracks and missing parts it has i'd do a fire ball from the fir ball :-). As I don't like the usual resin/epoxy "fixes". Other than that a garden seat just as it is (waxed maybe) would be nice also.
I use the Big Bite chuck spur regularly. Pound it in first with a mallet.
A possibly simple-ish thing to do would be to fill the cracks with epoxy and then re-round from there. I think the random lawn ornament idea is pretty decent. Maybe a less aggressive sanding method to get it started once you have the cracks filled?
You won🎉
Hollow it out, add lighting from the interior, and make it into a beautiful chandelier. You could cut interesting shapes into the surface from which light escapes, or add a few external lights on stems extending from the ball.
Theme song from The Prisoner! One of my favorite show ever.
Music from THE PRISONER
I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. - Number 6
Man is back at it again with his massive balls
You won🎉
You made Rover!
Frank - turn a few giant bowling pins and then you have lawn bowling!
Big backyard bowling
Hi ! You can turn it into a planter, a decorative element in the shape of a walnut shell, a lamp base, an original storage box, a grafting box for your cats... Thanks for your videos!
Rolling around the garden is it's perfect place!
Maybe plants flowers or fungus in the cracks and let it merge back into nature ❤
The audio clip at the end is a nice touch, Frank. Very clever.
Giant birdhouse that hangs from a tree like a tether ball.
I vote "crappy globe". LOL great video!!
I love the idea of an outdoor table!
I recognized the opening music immediately!
Hello ! You can use it as a giant foot for a dinner table ! With a great piece of flat rock or glass maybe ?
It's a huge wooden ball !
You can also digg in to do a game for the cats !
I have many ideas for this piece but it's not easy to explain because english isn't my native language.
Sorry !
Thanks you for all your interesting videos !
My thoughts as you were turning was that you make a globe drinks container by cutting it in half. Always fun to watch your work.
I love it as is - find a nice half-shaded corner in your garden and put it there. Watch it get overgrown with moss - maybe put two smaller siblings next to it
I like this. It's easy lol
With those nice cracks, I personally would try to inoculate it with tasty forest-dwelling mushrooms and make it farmable art. But, I’m now thinking that the table idea would perhaps work alongside that… Haha!
The thing the differentiates it from your other spheres is that it’s a solid block, so you should play with that. Drill holes through and play with the space inside the sphere making a lattice or something
Yes, but it has to go deep. That is where the wonder is! Thanks for all the sharing. It's inspirational.
@@rorywallace7335careful not to go to deep, you might uncover a Balrog and no one wants one of those in the house
You won🎉
Great video and fabrication. Giant MACE! Mahalo for sharing! : )
Polish it out super super smooth, put some brass legs under it and call it art. Great conversation piece
Loved the Prisoner allusions.
How about a solar system? If this is the sun, you could use a log scale to size the planets. 🤓
Love it. Single rope tree swing is my vote but there are so many good ones here already!
It would be a beautiful base for a table. Your awesome..👍
Cut off a slice to make like a table with short legs but the table top made thick could be swung off to the side pivoting on a hidden pin to reveal the hollowed out interior below for storage.
It would be cool to turn it into one of those water features where the ball floats on a thin flim of water inside a cup so it can spin freely. The ones I've seen are usually some kind of rock tho so idk if it would work with wood.
probably needs to be coated in a thick layer of epoxy so the water does not cause it to rot
Ha I had the same exact idea! Nice!
I'd like to suggest mounting a shade-producing item (patio umbrella, or something with a more interesting shape like a leaf or whatever strikes your fancy) into it, and making a seat that can tighten down onto the ball to lock the shade item into the orientation needed at that hour.
You won🎉
I love your videos! Another great job good sir.
Perhaps a concave side and use it as a succulent planter. Maybe with the legs from the table idea.
I see a Death Star being made out of it. The flat portion could be where the cracks and gouges are. Once complete, hang it from the rafters!
Make it into a Star Wars Death Star. CNC the trench / emitter details in.
A super elegant plinth, set in the yard somewhere the sphere can mellow and naturalize... rather like a gazing ball on a log, but in reverse.
Death Star! Jupiter with Spot! Giant Christmas ornament 😆! Lego Technics Garden Gnome ? 🤣
Make 15 more, CNC some numbers in, dig a bunch of holes, fell a couple of trees to make into enormous cues, and you've got a yard-sized game of pool going!