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    2 Ways to Turn a Sphere

    May 05, 2020 5 minutes
    Written by: Logan Wittmer

    On the surface, turning a sphere appears to be straightforward. After all, lathes make things round, right? Well, turning a perfect sphere can be a tricky endeavour. When I was asked to turn the sphere for the weathervane on page 28, I thought it would be fun to try a couple of different techniques.

    SHADOW TURNING

    The technique I used is called shadow turning. And while it sounds like I may be using some long-lost Kung-Fu woodturning technique, it’s really quite simple.

    The shadow turning process requires a little set up. In short, you suspend a powerful light above your lathe, and use it to create a shadow of your workpiece on a platen. On the platen, you print out a “target” of what you want to turn. In this case, that’s a perfect

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    Sources
    For both oilstones and water-stones, Norton Abrasives is a good source. The honing guide and honing compounds shown come from Veritas (and are sold by Lee Valley). Leather strops can be found at some hardware stores, most kitchen supply store, and at

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