Tai Chi Ball

Mrfixit71

Board of Directors, Treasurer
Rich
Staff member
Corporate Member
My son has a side business of making martial arts practice weapons, mostly out of white oak, and often gets asked about other woodworking projects, like cutting boards, charcuterie boards, recently was asked about a tai chi ball. Since he doesn't do much turning and I mostly turn bowls, I said I'd give it a try.

The client wanted an 8-8 1/2" diameter ball, so I went to me supply of wood that hadn't found a project yet (AKA scrap) and glued up a blank (red oak, cherry, spalted maple, and hickory). This is the first time I've tried turning a sphere and it turned out better than expected. It's about 8 1/4" diameter of wood (solid, not hollow) and weighs about 8 pounds. A coat of shellac to raise the grain, light sanding, and two coats of paste wax.

Tai Chi Balls

Tai Chi Ball2.jpg
Tai Chi Ball1.jpg
 

creasman

Jim
Staff member
Corporate Member
Very nice! Did you use any special technique to get it round? I've seen examples of various jigs used to make spheres.
 

Mrfixit71

Board of Directors, Treasurer
Rich
Staff member
Corporate Member
The only jig I used was to cut a half circle out of 1/4" plywood and used the concave side as a gauge to fine tune the circumference. There are several YouTube videos on turning spheres without jigs that I watched.
 

Graywolf

Board of Directors, President
Richard
Staff member
Corporate Member
Great job Rich. I’ve been thinking about those, I get asked to make practice sticks and swords a lot and have been interested in the ball for a while
 

Mrfixit71

Board of Directors, Treasurer
Rich
Staff member
Corporate Member
Nicely done. I have not been so ambitious on the lathe, but that is inspirational.

I'd never heard of them until my son asked if I could make one. I've watched a couple videos on turning spheres but never tried to turn one. It was a challenge to myself to see if I could do one.
 

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