top of page

Woodturning 4 Inch Wood Finials

These will adorn newel posts for a staircase in a renovated church.


A question was asked recently as to how we would turn multiple 4” wooden

ball finials to adorn staircase newel posts.

In our quest to answer the question, we found a number of YouTube videos

on the subject.

Some videos recommended expensive lathe attachments (>$500). The

Carter Lathe Tools is one company that makes a lathe jig to create perfect

wood balls on the wood lathe. The jig seems to be manufactured in

Australia. However unless you plan on making dozens of wood balls, the

cost of the tool and shipping it to Canada is prohibitive.

Some videos recommended home made jigs made out of metal or wood

but they tend to be quite complex to make and by the time the jig is

perfected, I bet you wish you spent the money on the Carter model above.

Other videos recommended using a drill press and hole saw to make the

wooden balls. This is what we tested below.

Warning: we used a 2.5” hole saw with soft wood for our initial tests. While

our goal was to make 4” wood newel balls with cherry wood we first learned

the technique with the smaller 2.5” format before we committed to trying it

with the larger hole saw. Remember safety first! We assessed everything

that could go wrong and we prepared accordingly and proceeded with an

abundance of caution.

We were unsure what to expect with the 4” hole saw, but we secured both

the lathe and the drill press to the same bench to make sure that what we

were going to attempt was going to be safe. Still, there was a lot of

vibration and shaking as the hole saw started digging through the cherry

wood. So if you are going to try this technique then please proceed with

caution.


The setup:

We positioned a heavy duty drill press above a wood lathe and we centred

the hole saw on top of a wooden cylinder that was turned from a log.

To be safe, one person was monitoring the "on / off" switches of the drill

press and lathe as well as the speed while the other person was slowly

cutting into the wood by lowering the hole saw. It was only after we

became accustomed to the process that we were able to complete the

remaining finials with relative ease.

You can see in the photos below the wooden ball taking shape. Once the

ball was mostly formed, we removed the tail stock and we cleaned up the

ball top tenon with bowl gouges. We then sanded the wood ball until

smooth.

Strangely enough and to our surprise, the procedure worked and we

created 6 finials with the cherry wood log.

Consider the following steps to make 4” wood balls with a 1” tenon

extension to mount into a newel post:

1) Align the drill press and 4” hole saw to be dead centre with the drive

and tailstock centres.

2) Cut 8” length of the >6” diameter cherry log. Note the log was

recently cut and very wet. Therefore we were careful to seal the ends of

the log in between sessions to avoid cracks in the end grain.

Why 8” of log? Consider the tenon for mounting the log (0.5”) in the chuck,

approx 1” for the newel post mounting tenon, 4” for the wood ball finial and

space at the other end for the livestock to grip the wood securely. Our goal

was to leverage the 1” dowel like tenon in the chuck to allow for final

sanding. This proved to be the right decision as it simplified sanding and

finishing.

3) Mount the 8” length of cherry log on the lathe and turn it to 4.5 - 5”

inches in diameter (the hole saw was 4.25” O.D.) Turn a tenon to fit into a

lathe chuck.

4) With the cherry log mounted in the lathe chuck and the 4” hole saw

mounted in the drill press, start both the lathe and the drill press. Lower the

hole saw bell housing slowly with pulsing motion until the ball is formed.

See photos for reference below.

Lessons learned:

a) Do not use the typical hole saw 2 pin locknut mechanism because

this setup produces a lot of play in the bell housing. This generates

considerable vibration and it creates deep grooves in the wood ball.

Instead make sure the bell housing is screwed on tight to the hole saw

mandrel. This will not only reduce vibrations but it will create a smoother

finish. We have included photos of each outcome for comparison. The first

finial has deep grooves whereas subsequent finials do not. Albeit it still

produced a “hairy look”. Look to use hole saws with smaller teeth.

b) When you lower the hole saw, it helps if you use a gentle pulsing up

and down motion to allow for the wood chips and dust to clear. This also

reduces the pressure on the lathe and drill press motors. As the wooden

ball takes shape the downward drill press motion becomes easier and

firmer because the shape of the ball is centred in the hole saw bell housing.

c) Note that the midi-lathe we used weighs 100 lbs and has a 1HP

motor and the drill press is likely 175 lbs-ish and also has a 1HP motor.

We mention this because we do not recommend using this technique with

lighter tools. If too much pressure was applied, we could easily stall both

the lathe and the drill press which is definitely not recommended.

d) This hole saw method works for making wood balls of repeatable

dimensions but if you are going to make the odd wood ball then try turning

them the good old fashioned way with a sharp skew chisel.


Photos for reference:


Make sure the drill press is aligned with the head stock and live tail stock.


Cherry log mounted on lathe.


Turn the log to size for the 4.25” hole saw - a 4.5” - 5” diameter is good.


Make a tenon to fit the wood chuck jaws.


Mount the wood cylinder in the chuck and start the ball cutting process.


Remove the top tenon with wood lathe gouges.

First finial with the deep grooves required rethinking the mount of the hole

saw but we figured it out - make sure there is no play in the hole saw bell

housing!


Remove the top tenon with wood lathe gouges.


Mounting the hole saw tight to the mandrel did not generate the deep

grooves but it sure raised the wood grain - likely the teeth of the hole saw

were quickly getting dull.


Sand with grits 60, 80, 120, 220, 240, 00 steel wool.


Halfway through sanding and we were encouraged to continue.


The cherry wood was very damp so we sealed it and placed a worm

clamp on the bottom tenon to let it dry in a cold / humid garage.


6 finials turned and sealed! - notice the wood checks in middle finial. It

also later revealed deep cracks but we re-sanded and re-sealed all of

them to make sure they were humidity stable and ready to install. Word of

caution is to keep the bottom tenon in place in order to remount on the

lathe chuck if you need to re-sand and seal the finials. If you can, use dry

wood but it may also prove much harder to cut through with a hole saw!

Problem solving and experimenting is a satisfying and part of the wood

turning learning process. Every project and piece of wood will throw a

curve ball at some point. That is how one learns and improves oneself as

a woodturner but not at the cost of safety. Please do not attempt a

project beyond your capability and experience unless you are able to do

so safely!

Recent Posts

See All

Call Us 613-343-1147

Powered and secured by Wix

Copyright NGMen's Shed 2024

bottom of page