Osage Orange Rose and Russian Spindle

Lovely! Thought you were making Harry Potter wands for a moment.

Beautiful! I have never spun on a russian spindle but seeing this sure makes me want to try it. I do spin on other spindles and a variety of wheels.

Beautiful work!

@ JAGWAH - Yes! And they also look like somewhat like conductor wands too!

@ fiddlebanshee if you've ever used any kind of spindle or the wheel, you shouldn't have too much difficulty picking up supported spindling. I enjoy it for the portability and also the ability to spin while laying in bed watching television. ;]

From your namesake picture I can invision a female Ninja using spindles for weapons…eeeeeya!

Question tho, what do you use to stabilize your turnings? Do you have a pic of your lathe set up?

Looks interesting although I know nothing of spinning. I'm not from washington DC

Skarp. I think it would depend on what you were intending to make.

For me, the two most complicated parts are cutting in the v-shaped neck and making the sharp pointed nose so that it doesn't have bruise marks. Shame on me for abusing tools, but I do lay the skew side ways (having it also exceptionally sharp) and slowly chisel away while periodically sanding to be sure that my angles look straight and there's nothing for the skew to catch on and tear out. I do it for the stability and also to remove any opportunity for a catch. It works nearly every time. If I do notice bruising or tear out, I check the sharpness of the tool and sand it out.

For the long shaft… it's similar, but not nearly as detail intensive. With Osage Orange, you have to be careful about the flexibility factor, the speed of the lathe, and the shafts. I adjust the tension between stock heads while the lathe is running if I notice wobble (sometimes it's too tight and the piece begins to bow). BE VERY CAREFUL when doing that and wear face and eye protection. =]

Great work Lisa… Good to see you back at it…