Thanks Jack, really great find!
We have met Mr Yang Chin-Lu in a previous thread about Taiwanese tops (link =
Tiawan tops) in particular in a news article with video of a TV report about the Last Whipping Top Master (link =
Yang Chin-Lu article).
From the text of the article
Back in the 1960's, when children in Daxi were obsessed with whipping tops, someone came up with the idea to try making a 5-kilo top that outweighs most of the regular ones. As time passed, the creative Daxi people even made giant tops weighing around 50 kilos, making their manufacture a unique tradition on the island.
Since the smaller Taiwanese tops have an inserted metal peg they likely knew that approach before making the larger versions starting in the 60's but a large steel bar may have been more expensive than a machined cup (or coincidental found object) and boring a big deep hole centered in a big block of wood before or after turning the shape may have been a challenge better met simply by turning a post instead.
Grabbed from Tai-Min's thread (link =
Taiwan school) introducing us to the spintop school in Taiwan is this video of a craftsman who makes many different types of tops including larger traditional style peg tops (not as much turning as in Jack's find).
970426 ?