Small Tops

Dick Stohr · November 16, 2011, 07:06:21 PM

I have been fighting with my camera since Saturday and I still do not have a good picture. At the November meeting of the Capitol Area Woodturners club last Saturday we had a demo by Alan Lacer. He is very well know among woodturners world wide. As a warm up and to relax he took a small piece of wood and with a his signature Skew chisel two inches wide he turned 3 finger tops. The largest one is less than 5/16 inch dia and the smallest one is less than 1/16 inch dia. I am trying to get a picture of all three of them resting on a penny. They only cover about 1/3 of the penny but getting that close with the camera all of my pictures are fuzzy (out of focus). I will keep trying but soon I plan on sending them to Mike for the hall of fame. One of the guys in the front row at the demo was able to spin all three of them. Boy are they SMALL!!!!!!!! If interested his web site is www.alanlacer.com.

Neff · November 16, 2011, 08:02:42 PM

Hit the macro function on your camera (the flower symbol) if you haven't

Dick Stohr · November 16, 2011, 09:31:02 PM

Thanks Chris, it is still not terrific but you can see the size. That is a real US one cent coin.

Space · November 17, 2011, 01:26:41 AM

It's tiny!

ta0 · November 17, 2011, 08:06:52 AM

You could use them in a flea circus!

Dick: use a tripod, back away enough to get the picture in focus (on macro) and afterwards blow up and crop the picture (you should have plenty of resolution). If parts of the picture are on focus and parts are not, use more light to close the aperture.

lincolnrick · November 17, 2011, 08:20:42 AM

I would have liked to see Alans demo, the man is a skew master!

the Earl of Whirl · November 17, 2011, 08:37:05 AM

Wow, you said small but I had no idea until it clicked with me about them on a penny.

Thanks for thinking about the Hall of Fame. If we get those tops there will have to be some special signage to make sure people don't miss them!

Spinningray · November 17, 2011, 10:27:16 AM

I had an opportunity to meet Alan when he did a demo for the local wood turning club. It was kind of funny because he was very excited to meet me too. The club had told him that one of its members turned wooden spin tops. I brought several to show him. I even threw some and did some tricks which seemed to impress him.
He turned tiny tops with a giant skew too. Everything was made from a wooden Morse Taper that he made to fit the headstock. That is where I learned to make the template for making wooden Morse Tapers. I use the wooden Morse Tapers to turn wooden yo-yo axle sleeves. The closer you can turn to the headstock bearing, the more stable it will be. Very little chance of chattering.

Dick Stohr · November 17, 2011, 07:22:42 PM

Alan & Eric, I showed him NFO and both colorwood tops. I threw the smaller colorwood did some figure 8s and then put it in his hand. He did well until it started to precess so he just grabbed it. He is really a nice guy and very good with his skew, lots of experience.

the Earl of Whirl · December 15, 2011, 04:22:42 AM

Yippee! I finally found this post.

What a thrill to get a nice little package in the mail. And a big treat was seeing that it was addressed to the "Earl of Whirl". The Earl was pleased. Actually, this is the first piece of mail or package I have received with the new name on it. It must be official, now! Thank you, Zeemo. And thanks, also, to Dick Stohr.

These little tops are crazy.....craaazy.......CRAAAZZZZY I tell you. There has got to be some special way to highlight these little items in the giant Hall of Fame. I will be thinking about it. The good news right now is that my youngest son (Joe) is coming in this weekend and he will get an opportunity to see them and attempt a spin. That will be fun.