Thanks. Glad you liked it!

woodstoney or music or voice, please.

Thanks!

Thanks!

Thanks. I make these things at a couple different levels of ‘quality’. For the ‘fancy’ ones I actually inlay eyes and buttons with Milliput, and add a few other more elaborate decorations. The pieces in the video I mass produce for my craft shows where I sell them cheap. The customers I have at these shows won’t pay a penny more if the eyes are Sharpie or ‘fancy’, so I just keep these units simple.

Thanks! It is really strange that some people can hear everything fine and others not. Appreciate your comments and if I do more of these I will take all these comments seriously and improve.

By the way, I would like to try something like this, can you tell me what you measurements are when you use your calipers to divide the 3 pieces? Depth and width?

The neck depth is 1 3/8" width is about 3/8". The waist area depth is 1 7/8" and width is about 1/2".

The Easy Wood Tools are the bomb! Being new to wood turning, I was having a lot of difficulty getting decent results, and had decided to sell the lathe. That is until a trip to the local woodworking store. An older employee suggested trying one of the EWTools before selling it. BIG difference! Within a week, I had three of their tools and a grin on my face!

If I could change the audio without having to completely repost the video, I would. This was my first attempt at making a ‘serious’ video. It was intended for a few close friends.only. I never expected it to get out into the ‘wild’. Good idea on sanding the dowels.

Thanks for the feedback!

Thanks!

Thanks!

Thanks! I haven’t figured it out myself. Audio was fine on my phone, tablet, and laptop. Not sure why some people had issues.

@@CDRowe1 no issues that i saw, heard him just fine, must be more their setup

Thanks. The audio ‘issue’ seems to be related to whatever device you listen on. I have had about an equal number of folks say the sound was bad or good. This was one of the first videos I actually tried to create so I just chalked it up as a learning experience.

Thanks much! Yup, I tend to go with the flow and critics don’t really bother me. Nobody was really out of line. I agree that next time I have to mix for the lowest possible device which, as you said, is probably my phone. I can’t be sure, but from the comments it seems like the folks with issues were phone people, and the others were either on headphones, a PC, or had better bluetooth speakers. I probably made a mistake mixing and listening using headphones only before publishing, but I was driving my wife nuts and headphones were the only option to preserve a tranquil home environment. Had the same issue years ago when I mixed audio for bands. I had to mix it so it sounded good on a crappy car stereo. If it sounded good there, it was good anywhere. If I did it in reverse, it sounded good on a quality stereo but lousy in the car. Thanks again for the positive encouragement!

This was NEVER intended to be an 'instructional video'. I created it strictly for my own personal entertainment. If you weren't entertained .. oh well!

@@CDRowe1 be that as it may.. your narration is far more interesting and note worthy than the completely superfluous music. Great video and enjoyable other than that..

Thanks. It is a no-win situation. If there was no music people would whine, if it was polkas people would whine. I put music on it that I enjoyed, and if someone didn’t like it, oh well!

@@CDRowe1 You're right! I'm glad you answered. Your video really helped me when I was making snowmen. Thanks a lot.

Thank you! I am truly amazed this vid ended up in the ‘wild’. I really just put it together because a few Facebook friends wanted to know how I did my turning.

Several other folks said that also, and others said it was fine? It appears to be bad on a phone but ok on a PC. Not sure why, this was my second try at making a more 'quality' video and I still have a lot to learn. I tested it on all my devices before I posted, and it was fine ... but then again, I KNOW what I am saying. If I do any more videos it will be better.

Same here , can't hear. Good video otherwise.

Thanks. If you look through the comments some people can hear it fine and others (like you) had difficulties. The only thing I can assume is that it is device specific, and will always sound best with either headphones or good quality speakers. I suspect people listening through built-in phone speakers may be having difficulties.

Thanks!

Thanks!

Yes, I guess I am aware of that from the other 150 people who commented about it over the past couple years. I gave it my best shot for my first real ‘produced’ KZfaq video.

I do drill the hole deeper than needed knowing I will lose some when I cut the top at an angle. I use a real shallow tenon on the hat, You don’t really need more than 1/8” tenon and the CA glue will work just fine. I never had a hat come off a body using this method.

Adorable snowmen. Different then most. Great video.

Thanks!

Thanks!

Buying a lathe is really subjective and there is really nobody who can tell you what to buy. Best thing is to decide what you want to do now, what you may want to do in the future, and just research everything that is out there.

The snowman body starts out as a 6 1/2” (3” square) blank and the hat is about 3” tall (varies) and starts out about 2 3/4” square. Total snowman finished height is around 9” give-or-take depending on how tall you make the hat.

It might work!

Thanks. I use a Barracuda chuck with pin jaws to grab the tenon on the hats. Any chuck that has a set of pin jaws would work.

In the video I use a custom jig on my bandsaw to cut different angles on the top. I used to do it freehand, but find the jig I made safer and more accurate.

Thanks! The abrasive paste I use is called Yorkshire Grit. If you aren’t in the UK it is available many places on-line.

The measurements are completely arbitrary. I have made really big and really small snowmen using the same techniques. For this video I started with a block of maple about 3"x3"x6.5" for the body. The waist is 3" from the bottom and is 2 7/8" dia. The neck is 5" from the bottom and is 2 1/4" dia. All sizes and dimensions are really up to you. There are no rules!

It's an Easy Wood Tools rougher. Regular size.

Wow, you’re really full of yourself, aren’t you!! I will be happy to refund your money ... oh wait, it was free.

Thanks. I actually used a really nice mic. I understand why this wouldn't be a good idea, but I wish there was a way to update a KZfaq video so I could just re-mix the audio without deleting and starting over. Oh well, live and learn.

I believe it is the quality of the speakers that the folks are listening with. I am using an anker sound core 2 blue tooth speaker and I found everything sounded great.

Thanks, I think you are right. I used a high quality Sennheiser mic and mixed everything on a great little Mackie mixer. I played in a rock band for 35 years and actually have a little digital recoding studio in my basement which I used for this video. It sounded great on my studio setup and I was really surprised that some folks had sound issues. I always thought sound was one of my specialties.

Jim Miller Huh?? My computer speakers are a couple 100 watt Marshall stacks ... and yes, they go to 11.

Thanks! Here is a link to the fabric I used ,, www.joann.com/red-heart-boutique-sashay-yarn/zprd_11329448a.html#q=Red%2Bheart%2Bboutique&start=1

I drill a mortise on my drill press and make it deeper than required. That way, when I cut the angle on the head the mortice is still deep enough that the hat doesn’t bottom out.

@@CDRowe1 Thanks

Thanks. The rough sizes are in the description area of the video. These are just guidelines. I have made much smaller and much larger pieces just by scaling up or down these dimensions. There are no rules or ‘real’ size. Make them any size you want.

From the comments it seems mixed. Some people say it sounds fine and other say it doesn't. I really can't explain it other than it must sound better on certain devices than others.

@@CDRowe1 If on my phone it is all music. On my desktop it is fine.

Tim Watson . Thanks. It would probably sound fine on your phone with headphones. The audio seems to vary depending on the device used.

Maybe you could point me to some of your on-line videos so I will know how to do it better next time.

You’re right. Sorry for the negative comment. I was just interested in your technique, having just made a few snowmen myself, and was disappointed by the loud music blasting away as soon as I tried to watch your video. My criticism should have been more constructive and more polite.

This was the first video I made and didn’t account for all the possible listening devices. I optimized the audio for headphones/ear buds not phone or tablet speakers. Maybe give it a shot with ear buds and see if that cleans it up. And yes, I know now the music is too loud but I didn’t want to repost and KZfaq doesn’t seem to allow updates to existing videos.

Dick Rowe I understand. Don’t give up on making videos. There are a lot of us woodturners out here who appreciate them. For me, the ones with no music at all are the most enjoyable to watch.

No. I always use well seasoned, dry wood. Green wood would move around and could crack as it dried out.

@@CDRowe1, how long does it take to be considered well seasoned?

In my area I usually consider 8%-10% moisture content dry. I use a relatively inexpensive moisture meter to check my wood periodically.

Yes, it is just mounted between centers like any standard spindle turning. I use the little dimple created by the forstner bit during drilling to center the spur drive at the head.

The hat tenon is straight, and quite short, just a stub really. The head mortise is cut deeper than required initially assuming it will be a bit shorter on one side after angle cutting. As long as there is at least 1/8” - 1/4” mortise left after angle cutting the CA glue will have plenty to grab onto and the head will be ‘fused’ just fine to the head.

I use a jig on my bandsaw (it is shown in the video) to cut the top of the head at different angles, The hat tenon is really more like an index pin and it sits in the angled mortise.