you made that math easy to understand and I really appreciate that! So talented a turner and teacher! BRAVO!

I wanted to let you know that ever since I got my lathe 6 or 7 years ago I wanted to turn a sphere. I couldn’t afford to buy those expensive jigs that some KZfaq turners use. But your video broke it down to its basic elements that I have been turning them for about a month now and am always amazed how great they look. I am even more amazed that I was able to do it! Thank you very very much!

No wonder Phil calls you professor….Great work Gary i will try your method , thank you for sharing Yiannis (Athens Greece)

Not for me I don't see any applications I could use , however I can see that you know your craft and you are a master of turning , so please don't think I don't appreciate the quality of your work I am definitely going to subscribe because I know you can teach and give me great ideas I look forward to watching more of your work .

Great explanation and thanks for the maths lesson. I'ms going to give this method a go

Just what i'm looking for TYVM!

Love that you can use math to create a great work of art. This is my next project

Just found your video. Great explanation. Thankyou

Thank you. My hearing is volatile and hence a challenge for me and am usually deaf with mechanical sources such as you tube. Your drawings and style of presentation along with added texts are extremely helpful to me. When I turn I am very visually oriented and listen to my turning by feel. You sir are a Master Instructor. Thank you again. I could purchase a jig to turn spheres; however, I choose not to. I gain much satisfaction at my age from learning new skills. Your process is not knew; however, your method of instruction is clear, simple and as an ol dog, I finally understand it. I love it when the light comes on. 😎🤟

Thanks for sharing this method. I turned my first sphere today 👍

I have seen a number of videos covering the same operation, but yours is about the clearest explanation. Great job.

Your video was just what I needed, thanks! Yesterday and today I turned 4 spheres of increasing sizes (and made some cup chucks). By using your method they are all pretty darn round. Much more consistent than the one I did "by eye". I didn't need to buy any new jigs or make a template for each different size...just had to remember .414 and .26. I appreciate you sharing your wisdom!

very nice work . i haven't seen to many people do a sphere with out a jig . well done .

Gary, Great job of explaining the way and why’s. Love the tornado ball. 👍🇺🇸

Awesom! Thank you! I will try this.

Great educational video. Going to give it a try this afternoon. Thanks. George

Fantastic demonstration! Thank you so much!

Lovely work. I turned some balls freehand on request of a friend recently and they wound up looking like the earth - longer diameter at equator than between the poles. But they fulfilled the purpose. Pity I had not seen your great tutorial beforehand. Very informative as usual. Greetings from Ireland.

I've wanted to do a ball for ages, I'll try your method! Thanks for sharing Gary, perfectly explained!

Very cool math. And a great method to turn a sphere. Thank you for sharing your experience

Hi Gary, Great project and you explained it very well! Now knowing that you were a paternmaker explains a lot! I worked in a factory that had a foundry and pattern shop.I loved to watch the patternmakers create the patterns for the castings!You guys can do magic with wood! Thanks for thew video! Tom

Sure understand not wanting to be a bad influence...thank you on your having a ball video... Inspiring...thank you...

Well, you set the hook...I'm a follower. Thanks for the responses. I too have used patterns extensively in finish work on homes and all the way to stringed instrument building. I'd bet you have more old patterns laying around than I but they are great to keep in the files for future reference.

Great sphere love the math it really makes turning a sphere a breeze

Gary wow another fantastic and very interesting project. So much to remember, it is awesome.

Perfect! I've been watching several different people turning spheres to learn the different ways, and this one by far made more sense and seems so much easier than the others (no criticism to the other turners intended) I'm already excited for tomorrow to get in my workshop and try this method! Thank you for sharing and explaining it so well! Chris

that's very good I'm not very good with math however but seeing you do that without a jig is amazing thanks Gary

Impressionante a precisão do trabalho. Parabéns.

Hard? Only as hard as the wood. Great video...you probably made Ernie Connover smile...kudos...

Well explained and very informative. Great video thanks 👍👍👍👍👍

Hi Gary, you're a marvel mate ! impeccably explained that even an old boy like me who came into this hobby late in life can follow. Another great video under your belt mate. cheers , Bram

Wowza! That turned into a beautiful art piece! So perfect and simplistically elegant! Fantastic job. Bravo!

Awesome it's looking beautiful.

I learnt a lot from you today. Thanks a ton!!

Thank you for passing on your knowledge and skill from years of experience. This video was fascinating, clear, and helpful.

Excellent Wonderful demonstration Thanks 😊

Splendid job, Gary. Very well explained. Coincidentally I have been planning to do a video of turning a sphere but using a jig. Of course just because I plan to do it doesn't guarantee I will ever actually get to it! 😁😁😁

Excellent study of making a ball. East to follow and very informative. You did a wonderful job!!

Thank you.

Great explanation 👍

Subbed immediately. Love your calm demeanor. Well done. I understand that the billiard ball turners of yore would turn a shallow, narrow channel on the centre line (your pencil line) of the cylinder before rotating through 90⁰. They would then reduce all the high spots down to this perfect circle. BTW, the music you played is the best on YT.

Nice video Gary. I really like the segmented ball.

Hi Gary, loved the video. The tornado ball looks fantastic.

Very nice. I will have to hone up on my math!

Super cool loved the segment one

You are a marvel, Gary! I used to be really good with numbers but with age, I just don't have it anymore. You apparently eat carrots or cauliflower or whatever it is that keeps the brain cells alive! LOL! You explained the process very well and I could see exactly what the outcome would be using your great diagram. Another great video from my friend in Oregon! Keep'em coming! Phil

Wonderful explanation, going back out to the lathe right now to try it. I'm not sure if this would work, however, if you turn a 3in diam cup and place it on the surface of the sphere, it should touch all around the rim of the cup (if the sphere is true). You could put the crayon on the rim. Thanks again.

Again, great work. You are definitely my kind of turner. Accurate stuff! Just a small suggestion that You're probably aware of. After you've created your 16 sides and removed a good chunk of the high spots, you could use a steel tube large enough in diameter with flat sharp edges as a scraper to finish of the rest. Again, nice work and thank you for sharing your expertise.

Beautiful

Excellent job. I'm just having a difficult time trying to figure out how to make a jig for my tailstock, that won't take much time. Your explanation was great, and I understand how to make the sphere, and i understand that you have to have the jig for your headstock, and tailstock to make it round. I'm just still trying to figure a way to make a jig for my tailstock, as I usually use a cone center on my tailstock, and I understand that I can't use that because it's too pointy and will indent the sphere.

Well done, Gary! They both look good! And your explanation was nicely done ans easy to understand. Billy

excellant tutorial - thanks for sharing. Dennis Beamish Cambridge Ontario Canada

amazing ! thanks for that !!

Top job my friend

Nice job, I’ve been trying to do this so many times and seems like I’m chasing the sphere down to nothing, just gets smaller and smaller, it was how I mounted it on the lathe but seeing your video now I know how to do it , thanks

Nice work and very informative video I have seen some using a special caliber with 3 calibers connected , a large, medium and small, so the large one is set to ball diameneter and the two other calibers adjust to .414 and .26, now you have all the distances by just measuring the ball diameter. Using a pipe to scrape as mentioned in another comment, does not require a pipe with the diameter of the ball, a 2" should be fine for larger balls too. I have used a piece of pvc and sandpaper with a slit to make a cone going into opening to sand wood ball with great success. Don't press too hard to avoid PVC melting.. Living in a flat and only having room for a small underpowered wood lathe, it takes forever to turn a ball. But I have a table saw and a drill so I designed a jig where you can make the ball/sphere in about 5 of minuts. It's done by turning wood blank by the drill and rotate it around saw blade, a mix of table saw lathe and circle jig Have a look here for the basics of the jig kzfaq.info/get/bejne/m82FgcSBkpaRqGQ.html and the one i build enclosing the process to keep fingers away from table saw blade. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/nsCRpb2X38nGk6M.html Keep safe - Happy Woodworking

this may be the best reason ever to explain to my teenagers that yes, math actually is used later in life ..... awesome

Thanks I needed that

Hi Gary, Found you through Phil at Madronawoodworks , who I've been following for a while. They way you explain the process is brilliant and something I will have a go at making. Have subscribed and will look at your other videos. Cheers, Huw

That's a neat technique, Gary. I saw you do something similar on the emerging bowl. The engineer in me had to go back and do the math. I recognize the factors such as 0.414 is 1 subtracted from the square root of 2. That's why I always look forward to your next video.

Merci beaucoup ! 👍👏👏

Bonita esfera👍

Awesome. You have a new subscriber. Will use this to show the kids that math can be fun.

Instead of sweating over all those calculations, it's much easier to simply cut the 5-inch diameter circle out of the plywood and use the arc left as the guide right from the beginning... love the crayon idea!

Nicely explained and illustrated project Gary. Unfortunately for me since suffering a stroke a while back, my brain can’t process numbers too well, hence I bought myself a jig. The irony is it’s still in the box, never been used !! Nonetheless thanks for sharing, I enjoyed watching very much. Regards from the U.K. Geof

Cool! Done like a true pattern maker. While I find this all interesting, I think I would eye-ball the octagon, then do the rest by eye and the radius profile checker.

Hello from Holland. My name is Jan. I was suprised to see you making a bal with only some lines with calculations. These video,s you make is an PLUS for us as hobby woodworkers. Many , many thanks for this explanation and sharing your knowledge in this matter. One question I have. You marked the last edges with a 5” round pice of wood on with you have made some dark so you can see the little differents that scraped away. Now, what dark did you put on these pieces? Greetings Jan 🌷🌷🌷

"Wow/. I got lucky." 😎 I don't think luck had anything to do with it. To turn a piece of wood to look like a sphere is not that tough. However, to turn a piece of wood so that it becomes a sphere of a predetermined diameter within close tolerances is a different matter altogether. For that one has to use geometry. In the workshop, geometry rules the day -- every day. As I said. Luck had nothing to do with it. Thanks for the video!

You must have been a math teacher in a past carnation......enjoyed this video, very interesting. thanks!

When you make your first cut, joining the 2 lines and make a 45 toward the tailstock, when/how did you mark the line on the tailstock end of the cylinder? I understand your math and method. Great video.

Excellent demo. Can you please provide the formula for converting the measurements used to metric? I discovered to work out the cord length in metric, for example, you needed to convert 0 .414 " to mm (10.5) and then subtract that from the diameter measurement (e.g. 56mm) rather than multiple it as you did for the imperial measure. This clarification in your video would save a lot of time for those of us who are not really into maths! Thanks

Hello Papa! I love your videos. I heard you say you used to be a wood pattern maker, is that correct? Did you make patterns for the airplane/aerospace industry? I have an old friend who is 93 years old who used to be a pattern maker here in San Diego doing just that. He worked for Solar Turbines and Convair after WWII. During the cold war era....

Wow what an interesting video wish I'd pay more attention in math class.Loved it.learning can be fun and very interesting. Love your channel. I know this is an older video but still a great watch.May you can teach an old dog new tricks.zone mote thing. noticed you wearing a Pittsburg Pirates t shirt. Are you a fan. Not many of them showing themselves this year thanks to Bottom line Nutting(pirate owner). Thanks again for the great video.

Math is great. Thanks for sharing. Is the math the same regardless of the diameter? What was the wood and did you mount it in a spindle turning orientation?

At 5:11, the diameter on the left (viewers side) is roughed in. After the diagramed tutorial, the wood turning resumes @ 7:58, however, the diameter on the left (viewers side) appears to have been tuned precisely. What is the depth to turned it to? 1.035"?

Do you have a segment sphere video?

When marking out the last two places on each face, shouldn't the cuts be from the end of the 45 degree cut rather than outward from the centre of the spigot?

I'm a beginner, so excuse the silly question, but is it possible to turn a set of lawn green bowls on a lathe ?

I enjoyed your ball turning.. I want to try to turn a ball out of a crotch in a tree branch. I have turned a few bowls. Is there anything I need to be aware of with the grains I will encounter?

Gary, having turned a few spheres using a template, I have to ask if you are presenting this as just an option or do you think it makes getting to a sphere easier?

Thank you How much do you charge for something like that

where do you get the chuck adapter gary

I prefer using a jig to be more accurate.

Would I use the numbers you mention in the video for a smaller diameter? I’ve been struggling trying to just mark the ends the same as the diameter and then “eyeball” it round. My eyes must be way off. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

what ball diameter in mm?

How did you get those octagon plan? Any software Or something for that? I want to make one of these for a while but suck at math

Why you're really on the ball. Math is great.