I still hadn’t made anything on the lathe other than sawdust and round bits of wood so I needed to make my first thing. As it was xmas, a snowman seemed ideal.
I used a piece of 2×2 construction pine and set about rounding the stock with my roughing gouge. I had previously been using an old spindle gouge which came with the lathe and not very sharp so my new roughing gouge from axminster was a pleasant change and cut the wood as it were butter.
I then smoothed the wood with a skew chisel and used the skew to curve two sections for the snowmans body and head.
I then used the parting tool to create a top hat (no snowman is complete without a hat) and some 180 grit sand paper to smooth things out. If I were not just practicing I might have moved up the grits and done some proper finishing but this was satisfactory.
A coat of tung oil/methylated spirit mix was added and another light sanding before adding another coat of tung/meth mix and this was left to dry overnight.
If I were not just practicing I might have moved up the grits and done some proper finishing but this was satisfactory.
A small wooden dowel that had been tapered down to a cone was inserted and glued into a small hole in the head for a nose and this was painted orange with my daughters acrylic paint. Unintentionally it was marred a little by the pliers I used but this actually made it look even more carrot like!
Very small holes so the wood wasn’t split were created for eyes and buttons and somenails were added which looked great.
The mouth was carved with my flexcut knife but this looked a little creepy if I’m honest. Carving is something I need to practice and perhaps I might have done better if I drew on a template first.
The hat was painted black with my acrylic paint although much care was needed to do this without it bleeding onto the head. If I were making lots of these I’d consider a template to go around the collar so I could paint quicker.
Once another night had passed the snowman was dry and I presented him to my daughter who fell in love!
This was a great prototype and while I didn’t have time this year, I think next year I should be making a run of these to sell.
Leave a Reply