I was intrigued by the tip in issue #253 about making wooden balls with a belt sander and put together a box for my sander. I have a supply of ambrosia maple end cuts that I had been saving for some worthwile project and this seemed perfect. I soon found that this is a slow and noisy process. With maple I found it is imperative to chamfer the edges. Even with chamfered edges, the smaller balls took about 6 hours and the larger ball took over 10 hours and could have used some more. The noise is quite obnoxious and I found it better to start it and leave. Unfortunately my wife would come home and cut it off.

I finished the balls with 4 coats of gloss polyurethane. Having no real need for wooden balls, I now have a bowl and a jar full of wooden balls for a conversation piece.

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