Gallery
Louie’s Tops
Feb 24, 2010
These tops, made from cutoff scraps were inspired by tops my dad, Louie, made for me when i was a child. His were fashioned from pine using only a coping saw, hand drill, and rasp, and did not include the diagonal inserts. He told me about making his tops from construction scraps he found when he was a young man growing up in northern Italy. My version of his tops, turned on my lathe for better balance and symmetry, spring forth from my cutoff bin, they can be spun on either end of the center dowell, and feature diagonally glued in splines of contrasting wood for visual interest.
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Comments
Excellent work and such a unique design! I'm intrigued how you cut and inserted the splines..or is it a secret?
No secret, the blanks for the tops are 3 to 4 inches square dependent on scrap availability, i made a jig that rides on my table saw fence, and can safely and securely hold the blank at the angle required to make a cut from corner to corner of the blank. Passing the blank over the blade 4 times with the jig gives me 4 kerfs into which the splines are glued.
Working with cutoffs can be dangerous due to their small size. It is imperative that pieces are held securely in jigs with your hands out of harms way when passing them over a cutting tool. Should you try to recreate these tops, or pass anything small over a rotating blade, use safe jigs, and heed my mother's dating advice to me when I was a young man, "watch you hands!"
and, thanks for your kind words
jim
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