Look up metal spinning. make 2 hemispheres and then join them.

"Vic Barkas" wrote in message
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Hello group,

I am sort of a novice metal sculptor. I work mostly with the
oxy-acetylene torch, some modest blacksmithing equipment, a drill
press, grinder, band saw and the usual small hand and power tools.

My question is, what are some suggestions for making a smallish hollow
steel sphere without my inversting a bunch more in tools, such as a
lathe? I am talking about a sphere the size of a baseball.

Two approiaches I have considered are building it up with rings of
sheet metal, perhaps 1/2 inch wide, and welding them, as like lines of
lingitude on a globe. Pretty tedious. The other method I have
experimented a little with is heating up a 1/16" thick sheet red hot
and pounding it into the open end of a large piece of pipe with the
ball end of a ball pein hammer. I found it somewhat difficult to get
a full hemisphere by this method, and it is also quite possible to
hole the dome with hammer blows. The plan was to create two
hemispheres and weld them together.

Any thoughts? A perfect geometric sphere is not essential.