Hello All,

I did a demonstration of making the Chinese Ball at the Seattle Chapter of AAW
recently. The demonstration went beautifully until the last cut, when one of the
wooden plugs that I had put in more than a week earlier came loose and hit the
tool. It was a spectacular finish to a good demonstration. One of the audience
e-mailed me the next day suggesting plugs made of wax. I made up a mold and cast
a bunch of plugs out of paraffin wax and some from candle wax. They work great
and hold everything in place well while turning, but they are difficult to get
out and often have to be dug out little by little. I used these wax plugs for
the demonstration a week later at the South Puget Sound Chapter of AAW and
everything went well. Does anyone know of any other material that can be easily
cast, that would cut when your cutter hits it, but could be easily removed when
the ball is completed? I know that epoxy might work, however, it also might be a
bit brittle.

I have another demonstration coming up the end of this month and then one at the
Utah Woodturning Symposium in June and would like to be able to easily remove
the plugs at the end of the demonstration to show how the ball all fall apart. I
have normally moistened the wooden plugs when turning a Chinese Ball in my shop
with no problem, but a one hour demonstration is not enough time to do the
entire Chinese Ball so for demonstrations I normally do 9 or 10 of the 12 holes
ahead of time and only cut two or three during the demonstration. The plugs dry
out in the holes done ahead of time. The wax plugs fit so perfectly that they do
not require moisture to help hold the plugs in place.

I hope I've properly described the problem, can someone give some suggestions?

Fred Holder
http://www.fholder.com


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