Wood Turning (with pictures)

[bentmike]

It's hard to think of many useful items you could make with a wood lathe. 7 or 8 years ago I turned this handy tool called a ball starter. The ball and the dowel I made from walnut salvaged from a 100 year old church demolition when the church was rebuilt. The wood is from part of a thick door jamb. For scale I put my clay pipe in the pictures.

 

[pstlpkr]

I turned this handy tool called a ball starter.

I like the way it looks...

I'll show my ignorance of such thing with the following....

I won't ask what it is for obvious reasons...
However:

What's the ball starter used for?

 

[brian64]

@Lawrence: I'm glad you asked so I didn't have to.

 

[bentmike]

Yea that's a funny name. Also called a short starter this device aids in seating a patched round ball into the grooves of a muzzleloader's bore. In the case of a pistol the short starter can be used to fully seat the projectile against the charge. Used by a rifleman the ball starter is most helpful when first pushing the projectile into the barrel. At that point resistance is greatest. It's easier to use the ball starter then run the shot home with the full size ramrod.
I used my clay in the pics because both of these items would have been common to 1840's soldiers or Homesteaders.

 

[seanavan]

Maybe I missed it in my scan, but what species is the wood, Mike? It looks like bubinga.

 

[bentmike]

Thanks for your input seanavan. I'm not sure what kind of wood it is (middle set of pics). I salvaged that piece from a shipping skid that had luan mahogany doors on it that probably came from the Philippines. Most of the wood that made up these skids was a plain brown color with unremarkable grain but this particular board was stunning once ran through the planer.
I've been comparing my pieces to pictures on the web but not found a definate match yet myself.

 

[seanavan]

I have some at home and will take a picture to post. In my memory they're very similar. The reality may be altogether something different unfortunately!

 

[jharvard]

Nice work. I really like the pipe tamper with the chess piece theme (at least that is what it looks like to me). Nicely done. :puffpipe: