KMart Ornaments, anyone?

Kerry Burton

Member
Messages
1,163
Location
Orem, Utah
Joe Wagner, a local club member, demo'd these ornaments for us last winter. I stopped at KMart on the way home from the meeting and picked up a bunch of PLASTIC ornaments at about $.50 each. They sat in my shop in a bag for a year, until Joe repeated the demo last month and I tripped over the bag one more time. :rolleyes:

Joe said that his first couple of attempts didn't work very well, because it was hard to drill a centered hole through the globes. (You'll understand why that's important in a minute.) He created a jig to solve two problems at the same time - to provide a centered hole, and to remove the "neck" from the ornament.

Here's the jig I made from memory. I would do it a little differently next time, but it works ... OK, I guess. The large block of wood on the left isn't part of the jig.



The screwed-down block on the right was turned on the lathe. Please ignore the upturned corners on the underside ... I got a little paranoid about my ability to accurately square off the entire surface.

I'm not sure how important it is to turn the globe-matching hollow. A plain Forstner hole of a suitable diameter should work fine for getting a centered hole, but holding the globe tightly against the sharp edge could mar the surface of the globe. Either way, a wider/deeper hollow should work better than the small one in the photos.

The "through" hole in the center of the jig should be a fairly tight fit for the "neck" of the ornament. It MUST be centered on the larger hollow, so plan ahead whether you drill it using a drill press or on the lathe.

-----

In use, the jig must be properly positioned before it's clamped to the table. Chuck up the same drill bit that was used to drill the hole in the jig. The table should be high enough that the cutting edges of the drill bit can be advanced between 1/4" and 1/2" below the upper rim of the hole, but low enough that the ornament globe can be dropped into place without being scratched by the drill bit. (Long-ish drill bit and generous quill travel required.)

Extend the drill bit into the hole, lock the quill, and THEN clamp the jig to the table and retract the quill.

-----

Remove the collar from the neck of the ornament (pull straight up) and push the neck into the hole in the jig.





These particular ornaments have a visible seam that goes most of the way around the globe. While that might "spoil the look" to a degree, it also provides a definite clue about where the tip of the drill bit should touch first.

Press down firmly on the globe and make sure that the tip of the drill bit will touch the seam. Hit the ON button/switch, and advance the quill as far as it will go. Expect a "rough spot" when the bit reaches the neck of the ornament ... and keep going!





Ta Da! You've drilled a centered hole clean through the ornament, and removed the neck at the same time.



Notice the roughness around the rim of the hole? Joe makes a circuit with a standard deburring tool to clean that up. I haven't been lucky enough to run across one just yet. :(

media.nl




It didn't occur to me to turn the tenons of my finials small enough to match the diameter of the drill bit, so I had to widen the holes in the globe after-the-fact. I glued some sandpaper to a dowel, chucked the dowel into the drill press, slipped the globe onto the dowel, and held the globe vertically while moving it in a circle horizontally to widen the holes as evenly as possible.




----------------


These were the first true finials I ever turned, so I feel pretty good about them. There are flaws with the "design", but at least they held together.

This is where I point out how I didn't get the holes quite centered on this first attempt. See how the two finials are a little "skeewhompus" with each other? Oh well, better luck next time!



All that's left is to glue the finials in place (and tight against the globe).

PS - The wood is from the pussy willow in our front yard. I like the "natural" look, but maybe I should wipe on some finish?
 
Last edited:
Cool idea, Kerry. :thumb: I would have never thought you could drill through an ornament that cleanly. And your finials look better than I expect my first ones will (when I finally try turning some).
 
Kerry, Thanks a whole bunch for showing that!!!!!!!!! My students will be able to make excellent ornaments for little money. The tutorial was very well presented, greatly appreciate you taking the time to show us how to do this.
 
What are these ornaments made of?
Thanks

Oops! I should have mentioned this up front. :doh:

DON'T try this with glass ornaments. :eek: These globes are plastic. It's pretty easy to tell when you see them "on display" in the store - there are 5 or 6 strung together by their hangers, jumbled together in an open container with other strung-together sets.

Thanks for asking!
 
Hi ya Kerry. Thanks for the welcome but I feel like and old-timer already :rofl: I did see your salt box and have a print-off of it in my to do file. Since I'm self taught, there are several things I have to go back and "learn-to-do". Sharpening is my biggest issue. A lot of us in the valley have to sharpen on our own. If I blow it, I can't turn, a little learn, a little sharpen. Your salt box idea should materialize in my shop (garage) in a couple of weeks. I did a 2 level salt/something holder that sucked bigtime and didn't post it. Thank's for the idea's and be posting to you soon!
 
I don't know if I can drill through them Larry, but Fina is going to the store across the road from us and picking up a box of cheapies and am going to find out hopefully by the weekend!
 
Top