The Spinner Top

The Spinner Top is good fun for children of all ages from about three years old up to 98, I believe. I make a lot of these each year for sale at craft fairs and recently in a local shop. My tops are not fancy or ornate, they're just good spinners. That is what is really important. I use 1" thick slices off of limbs that are 1-1/2" to 2" in diameter or scraps from turning other things. I drill a 3/8" hole as close to center as possible and insert and glue in a section of 3/8" dowel rod that has been cut to 2-1/2" long. When the glue is dry, I generally give it 24 hours just to be on the safe side, I chuck the dowel up in my dowel chuck that I use to turn bottle stoppers (available from Craft Supplies USA) and push the dowel in as far as it will go while turning the large part of the top. First I make it round and then turn the bottom with a long slope to the point. When I'm satisfied with the shape there, I turn the top of the top to a pleasing shape and then clean up the very edge. I try to keep the edge under 0.1" and generally shoot for about 0.05" thickness. Then and only then do I pull the dowel out further to turn the stem. I generally turn the stem to 1/8" or less in diameter by about 1" long. I then sand the whole thing and apply a coat of wax. It brings out the color in the wood and makes the top look better. Especially effective when people are watching you turn the top. I part off with a skew, leaving the top of the stem with a tapered, but slightly blunt point. This way the top can be spun either way. I normally turn my tops with the grain running in the spindle turning direction (parallel to the axis of the lathe), because when the grain runs the other direction there is a problem with the wood chipping at the point where the wood joins the dowel on the bottom. It really doesn't hurt the top, other than its looks, and that bothers me. The tops illustrated here were turned from a piece of Dogwood board, so the grain runs perpendicular to the axis of spin. With care I was able to keep chipping to a minimum. The Dogwood made a pretty top.

 

 

 

Here's a Dogwood top spinning.

 

 

 

Here's two Dogwood tops ready to spin.