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Hi, Alan Stratton from As Wood Turns. I racked my brain trying to think of an appropriate
project for Halloween. Real problem! Until my wife suggests a spider. Well -- Okay. I
looked at images online to see if I could be somewhat anatomically correct.
The problem that I saw was is that most varieties of spiders seem to have this big back section.
If I make that round, it would tend to be very high and sticking off the ground. But
spiders are fairly low to the ground. Until I came up with a solution. Eccentric -- so
I will take that end of the spider and offset him a little bit so that section has a flattish
bottom on it. So, let's make for Halloween a scary spider.
I'll start with the body. I've mounted a hunk of juniper between centers on the lathe. This
is green wood so it turns very easily. Once the cylinder is round, I'll trim the
ends and layout the body. I'll use a parting tool to mark the sections of the body.
With the body somewhat roughed out, I'll shift the drive center just under a half inch. I'm
eyeballing it hoping it will be enough to give the spider a somewhat flat stomach. Then
a little more gouge work. I do not want a smooth shape only a shape that flows well.
To me, spiders are nasty hairy things -- not smooth pretty creatures.
With the stomach flattened, there's just a little more touchup to the body. Then carve
away the nubs for the drive and live centers. The only problem was that my wife then told
me spiders only have two body sections not three like insects. Oh well, I'll carve off
the small top section. While I'm at it, I'll carve on some other sections just to add interest.
Now for the legs. Each leg on my spider will have two sections. I have more juniper but
it is much thicker than I need. I would saw it into quarters except I prefer to use the
heart wood for these legs. So I'll reduce the diameter down to the heart wood with a
gouge. I'll mount the leg sections on a wire running
thru the two segments, thru the body , and thru the two leg segments on the other side.
So, I need to drill a hole thru each segment. A skew is perfect for this small spindle work.
Nothing terribly fancy for these legs -- a basic elongated oval will do.
One done and on to the others. About now is when the spider bit me. A spider has eight
legs. Eight legs, each with two segments, mean 16 total segments. I'm very glad now
I don't plan to sand and finish this spider. Finally, I drilled the holes in the body for
the leg wires and my wife was kind enough to assemble the creature for me. Since he's
green, he may split or crack but that would be keeping with the Halloween spirit. Now
we're ready for Halloween -- We have our very own pet spider. Now it's your turn to make
a spider. Be sure to like this video and subscribe to
my website and YouTube channel. Safe turning makes for good turning -- Please wear your
face shield. Until next time, this is Alan Stratton from As Wood Turns dot com.