Batching out a bunch of light sabers
Adam wants to make some stuff for the Christmas in the Country Holiday Art and Craft Festival, at our church, next week. I figured he better start soon… Since the light saber project was quick and easy for him to make, we figured we could get a couple of dozen made in time. It is also great practice for Adam to learn to use the lathe on.
Instructing Adam
I spent some time giving him some general instruction.
Roughing out his first blank
I took a couple of videos. This one is Adam roughing out his first handle blank.
I showed him how to mark his work, once it was round.
Marking
Shaping the handle
He spent some time playing with the different tools, learning how to detail the handles.
While focusing on cutting, we forgot about the large hole in the handle. The Tool broke through, but since the hole was off-center, the handle didn’t break.
A big break-through…
I showed Adam how to set the depth we wanted for the handles so that wouldn’t happen again.
Marking the depth
Detail work
After cutting a new handle, Adam finished shaping and detailing, then sanded it down.
Sanding
I showed him how to burnish the wood using the chips from roughing out the blanks.
Burnishing
While Adam was at school today, I batched out a bunch more blanks.
A bunch of blanks
After school, he roughed them out.
Adam roughed out most of the blanks
I turned the ends and set the depth when he wanted a break.
Prepped and ready for Adam to detail
Then he got back into it and finished detailing most of the rest of the handles.
Hard at work
He was tired when we finished, but happy that he was really getting the hang of turning.
Proud of his work
This weekend’s work
Here is the batch that we just made. I need to get a few more flashlights to make the 24 that we plan to sell.
Great exercise for learning to turn.
Not bad for a day or two of work.
Midnight Woodworking 
Lawrence, Keep up the great work with Adam. It makes me happy to see a young one take such an interest in the hobby. Very nice job Adam!