# How I make my mini snowman



## ripjack13 (Dec 31, 2020)

ok, so I'm no expert at this, but this is my set up, and this is way I make them. I have only made about 50 of em, and this way seems to work the best for me. YMMV

These little guys are all scraps from acrylic pen blank cut offs. You can make em out wood too, but seeing as how I have so many little cut offs, I use them up making these guys. Being so small, They also stand out with the different colors they have to offer. The majority of the bodies are no taller than an inch and a quarter. Add in the hats and they can be about 3 inches tall. I try to make each one a little different. Some may have 2 segments some have 3, and some have bases, and some do not. I like the look of 2 different color combos on the hats, If I have a little bit of blank left over on the wood mandrel I use, I'll flatten it out and glue a block on it and use that as the brim of the hat.
Sanding them with sucsessive grit sandpaper is important, if you don't and miss a grit, when you shine them up the little scratches will stick out like a sore thumb. (DAMHIKT)
The starting grit is up to your turning skills, how smooth of a cut when you're done shaping is the determining factor, after that I just go up to 1500 and then use a product called "One Step Plastic Polish" that I get from PennState Turning. My sandpaper is actually sanding sponges, It gets in the crease of the body better than paper and does not leave any sanding lines on the work. These are 2 links from Amazon of the kind that I use if you want to check it out.
link one
link two
After it's polished, I use some wax to shine it up nice.

Roughing out the blank I use a rounded diamond shaped carbide, and then a pointed diamond carbide to get the body crease nice n sharp looking. Once in a while there may be some material build up from the blank getting too warm, so I just turn the lathe off, and spin the chuck slowly by hand with the carbide just touching it, to remove the build up.

Ok....with all that said, let's move onto the picture show....


This is my threaded wood plate mandrel and 60 degree live center






Here's the blank glued up onto it.






roughed out...





Body of the snowman sectioned out with sharp point diamond carbide.






shaping the body and head






Starting to sand the crease of the body with the thick sponge.













Then I move onto the next grit but use a soft sponge





Then when it's nice enough to finish, I use the polish and a rag.





All polished up nice.

Reactions: Like 1 | Thank You! 1 | Great Post 1 | Informative 1


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## ripjack13 (Dec 31, 2020)

Here's after I remove the live center and turn the nub on the head off


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## ripjack13 (Dec 31, 2020)

Here is where I go in at an angle to part it off

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## ripjack13 (Dec 31, 2020)

Make sure you hold onto it lightly, _*without getting caught in the lathe*_, when you part it off...

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## ripjack13 (Dec 31, 2020)

This is a rubber sanding wheel on my dremel I use to smooth out the parting tool nub off the base.

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## ripjack13 (Dec 31, 2020)




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## ripjack13 (Dec 31, 2020)

Then I twist sand it on the corner of the hard sponge to smooth it


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## ripjack13 (Dec 31, 2020)

Now that the body is done, let's move onto the hat....





(I had already made another hat so that's why this one is different.


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## ripjack13 (Dec 31, 2020)

Shaping the hat with the carbide.


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## ripjack13 (Dec 31, 2020)




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## ripjack13 (Dec 31, 2020)

I forgot to say sometimes I use a radius square carbide to get a smooth profile on the hat. It also works good to smooth out the brim of the hat as well....


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## ripjack13 (Dec 31, 2020)

Now lets get to sanding...


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## ripjack13 (Dec 31, 2020)




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## ripjack13 (Dec 31, 2020)




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## ripjack13 (Dec 31, 2020)




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## ripjack13 (Dec 31, 2020)

Wet sand with the 1500 micro mesh pad....


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## ripjack13 (Dec 31, 2020)

Wax on....


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## ripjack13 (Dec 31, 2020)

Shiny!!!

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## ripjack13 (Dec 31, 2020)

Here's where I am smoothing out the top of the hat, after I removed the live center....


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## ripjack13 (Dec 31, 2020)

Shine up the top....

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## ripjack13 (Dec 31, 2020)

Now let's part off the hat....


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## ripjack13 (Dec 31, 2020)




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## ripjack13 (Dec 31, 2020)




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## ripjack13 (Dec 31, 2020)




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## ripjack13 (Dec 31, 2020)

Now you get to attach the hat to the body. I use a drop of medium ca.


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## ripjack13 (Dec 31, 2020)

OK, i had a hat already made and decided to use it instead of the one I showed how to make here. But this is it. you are now all done with the mini snowman.

Reactions: Like 1 | EyeCandy! 2 | Great Post 1


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## ripjack13 (Dec 31, 2020)

I hope this is a good enough tutorial for you start on your mini snowman army. If you have any questions about the process, let me know here, and I'll do my best to answer them.

Thanks for looking in!!

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## Karl_TN (Dec 31, 2020)

Very detailed. Thanks for all the work that went into posting all these pics.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Maverick (Dec 31, 2020)

Thanks for the tutorial. I have a bunch of acrylic shorts that I didn’t know what I was going to do with them. Maybe they have a purpose now.

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## trc65 (Dec 31, 2020)

Most Excellent!!!

Thanks for showing everything, especially the link to your sanding sponges, going to save me a lot of time in the future. I've been sanding with strips of 600x, then going through all micro mesh, then Novus 1,2 polishes. Takes longer to sand/polish than to turn them.

Q: are you using the sponges wet or dry?


Your process is essentially the same as what I've done, just differs a little in work holding and tools (I don't have carbide). Just a note, that this process also works well if you are turning them from wood.

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## Tony (Dec 31, 2020)

Great thread Marc, thanks for all the work taking pictures! I'm surprised you don't use the round carbide to take the nib off the top of the hat, figure that would be easier. That thin parting tool will come in handy for these I think.

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## ripjack13 (Dec 31, 2020)

trc65 said:


> Q: are you using the sponges wet or dry?


Sponges are dry sanding. The micro mesh is the only wet sanding done.

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## Nature Man (Dec 31, 2020)

Very comprehensive! Thanks for putting together this tutorial! Chuck

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## ripjack13 (Dec 31, 2020)

Tony said:


> I'm surprised you don't use the round carbide to take the nib off the top of the hat, figure that would be easier.



I did at first, but the one I have is way too big for it. So I used the square one. I also use it to smooth outthe top hat top edge. 
I need to make a smaller carbide tool soon.


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## Tony (Dec 31, 2020)

ripjack13 said:


> I did at first, but the one I have is way too big for it. So I used the square one. I also use it to smooth outthe top hat top edge.
> I need to make a smaller carbide tool soon.


Maybe a carbide cupped tool would work?

Reactions: Like 1


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