# Christmas Tree - Inside Out Ornaments



## trc65 (Jan 12, 2022)

Ok, this will be a quick and dirty tutorial that assumes you already know how to do an inside out turning. Because I don't have a decent drawing program on my tablet. I'm including a photo of my notes on how I do this ornament and hope everyone can decipher them with a little info in this thread.

I made these with an integrated top/bottom finial so my blank was 6-8 inches long. Make sure your four pieces are square and the same size, glued up mine were 1 9/16” square. I only glued them on about 1/2” on each end.

Heres the picture of my notes. I'll explain the steps with some pictures.





First, you need to preserve the square ends on both sides so you have something to glue back together after flipping the pieces. Start by rounding about 2" of the blank in the center. You can shift that off center depending on the length you want for a top/ bottom finial. BTW, the trunk of the tree is on the headstock side. Only rough it until it is just barely round. If you cut too much, you will end up with a very wide trunk.





Next mark three lines at about 1/2" intervals.





Using a parting tool, cut to the diameters listed in my notes. From left to right, 1 1/16”, 1 5/32", 1 1/4".





Continued in next post.


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## trc65 (Jan 12, 2022)

At this point, be careful with your cuts, everything you remove will show in the outline after flipping pieces.

Now, remove the material as shown in the next picture. Try to keep the cut as straight as possible, and try not to change the diameter of the points.





When flipped, it should look like this.





Notice that this tree has a trunk as I rounded the section to the left of the first cut. If you don't want a trunk, your cuts should look like the next picture where the blank is still flat to the left of the first cut with the parting tool. 

I should also mention that you need to sand and finish before you flip and reglue the pieces.









At this point in time, after flipping and glueing the blank back together, it's time to start shaping the ornament. Speed is your friend so crank it up. Stop frequently and check thickness, and especially check on both sides of the tree to make sure you don't cut through. 

When you are all done, you will hopefully have something like this.





Practice is your friend on this type of ornament, so don't use your best pieces of wood on your first try. Cut up something cheap to practice on, because you will make mistakes. I'd also recommend taking notes and pictures along the way so you can reproduce nice designs. I still keep a model of this ornament that I never glued back together for final turning to help me visualize the process.

I know there is something I'm leaving out, while typing this second post there was info I wanted to go back and add to the first post, but can't remember what......

Reactions: Like 1 | Great Post 1 | Way Cool 5 | Informative 5


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## William Tanner (Jan 12, 2022)

Thanks Tim. I’ll keep this.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Tony (Jan 13, 2022)

Thanks Tim!

Reactions: Like 1


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## DLJeffs (Jan 13, 2022)

Very innovative and creative. Kind of like when an artist uses shadows to create light and depth.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Barb (Jan 16, 2022)

Very nice!

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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