Smoking Snowman

One of the guys in our turning club demoed this last Saturday. It is a fun type project. About 8" tall. Basically you start with a 3" x 3" x 6" blank. Clamp it by the four corners in your chuck. Next you drill a hole in the bottom 3/8" deep so you can expand your chuck into it. My smaller chuck took a 2 1/8" bit. Then you roughly mark out the blank for the three sections of the snowman so you know about where the mouth will end up. Drill a hole from the bottom using a 5/8" bit so is goes just beyond the mouth. At this point you can start shaping the snowman's lower section. Then hollow out the bottom section so it is cone shaped inside while not cutting into the recess you originally drilled. Flip it around and recheck it and finish the rest of the outside. Drill a 1/4" hole for the mouth. It should meet with the 5/8" hole. Drill 1/8" holes for the eyes, nose, and buttons, and arms. These holes only need to be about 3/16" deep. Drill a 5/16" hole 1/4" deep into the head where the hat will mount. Off center looks better than centered. The eyes and buttons were turned from a small piece of ebony. Each has an 1/8" tenon to go into the drilled holes. The eyes and buttons are just slightly bigger than the tenon. The nose and pipe were turned from a scrap of tulip wood. The arms are three strands of black coated, 16 gauge wire twisted together using a cordless drill (slowly) and a pair of pliers to hold one end. The hat is from ebony with a short tenon sticking out the bottom. The base is a section from a tree limb. Drill a recess off enter in the bottom to chuck it up. Flatten the top then cut it so you end up with a tenon the snowman will fit over. Fasten a bottle cap to the tenon after scraping out the plastic seal on the inner ring of the cap. Drill a 1/4" hole next to the cap, vertically about halfway through. Drill a horizontal hole in the back of the base so it meets the vertical hole. Get some cone shaped incense, place one on the burner, light it and set the snowman on the base and the smoke will come out his mouth.
Mike Hawkins