As most of you know the two most productive machines in my shop are the Shop Smith Lathe and the WoodChuck Mill. For the sake of any newbees, the WoodChuck started it all, that lead to the Legacy we all know.Hear is a picture of the flame finial the customer brought to me to duplicate.
I first made a pattern and duplicated them on the Shop Smith. I made sure I had enough wood left on the end to be able to mill the flame.
I then chucked it into the mill and set up the y-axis follower and pattern I used a 1/2 spiral bit on a 3" pitch and 3 starts. The cut was right hand thread and cut from left to right to eliminate tear out. The cut is only 3/16 deep milling from the side so it will leave the flat ridge between cuts.
I used a couple of rings I had laying around to set the finial in to drill the dowel hole.
Here is a comparison to the finished and original product.
The whole project took about 4 hours to complete. Most of which was patterns and setup. When you bid a job make sure you take that into consideration. These cost the customer $35 each. Enjoy.
Mike OK