Finger Top on a Lathe

Step 5 Hollow it Out

The idea of this step is the lower the center of gravity below the balance point. To do this we make a fairly thick ring at the bottom of the top and thin out the rest of the body. The tools I used for this was a small skew and a detail gouge. While shaping the body make sure you leave a 1/4" cylinder in the center that you can shape the tip out of later.

Then when your satisfied with the thickness of your walls get a small skew carefully shape the tip it should be a little less than 1/4" long, you can check how the tip is doing by touching the tip, this gives you a good feel of how well it will spin on your finger.