Traditional German Ring Turning | How to
What you'll need
In this article we explore the art of Reifendrehen, or German ring turning.
Reifendrehen is a woodturning technique that originates from the Erzgebirge region of Germany. It involves turning a ring of timber with shaped profiles, which once parted off, is sliced to reveal the shape of animals or figures. These Reifendrehen figures are often used as traditional wooden Christmas decorations for festive scenes and centrepieces.
Watch our Woodworking Wisdom demonstration or follow our step by step guide to have a go.
Prepare you blank
First you will need to make a series of templates as you will need to cut three separate profiles. Print off your animal - we have used a horse. You will need to create a template for the bottom, the side and the top.
Use your paper template to cut out on some bulsa wood or think cardboard, the profiles of your shapes. You will use these throughout the turning to help guide your profile shaping.
We have used a shop bought bowl blank which is 3 inches deep and 10 inches wide.
To begin you will need to tidy up the outside edge and remove the wax ensuring your blank is round. Top tip: Use the bowl gouge to do this and not a roughing gouge. The roughing gouge is for use on spindles. Don't worry too much about tears along the surface, as there is a lot of shaping to do.
Shape the front profile
The first form you are going to create is the front shape profile of the horse. Using your template, mark on the blank the areas which you are going remove, leaving the profile of the head. Transfer the lines around the blank.
Begin to remove the waste a little bit at a time. Remove the waste which isn't needed so the template sits snug against the blank. Then, you can remove the waste to reveal the sections where your head and ears will sit. You can then begin to shape the head, replicating the angles on your template. Keep refining the shape until the template sits snug around the shape you have turned, softening the edges as you go.
Shaping the legs
Next, you will turn the leg section. Again, hold your template up to the bowl blank, this time on the front face of the blank. Mark the points which you will remove and again mark out the radial lines. You can then remove the waste. Start by cutting straight, but you will taper these later. Remove the waste from the middle as well, but remember to leave timber to create a hold point for you chuck.
Use your template to help guide the angles for the taper on the legs and to refine your shaping as you go.
Once you are happy with the shape you can create a chuck hold point. We have used some deep grip jaws. Transfer the radius on to the blank and remove any waste. Now the bottom section is done. You can now finish the surfaces by doing some cleaning cuts and then sand.
Shaping the top
Now reverse the blank and mount using the hold point created.
Remove the excess waste. Then present the template to the blank. This is marking the top section of the horse from the ears down along the back to the tail. The ear should sit on the outside edge with the rear end sitting towards the centre of your blank. Mark the ear and back end of the horse at the curve and then begin to remove the waste from the centre and outside edge and along the back and mane. As before, check your shaping using your template.
Next, mark your finish line, the curvature of the rear end of your horse. As you start to remove the waste it will begin to give way so you will need to change your holding method. Once your profile aligns with your template, switch the project to a set of button jaws so you can remove the centre piece.
Removing the centre
Once the centre piece breaks free, remount on to your C Jaws on the external edge. Soften the edge and add the curve to the end of the horse. You can finish by sanding.
Finally, cut the ring on the bandsaw to reveal the horse profile. Begin by cutting straight across the ring. You can then cut as many animals as you like.
Have you tried ring turning?
If you have tired German ring turning then we would love to see your animals! Share your ring turning creations with us on our social channels. Upload your images, search and tag @axminstertools on Facebook or Instagram
