The Armour Archive

I was wondering if anyone had ideas on where to get or what to use to make a pavillion's ball apex to hang a standard from. I am at loss trying to figure out what I could use and I really dont want to do something too labor intensive.

argualbly, a brass flagpole ball, a drill and a long threaded rod. drill a hole in the ball, inser rod, attache nut, fly flag. use a set screw or some such to hold the ball on.

-+G

I turned a piece of 4X4 on a lathe and in about 2 or 3 hours I had my finial. I had never used a lathe before and I found the whole experience pretty fun and relatively easy. Making the ball was tricky but not extraordinarily so. If you have access to a lathe, I would suggest you doing that.

Check out this method of pennant attachment -- he uses a newel post from a hardware store.

Thanks all, With the info you have given me I can easily make exactly what I need.
I am going to use a wooden finial (round ball that goes that's at the end of a bannister) and a newel post (as descrbed in the link) atop of a it.
It will be just right and probably not more than $20.00.
( I could probably turn a better looking one that would be one piece but I don't have access to a lathe)

Thanks again all,

Check out this source for float balls----perfect for finials:

http://oldworlddistributors.com/finialaccessories.html

You can get them in many sizes and set up to be finials (as opposed to floats)

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Lacking that, use 2 brass bowls placed mouth to mouth. Run a threaded rod up through them. Use the rod extending above for your pennant. Make sure and put a pipe or sleeve or something inside the bowls of the proper length so that when you tighten them together they don't tend to crush down. Seal the seam with solder or epoxy to avoid getting rainwater or dew inside. Put a bar nut at the bottom of the assembly and loc-tite it to the bottom of the threaded rod. You'll of course need a theraded bolt at the top of your center pole to attach the finial /pennant assembly onto. Use one of thise double-headed bolts that has a wood screw on on side and a regular theraded bolt on the other.

[img]http://img29.photobucket.com/albums/v87/finkas/STUDBUCKLE/Finial-Design.gif[/img]

Note: You can also leave off that lower small bowl if you attach hig wind lines---they will need some space below the finial. Or, you can put the lower small bowl on and figure out an attachment for the high wind lines that will ride on the outside/over top. Just keep this concern in mind, at any rate.