Question about the origin of children's tops

Probably someone a reeaaaall long time ago was trying to make fire spinning a piece of wood into another piece of wood, and it got away from him but stayed up. So he started fooling around with that, until his SWMBO whacked him over the head with a club and told him to get back to getting the fire going.

-Kevin

Hello Pete,

I have not been able to find anything that might date the origin of the spinning top. My book "The Top" by D. W. Gould copyrighted 1973 was unable to find anything to date the origin of tops. He did find mentions of the top as early as 1461, but I suspect that it was developed much earlier than that. I recently reviewed a book, "Tops the Universal Toy" by Michael Cullen. It is an excellent book on a wide range of tops, but doesn't even try to define the origin of these neat childrens toys. I guess over the last 20 years that I've made well over a thousand tops. Originally, from a solid blank, and then using a scrap of wood with a hard maple 3/8" dowel added from which to turn the stem.

When I first started turning wood it would sometimes be two to three weeks between opportunities to get in the shop and turn wood. If found that my tool control had decreased from the last opportunity. I found that turning two or three spinner tops before trying to turn anything else helped me regain my tool control and I always recommend that new turners give this technique a try. The core of a bowl often makes a good basic spinner top when you add a stem.

Fred Holder

I'm surprised that y'all didn't know that carbon-14 dating proves that the spin-top was invented in 3427.6 BC as a spin-off after an Egyptian politician put a spin on his illegal rip-off of the people. Spinning and ripping off have continued and increased up to this day. Not the price of turned wood tops, I hasten to add.

Today the spun off spin-tops have become so common that woodturners make them, little children spin them and we all hope that collectors will buy them.

There's big ring and little ring, but poiticians play for keeps and no matter which game they play, we always lose.

Sorry Pete, for this OT rant. I just saw the morning news and read the newspaper. Arrgh! Now back to woodturning after a word from our more dignified and serious turners. :)

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

On Tue, 13 Jan 2009 12:50:17 -0600, spaco wrote (in message ):

nothing to do with the history, but you can have a bit of fun with the tops you make -- drill a series of holes into the largest diameter rim of the top, and it will whistle or whine when spinning. tom koehler