# Cube of Destiny



## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

A few nights ago I thought up a set of carved cubes. Each will start in a very similar manner but diverge at the end to become different in final form. I think they'll end up being pretty cool. This first one is in cocobolo. The rest will be different (probably Gaboon ebony and zebrawood).

Cube of Destiny:

































A little too shallow.


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)




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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)




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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)




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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

More to come! Stay tuned.


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## 65BAJA (May 27, 2012)

Cool. Have to watch this one.


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

Thanks for posting. Interesting to see the process.

I like your plywood cut out so you can clamp these small items.

What is instrument you used to measure the depth?

I use my dial caliper, but your instrument has a broader base which would be useful at time.


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

Dave Paine said:


> Thanks for posting. Interesting to see the process.
> 
> I like your plywood cut out so you can clamp these small items.
> 
> ...


Thanks. The plywood cutout, by the way, is glued and screwed to the piece of pine it's resting on. It ended up being a perfect way to hold the cube solidly without the hassle and marring of a vise.

The depth gauge I'm using is one I found at a yard sale (or somewhere) about 10-12 years ago. I've used it for all sorts of things but never knew what it was intended to be until a couple of months ago when I saw one at the checkout counter of an auto parts store. Then, eureka!!! I knew what it was: A tire tread gauge! I bought another one to keep with my woodworking tools.

http://www.finditparts.com/products/612048/dorman-9-918?gclid=CIiyotji07ECFQWxnQodKn8A1A

You can find them cheaper. This is one great (and inexpensive) tool that I highly recommend everyone add to their collection of setup and marking tools. I've used one at my electronics repair bench for about 10 years now and recently added one to my woodworking tools.


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

Chaincarver Steve said:


> Thanks. The plywood cutout, by the way, is glued and screwed to the piece of pine it's resting on. It ended up being a perfect way to hold the cube solidly without the hassle and marring of a vise.
> 
> The depth gauge I'm using is one I found at a yard sale (or somewhere) about 10-12 years ago. I've used it for all sorts of things but never knew what it was intended to be until a couple of months ago when I saw one at the checkout counter of an auto parts store. Then, eureka!!! I knew what it was: A tire tread gauge! I bought another one to keep with my woodworking tools.
> 
> ...


Thanks, as I read about auto parts store, it dawned on my that it was a tire depth gauge.

I love when we can find multiple uses for gadgets.

I was in an auto parts place looking for something for the car, and saw "OEM Graphite Gasket Scraper) for about $5. I looked at this and thought it may be a good glue scraper.

Sure enough it works really well for glue scraping. I think the graphite is some coating, but it is holding, does not rust and the glue does not stick.


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

Defined square(ish) openings with chisel.









Change of tooling.









Straight bit.









Initial routing out of borders.


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

Cone bit.









Beginning to dome the inner squares.


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

Back to straight bit.









Deepen grooves.

















Light at the end of the tunnel.









Back to cone.


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

After more doming, the straight bit was used to finish freeing the corners. Ball loose.









Oval bit to start rounding the ball.









More rounding to go.

























Not done yet. A little more rounding to go, followed by skeletonization. Stay tuned.


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## Taylormade (Feb 3, 2011)

I don't know what I'm looking at, my friend, but your tools look like something out of a torture tool kit! :thumbsup:

You keep it interesting and keep me intrigued. Subscribed!


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

Taylormade said:


> I don't know what I'm looking at, my friend, but your tools look like something out of a torture tool kit! :thumbsup:


It's the hand piece of my Foredom/Grobet-style flex shaft tool. It's like a Dremel on steroids and with a chuck instead of a hassle-full collet system.



> You keep it interesting and keep me intrigued. Subscribed!


Thanks. I was originally going to post the process in pictures only - you know, let the pictures tell the story - but realized that a minimal amount of text is needed for some of the pictures to clarify what is going on.

The "Cube of Destiny" - the first in my trilogy of "Sorcerers' Cubes" - will undergo a dramatic shift in appearance tonight. Hopefully I left enough meat on the bones to have it turn out like I want.

They are intended to be purely ornamental, by the way. The names I came up with are merely intended to conjure a sense of mystique and wonder and are based on nothing more than the whimsey of my imagination. The other two will be called "The Cube of Enlightenment" and "The Cube of Solace", respectively.


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## 65BAJA (May 27, 2012)

You should build the Boxes of Ordin next.














Ref: Sword of Truth books by Terry Goodkind.


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## Shop Dad (May 3, 2011)

I'm intrigued, but I'm going to have to call you Darth Steve for this one.

Looks good Darth Steve. Carry on.


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

This is pretty wicked I have to say. 
You always intrigue me with your style of carvings. 
At first I started to think of hell raiser. Lol










Starring chain carver Steve. Lol
Just playing. I had to. Lol


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

Shop Dad said:


> I'm intrigued, but I'm going to have to call you Darth Steve for this one.
> 
> Looks good Darth Steve. Carry on.


Nice! I like it. Now I have to make a supervillain outfit. Do you think Spandex would be a good look for me? :laughing:



Dominick said:


> This is pretty wicked I have to say.
> You always intrigue me with your style of carvings.
> At first I started to think of hell raiser. Lol
> 
> ...



AWESOME. When first thought up this project Hellraiser immediately sprang into my mind as well. Good stuff. Thanks for the cool picture! :thumbsup:


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

Last shot at the ball. Better make it count.









I don't know if you can tell but that us one sweet spheroid right there! If I may say so myself.

















A little cleanup on cage openings.









Cleanup outside faces and establish nice, crisp, clean edges and corners.


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## Shop Dad (May 3, 2011)

Nice ball Darth Steve!



Chaincarver Steve said:


> Nice! I like it. Now I have to make a supervillain outfit. Do you think Spandex would be a good look for me? :laughing:


I don't think a cape is out of the question.


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

Can you see where I'm going with this?









Bit change for a little scoring.

















The bone saw.









Ultra thin kerf (not that it was needed here).


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

Back to the trusty oval.









The real transformation begins.


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

Not done yet but I love how it's shaping up. It's pretty much exactly what I had envisioned.









































I still have to clean more out of the hollows then fine tuning, shaping and sanding. Then lacquer finishing. I'm quite pleased with the progress so far.

More to come soon.


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## Horatio (Apr 4, 2012)

It started out as "ah, that looks pretty cool" and only got better from there. Amazing stuff!


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

That's sick. I knew you were. Just didn't realize how sick. Lol. 
That's friggin cool Steve. I'm Lovin it.


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## Gwood (Aug 3, 2012)

Love it. Starts the creative juices flowing in my mind. 

Gene


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

The cube is now done. I've sprayed the first coat of lacquer already but it'll take many more.


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## Shop Dad (May 3, 2011)

If you could levitate it for the next picture that would be wicked.


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

Shop Dad said:


> If you could levitate it for the next picture that would be wicked.


I'll see what I can do.


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

I'll refrain from posting the final leg of the project (unless some one just really wants to see the rest of the steps taken in the process) and skip right to the good stuff:

Behold: The Cube of Destiny


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## haugerm (Nov 19, 2009)

You might have already mentioned this, but that shape is a hypercube with a ball in the center. A hypercube is a three dimensional representation of the "shadow" cast by a four dimensional cube. Anyway, it looks pretty cool.
--Matt


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

Well, it's sort of levitating, Shop Dog. (OK, not even close)









































Cube of Destiny


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

haugerm said:


> You might have already mentioned this, but that shape is a hypercube with a ball in the center. A hypercube is a three dimensional representation of the "shadow" cast by a four dimensional cube. Anyway, it looks pretty cool.
> --Matt


Thank you. Yeah I knew it had a specific name but couldn't think of it. Thanks for jogging my memory. :thumbsup:


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## rayking49 (Nov 6, 2011)

Definitely very cool. Can't wait to see the next two.


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## Chrome (Oct 21, 2011)

Well yeah, it's cool... :thumbsup: but I really think to be awesome you should have made all the internal supports and cage with barleysugar twists on them! I'm sure that's not beyond your considerable talents.


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

Chrome said:


> Well yeah, it's cool... :thumbsup: but I really think to be awesome you should have made all the internal supports and cage with barleysugar twists on them! I'm sure that's not beyond your considerable talents.


Hey, what's the big idea? Are you trying to blow my mind? I'm supposed to be blowing YOUR mind! I guess turnabout is fair play


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## Shop Dad (May 3, 2011)

Chaincarver Steve said:


> ... Shop Dog.


I like that! Certainly been called worse. :laughing:

Nice work D. Steve. Not many guys can carve a three dimensional representation of the "shadow" cast by a four dimensional cube. Seriously impressive! Can't wait to see you top it with the next two.  :yes:


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

Shop Dad said:


> I like that! Certainly been called worse. :laughing:
> 
> Nice work D. Steve. Not many guys can carve a three dimensional representation of the "shadow" cast by a four dimensional cube. Seriously impressive! Can't wait to see you top it with the next two.  :yes:


Oops! I didn't intentionally alter your name. Your avatar must have messed with my mind :laughing:

I hope to top this one with the next two. At the least, they'll be equally as cool. At least that's my intention.


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

That's awesome Steve. I like it a lot. It's a nice table topper.


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## zooker89 (Aug 9, 2012)

That is just ...........sweet!


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## jlmarta (Jul 29, 2012)

Chaincarver Steve said:


> Well, it's sort of levitating, Shop Dog. (OK, not even close)
> 
> View attachment 49098
> 
> ...


Wow!! That is amazing. There's no way I could carve something like that. My synapses must not be wired correctly to visualize what I would want the final product to look like.

Your project reminded me of a similar one I did a few years back but I cheated - I did it on my lathe. I hope you'll excuse the following pics... I'm not attempting to upstage the Cube of Destiny but I wanted to show you the similarity.










The cube on the right is walnut, not finished very well, with a six-pointed star inside.










The star won't come out but I have to hold a couple of the points with my thumb and index finger to keep it centered (more or less) to take the photo.










I hope I haven't offended by posting these for you to see, Steve. If I have, please let me know.

Marty


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## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

jlmarta said:


> Wow!! That is amazing. There's no way I could carve something like that. My synapses must not be wired correctly to visualize what I would want the final product to look like.
> 
> Your project reminded me of a similar one I did a few years back but I cheated - I did it on my lathe. I hope you'll excuse the following pics... I'm not attempting to upstage the Cube of Destiny but I wanted to show you the similarity.
> 
> ...


Heck no; No offense at all. I appreciate your posting pictures of your cool cube. I like it a lot. Thanks for sharing. :thumbsup:


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## jack warner (Oct 15, 2010)

that is way cool.


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## jlmarta (Jul 29, 2012)

Chaincarver Steve said:


> Heck no; No offense at all. I appreciate your posting pictures of your cool cube. I like it a lot. Thanks for sharing. :thumbsup:


You're a gentleman. Thanks. I look forward to seeing the remainder of your trilogy......


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