The process begins more than one year prior to turning the top on the wood lathe. Vashon Island is lush and windswept during the spring and fall. The many Madrona trees that are blown down every year provide ideal material for tops.

Madrona (Arbutus Menziesii) is exceptionally beautiful with smooth copper-colored bark that peels away revealing yellow and green below.  A winding framework of branches, oblong evergreen leaves and bright red berries give them an eternal, magical appearance. 

The wood has unusually fine grain and is light in color. This makes it smooth to the touch and provides a perfect surface to decorate with colorful stripes.

I typically receive a call from a neighbor informing me that a tree needs to be picked up. This is hard work and can take several days to cut, load, and haul home a single tree. I then slice it into 2"x2"x2 foot long
sticks. These are stickered in tall stacks between 1"x3/4" fir "stickers" to allow for air circulation during drying. The wind can dry the wood too fast, resulting in firewood rather than top blanks. It's important to tarp or otherwise protect the stacks from wind to ensure a slow, even drying process. 

Without protecting them air movement over the end grain of the wood will cause the ends to shrink in size faster than the mid sections. The wood is not elastic enough to allow this uneven change in shape, and so the ends will be torn apart due to the stiffness of the wood. This is what causes the cracks so often seen in the ends of firewood.

Despite the care taken, Madrona is notorious for being difficult to dry. About 20% of this material ends up cracking and must be used instead for firewood.

The sticks are then cut down once more on the bandsaw into blanks about 4" long. These blanks are mounted one at a time in a woodturning chuck equipped with large gripping jaws. The wood is spun up to 3,000 rpm.  I begin cutting by reducing the square blank down to a cylinder using a heavy fluted gouge.

Next the bottom of the top is shaped, followed by the center and top of the main body.  These surfaces are sanded and decorated by coloring with markers or burning lines using a piece of thin wire. The stem of the top is then shaped and finally the top is removed from the lathe.

The process begins again and again. I have produced over 15,000 tops this way. It is a joy to constantly experiment as each one is a study in form and color. I love seeing them pop up at friend's houses, local restaurants, and blog posts around the world. Most everyone seems to love them - the young and old as well as cats and dogs. Tops are one of the oldest known toys throughout history and come in a dizzying array of forms.

The video above is a result of making tops all month.  I tend to get considerably faster after making them for weeks on end.  My body speeds up and I become almost robotic, relying mostly on muscle memory as there is little time for decision making.  It's fun to get into that zone and something I'm quite proud of.