Wobbleboard

I was asked to make a wobbleboard for someone at work after he hurt his ankle. It’s basically a pogo-ball only you strengthen your ankle by rolling it around at progressing angles.
Here’s my version complete with a removable insert. The main ball part makes it at a 12 degree angle and with the insert it’s at 17 degrees.

It’s made of 3/4″ red oak with a bent inlay of maple wrapping around the edge. In order to bend the maple around the circle I had to steam bend it, then glue it. I made a steam box using 2″ black HDPE water pipe hooked up to a large pot of boiling water at a 90 degree angle. The steam goes up through the hole in the pot lid through the 90 degree 6 foot long pipe with a cap on the end. I stick the wood strips in the pipe and cook for about 30 minutes. I have about 20 seconds to clamp it in position before it hardens.

I used a bandsaw circle cutting jig to cut out the circle of oak planks and a drum sander to smooth it out. I finished by spraying a few coats of polyurethane.
It was a simple project but I got to make a circle cutting jig that I’ll use the the future as well as trying out steam bending. I also turned the ball on the lathe. Pretty cool.