On Fri, 03 Aug 2007 12:03:57 -0700, Richard Green
wrote:

Hi guys,

I'm fairly new to turning and am working on a shaker bedside table for
my bedroom. The legs are 25" long and taper from 1 1/2" to 3/4" along
the bottom 20". There is no beading or other decoration along the
taper, just a straight line. I've done pretty good with the first two
legs, but have been wondering if there is a more accurate and easier
way to do this. What I have been doing is turning the top of the taper
to size, then turning the bottom of the taper to size. I also turn a
section about halfway down to a about an 1". I then connect the three
sections by eye. The legs look good, but I know they do not form a
perfectly smooth taper from one section to the next and that they are
not consistant from leg to leg.

Is there a better way to do this?

I know you're already finished, but the engine-lathe method for doing
this is to offset the tail stock. Not easy to do that with a wood
lathe, but we've got an easier alternative availible.

I've made a long temporary tool rest that I can clamp onto the ways in
the past. Set the angle you need, and then use that as a guide. It
has to be further out than the unturned blank, but most tapers you
need for a table leg aren't that severe, and you don't lose that much
leverage by having the rest 1" from the work rather than .25". If you
grasp your tool firmly with your leading hand and use your index
finger as a guide against the rest, you're basically using a caveman
style duplicator.

The other thing that works really nicely if you're going for a simple,
smooth taper is to mark your reference points, use the parting tool
and a pair of calipers to set your depths, and then shave it down
(with the lathe running at a slow speed) using a hand plane. The foot
of the plane keeps the taper smooth and consistant. IIRC, I cant the
plane to about a 30 degree angle relative to the horizonal line of the
work, effectively turning it into a tame skew with built-in depth
control.

Both of the above have worked well for me, though I tend to lean
towards the hand-plane method.