I am a novice at woodturning and could use some guidance. I have a 2.5"
square of laminated poplar 16" long. I want to shape it so it ends up as a
tapered spindle 2.5" on one end and 1.5" at the other end. I do have an
extra inch on each end which could be wasted if necessary. My question is
.... What is the best way to do this? I can see myself taking off too much
wood somewhere along the way and having to throw away the piece. Would WWs
band saw it first? I will have to make four of them. I don't know how to
turn them so that they end up with a relatively consistant taper..... I
posted this at another forum also.....Any help appreciated.

"buck" skrev i melding
ervers.com...
I am a novice at woodturning and could use some guidance. I have a 2.5"
square of laminated poplar 16" long. I want to shape it so it ends up as a
tapered spindle 2.5" on one end and 1.5" at the other end. I do have an
extra inch on each end which could be wasted if necessary. My question is
... What is the best way to do this? I can see myself taking off too much
wood somewhere along the way and having to throw away the piece. Would WWs
band saw it first? I will have to make four of them. I don't know how to
turn them so that they end up with a relatively consistant taper..... I
posted this at another forum also.....Any help appreciated.


I make a lot of these for stool-legs.
What I do:
I measure the length of the finished leg, mark, and turn the thickness +
some with a
parting iron in each end.
I calculate the thicness of the middle, and turn this thickness + some, in
the middle.
Then I use the roughingiron to take the edges and the main thicness down to
near the thickness marked with the parting iron,
then I change to a 1" oval chisel "scary sharp" and I straighten the line
down to the parting iron marks.
After controlmeasuring, I either use the chisel more, or I sand and finish.
An aluminum ruler is my help to get he line straight; I just hold it along
the spindle, and mark "humps" with my pencil and take them off with
the chisel.

If I make a longer leg, I make more measured markings with the parting tool
along the length.

Good luck:-)

Bjarte

On Sat, 19 Feb 2005 09:12:21 -0700, "buck" wrote:

I am a novice at woodturning and could use some guidance. I have a 2.5"
square of laminated poplar 16" long. I want to shape it so it ends up as a
tapered spindle 2.5" on one end and 1.5" at the other end. I do have an
extra inch on each end which could be wasted if necessary. My question is
... What is the best way to do this? I can see myself taking off too much
wood somewhere along the way and having to throw away the piece. Would WWs
band saw it first? I will have to make four of them. I don't know how to
turn them so that they end up with a relatively consistant taper..... I
posted this at another forum also.....Any help appreciated.


what type of lathe are you using?


mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

On Sat, 19 Feb 2005 09:12:21 -0700, "buck"
wrote:

I am a novice at woodturning and could use some guidance. I have a 2.5"
square of laminated poplar 16" long. I want to shape it so it ends up as a
tapered spindle 2.5" on one end and 1.5" at the other end. I do have an
extra inch on each end which could be wasted if necessary. My question is
... What is the best way to do this? I can see myself taking off too much
wood somewhere along the way and having to throw away the piece. Would WWs
band saw it first? I will have to make four of them. I don't know how to
turn them so that they end up with a relatively consistant taper..... I
posted this at another forum also.....Any help appreciated.



There are several ways to do this. A lathe duplicator will do the job
quickly and your spindles will be the same. The cutting tool follows
a template that is cut from a piece of hardboard. The downside is
lathe duplicators can be rather expensive. Another option is to
build a carriage that clamps onto the bed and allows a router (fitted
with a core box bit) to run along a sloped track. In either case,
I would remove the excess on the table saw or band saw. I don't have
the extra bucks to buy a lathe duplicator, but have built "router
carriages" to make many tapered duplicate spindles. This setup can
actually be done without a lathe, using a friend to run an electric
drill to turn the piece while I move the router down the carriage at
the approximate rate of 5 seconds per inch of travel.

"buck" wrote in message
ervers.com...
I am a novice at woodturning and could use some guidance. I have a 2.5"
square of laminated poplar 16" long. I want to shape it so it ends up as a
tapered spindle 2.5" on one end and 1.5" at the other end. I do have an
extra inch on each end which could be wasted if necessary. My question is
... What is the best way to do this? I can see myself taking off too much
wood somewhere along the way and having to throw away the piece. Would WWs
band saw it first? I will have to make four of them. I don't know how to
turn them so that they end up with a relatively consistant taper..... I
posted this at another forum also.....Any help appreciated.




One of my first projects was to make 2 36"dia fake wagon wheels each with
12 spokes. 1.25" at one end and 3/4" at the other end. I started by turning
the critical end diameters, then as mentioned by another poster, I
calculated the thickness of the center and cut into the wood with a parting
tool to that diamenter plus a good /32" or so for sanding. I then did the
same thing at the 3/4 and 1/4 points along the spindle. I then "joined up"
the different levels with a gouge and skew chisel. This is an excellent
project to get some good experience using the skew.

After doing about 3 this way I said to heck with cutting the depths at the
1/4 and 3/4 points and just did the ends and center. After about 5 more I
said to heck with the center and just did the ends. Are they absolutely
identical? No. Can you tell by looking at the wheels? No. In fact most
projects involving spindles don't have to have them absolutely identical.
Get them as close as possible at the important details and the rest will
usually be fine. You will quickly see where an obvious flaw is a problem
that you have to correct. If you only have enough stock to do the good
pieces I would glue up some scrap and practice a bit first. You'll see where
your technique or lack of it is causing you trouble.

Billh

"buck" wrote in message
ervers.com...
I am a novice at woodturning and could use some guidance. I have a 2.5"
square of laminated poplar 16" long. I want to shape it so it ends up as a
tapered spindle 2.5" on one end and 1.5" at the other end. I do have an
extra inch on each end which could be wasted if necessary. My question is
... What is the best way to do this? I can see myself taking off too much
wood somewhere along the way and having to throw away the piece. Would WWs
band saw it first? I will have to make four of them. I don't know how to
turn them so that they end up with a relatively consistant taper..... I
posted this at another forum also.....Any help appreciated.



Nothing quite as exotic as the others'. I cut the tapers oversize by about
1/8 on the bandsaw and cut until the "click" stops on the lathe - round.
Then I refine to the critical dimensions with the skew and sand.

Lathe duplicator? Router carriage? Whatsa matter, Phish, don't you like to
turn?

Barry


"Phisherman" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 19 Feb 2005 09:12:21 -0700, "buck"
wrote:

I am a novice at woodturning and could use some guidance. I have a 2.5"
square of laminated poplar 16" long. I want to shape it so it ends up as
a
tapered spindle 2.5" on one end and 1.5" at the other end. I do have an
extra inch on each end which could be wasted if necessary. My question is
... What is the best way to do this? I can see myself taking off too much
wood somewhere along the way and having to throw away the piece. Would
WWs
band saw it first? I will have to make four of them. I don't know how to
turn them so that they end up with a relatively consistant taper..... I
posted this at another forum also.....Any help appreciated.



There are several ways to do this. A lathe duplicator will do the job
quickly and your spindles will be the same. The cutting tool follows
a template that is cut from a piece of hardboard. The downside is
lathe duplicators can be rather expensive. Another option is to
build a carriage that clamps onto the bed and allows a router (fitted
with a core box bit) to run along a sloped track. In either case,
I would remove the excess on the table saw or band saw. I don't have
the extra bucks to buy a lathe duplicator, but have built "router
carriages" to make many tapered duplicate spindles. This setup can
actually be done without a lathe, using a friend to run an electric
drill to turn the piece while I move the router down the carriage at
the approximate rate of 5 seconds per inch of travel.

I would agree with parting tool / calipers / roughing tool followed by
skew, but will add a couple of other thoughts too.

First, when duplicating by hand, it helps to do the same thing, in the
same order, to each item. So it pays to make a story stick to help you
get the same positions along the length of the turning. Then, to make it
easier to set calipers, I have turned a spindle with steps of various
diameters. Not only is it faster to set calipers this way, rather than
using a ruler, it is also more consistent.

The other suggestion may or may not help. I have used it to make morse
taper plugs, but I am not sure if it will scale up well to the job you
have. But what I did was take a piece of plywood and mark out the taper
you want. Then glue some pieces of wood either side of the taper (in
your case something about 6/4 x 6/4 would be ideal) so that you make a
'box' that will fit the taper. Then, when you get the tapers nearly
done, you can stop the lathe and offer the box up to the taper to see if
it fits and check the slope.

It is good that you cut the blanks over long. If you start out with the
finished shape closer to the narrow end of the wood, you give yourself
some slack to play with if things don't go well.

--
Derek Andrews, woodturner

http://www.seafoamwoodturning.com
http://chipshop.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/toolrest/

Derek..... Great ideas..... Thank You!

"Derek Andrews" wrote in message
...
I would agree with parting tool / calipers / roughing tool followed by
skew, but will add a couple of other thoughts too.

First, when duplicating by hand, it helps to do the same thing, in the
same order, to each item. So it pays to make a story stick to help you
get the same positions along the length of the turning. Then, to make it
easier to set calipers, I have turned a spindle with steps of various
diameters. Not only is it faster to set calipers this way, rather than
using a ruler, it is also more consistent.

The other suggestion may or may not help. I have used it to make morse
taper plugs, but I am not sure if it will scale up well to the job you
have. But what I did was take a piece of plywood and mark out the taper
you want. Then glue some pieces of wood either side of the taper (in
your case something about 6/4 x 6/4 would be ideal) so that you make a
'box' that will fit the taper. Then, when you get the tapers nearly
done, you can stop the lathe and offer the box up to the taper to see if
it fits and check the slope.

It is good that you cut the blanks over long. If you start out with the
finished shape closer to the narrow end of the wood, you give yourself
some slack to play with if things don't go well.

--
Derek Andrews, woodturner

http://www.seafoamwoodturning.com
http://chipshop.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/toolrest/

Thanks to All for the help....... Off I go.....



"George" george@least wrote in message
...

"buck" wrote in message
ervers.com...
I am a novice at woodturning and could use some guidance. I have a 2.5"
square of laminated poplar 16" long. I want to shape it so it ends up as
a
tapered spindle 2.5" on one end and 1.5" at the other end. I do have an
extra inch on each end which could be wasted if necessary. My question
is
... What is the best way to do this? I can see myself taking off too
much
wood somewhere along the way and having to throw away the piece. Would
WWs
band saw it first? I will have to make four of them. I don't know how to
turn them so that they end up with a relatively consistant taper..... I
posted this at another forum also.....Any help appreciated.



Nothing quite as exotic as the others'. I cut the tapers oversize by
about
1/8 on the bandsaw and cut until the "click" stops on the lathe - round.
Then I refine to the critical dimensions with the skew and sand.

"Phisherman" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 19 Feb 2005 09:12:21 -0700, "buck"
wrote:
SNIP ............
Another option is to
build a carriage that clamps onto the bed and allows a router (fitted
with a core box bit) to run along a sloped track. In either case,
I would remove the excess on the table saw or band saw. I don't have
the extra bucks to buy a lathe duplicator, but have built "router
carriages" to make many tapered duplicate spindles. This setup can
actually be done without a lathe, using a friend to run an electric
drill to turn the piece while I move the router down the carriage at
the approximate rate of 5 seconds per inch of travel.
==========================
There are several commercial products that do this. A low cost version was
sold several years back by Sears under the name "Router Crafter". In
addition to the duplication, it had a cable drive that allowed spirals in
both directions. It could also be indexed for straight line fluting. They
show up on E-bay from time to time. If you can get one for $50.00 (USD) or
less, it would be a good accessory to have on hand. There's a more precision
device, but it goes for much higher $$. Try Art Ransom's web site for more
details. Neither on will replace your lathe, but can be a usful add-on.

Ken Moon
Webberville, TX

Hi Buck

Mixed the two Question up, sorry
So I was going to suggest for the sharpening question to go to Darrell
Feltmates web site, he has a lot of good info for all turners, not just
grinding but also making tools, projects, how to's etc.

http://aroundthewoods.com

the answer for this question is with the last one, how to sharpen G

Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo

buck wrote:
I am a novice at woodturning and could use some guidance. I have a 2.5"
square of laminated poplar 16" long. I want to shape it so it ends up as a
tapered spindle 2.5" on one end and 1.5" at the other end. I do have an
extra inch on each end which could be wasted if necessary. My question is
... What is the best way to do this? I can see myself taking off too much
wood somewhere along the way and having to throw away the piece. Would WWs
band saw it first? I will have to make four of them. I don't know how to
turn them so that they end up with a relatively consistant taper..... I
posted this at another forum also.....Any help appreciated.