How to Turn a Tapered Spindle?

"buck" skrev i melding news:35350$42176503$44a42d78$ snipped-for-privacy@msgid.meganewsservers.com...

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

what type of lathe are you using?

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

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.

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

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

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

========================== 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.

answer for this questi> I am a novice at woodturning and could use some guidance. I have a 2.5"