Making Long Taper

buckaroo wrote:(clip) making a long constant decreasing taper(clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ If you are going to do a lot of them, I would make a long toolrest, and set it at the proper angle--then turn the taper using the toolrest to gauge the work.

If you are going to do one, I would start by turning the stock round. Then mark pencil rings every few inches along the wood. The calculate the required diameter at each ring, and turn to that diameter using a parting tool and a pair of calipers. Then fair in the in-between parts by eye.

If you are going to do a few, I would use the latter method, but I would group the operations so I don't have to keep resetting the calipers (Do all the big ends, then move to the next position on all of them, etc.) Or, if you have several pairs of calipers, you could set one for each position, and you won't have to keep taking the wood out and putting it in.

Buckaroo,

If it was me do>

Ahhaa! Great ideas. And I never thought about using a taper jig..... interesting. Will have to give this some more thought. Thanks for advice.

Just remember that if you do that - after you cut the 2 sides - you will have to add shims to do the opposite 2 sides or the taper will be wrong. DAMHIKT

When I've wanted to make a long taper, or cylinder for that matter, I turn the piece round with a roughing gouge and then use a jack plane set at 45° so it cuts like a skew. The result is as straight a line as when using the plane on flat stock. Dan

I've done this a few times for larger pieces I've made too and it works wonderfully. It's like having a skew with a large built-in depth limit and guide. I even saw one time a long time ago a large, actually HUGE, solid wood column being made with a large metal plane being used to smooth it out. The column was about 3' diameter and 16' long. This guy was just running this plane across at an angle down the entire thing. Made nice, wide shavings.

- Andrew

Rob V wrote: (clip) add shims to do the opposite 2 sides or the taper will be wrong.(clip) DAMHIKT ^^^^^^^^^^^ Ah, yes. The devil is in the details. I think the taper method, as suggested by Kevin Neeley is ingenious, but its success depends on things being done exactly right. If the wood is long and slender, it could develop a slight bow, which would result in not cleaning up the four flats evenly along the full length. If the center is not perfectly placed at each end, it will make the four sides clean up unevenly.

Kevin's idea of tapering only two of the sides eliminates part of the problem, at the cost of more roughing on the lathe. I would like to propose carrying the idea a bit further: Don't taper at all. Just offset the center at the narrow end. Let one of the flat sides act as the gauge for the finished taper,and waste all the rest of the wood.

If you want to eliminate the excessive roughing and vibration this will entail, you could remove much of the excess wood on a table saw, band saw, or with a saber saw, keeping one straight side, and leaving enough excess on the other three sides to ensure that the straight side cleans up last.

I made a series of nose cones for a model rocketeer. The largest cone was

To make the taper straight, I used the toolrest for a guide and skew-cut the surface. I then used a hard block of wood for a sanding block that prevented me from sanding in dips and bumps.

Take the tapered piece, which I cut on the bandsaw for safety, knock the corners down with the plane on a v-block and smooth with your favorite planing cut, be it skew or roughing gouge. If your lathe will slow waaay down, consider a block plane as your "skew."