Open Segmented Turning

I've started using hide glue. It sets up very fast and so far I haven't see any creep. You can get the crystals from Highland Hardware. Instead of the $99 glue pot I use a $10 electric hot pot.

Stuart Johnson Red Oak, Texas

Titebond II (messy), yellow carpenter's glue. I did some a few weeks ago, gluing up the pieces was no problem. I used a power miter saw with an exact 30 degree click stop, verified the angle with a triangle thingie from my son's math stuff and all. The angles were proper but no way I could line them up without having some gaps, I'd love some suggestions how to end up with a proper hexagon without any gaps in one, or more, of the segments... Bart.

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I'll second that on having perfect angles with no gaps.. Maybe we both just need better miter saws?

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I'm a furniture maker as well as a turner. I've only had one miter saw that made "furniture quality" miters. That was the small 8 1/2" Hitachi. I think all the other machines don't have the tolerances and the blade has some flex. I always cut the accurate work with a Forrest Woodworker II on the table saw.

Hello Bart,

Nearly everyone has some problems with gaps. I solved the problem for myself several years ago. I cut them as close as possible and glued up the ring. After it was dry, I made a cut through the ring where I had gaps with the bandsaw and reglued. If there was more than one gap, I made another cut through that gap area. You must cut straight across the segmented ring. Don't sand the cuts. The pieces will fit together perfectly.

A friend of mine who does some really great segmented work picked up this trick from me and said it has saved him a great deal of time.

Fred Holder

Make a sled for the table saw and use a Woodworker II blade, bout as close as you can get, choose a good hard wood to start with and hold it firmly when cutting!

I haven't made any segmented turnings, but I built some wooden puzzles which required very accurate compound mitres. Since I don't have a mitre saw, I built a sled which incorporated one angle and accurately measured the blade tilt for the other. Generally, the results were as good as you'll ever get in wood.

I later evaluated some mitre saws, most of which had a detent for pre-measured angles, most concerned me with possible inaccuracies - such as if the casting or the mounting was crooked, then the angle will be forever inaccurate. Lock-down levers left me unimpressed, as many were screws which pressed into the casting, possibly allowing slippage, and possibly marring the casting causing inaccurate future positioning.

Perhaps I'm just being picky, but for deck building, it won't matter. For invisible glue lines in hardwood, at close inspection, I'll be picky.

I like the solution someone mentioned herein, to re-saw the glue line (of a layer) and re-glue it again. Should work nicely. You could also fill the glue line with "chair-doctor" glue from Lee Valley which is very thin and will run into cracks, but it can be used to build up a solid glue filler at least, where re-cutting isn't practical. I used it to fill the seams in the puzzles which worked nicely. Since you're going to cut off any residuals on the surface, then only the filled crack will be the only evidence, and I think most people will guess the tree didn't come that way originally, anyway.

Since you originally asked - what kind of glue - typically Lee Valley carpenter's glue for my puzzles - 99% of the joints have held up well in use, and we're talking here about cross-grain gluing, basically edge to edge so there's very little surface area, so I'm pleased with this result in fir, pine, maple, walnut, nogal, and cherry.

For Ebony, I used one part polyurethane, because both the LVGlue and Yellow glue wouldn't hold at all. Messy and slippery stuff, but sticks really well on oily woods, at least compared to the other two mentioned. Add moisture to the wood before gluing!

I hope to try some segments soon so keep us posted.

Stephen

truly awesome - thanks!!!!!

The point of my exersize was to get two hexagons glued on top one another and slap the whole thing on the lathe to turn a rim for making a banjo - the musicial instrument, not a lathe banjo (a shocker when I discovered that term...). The rim is done and the gaps I ended up with can be hidden where I fasten the neck. But it'll sure be a whole lot nicer to have a non-gap rim for tone reasons. The wood I used was reclaimed treasure (read: dumpster score at a pallet place) that turned out to be beautiful jatoba. All I need to do now is practicing doing a straight line with that durned router so I can finish the neck and I'll be off and picking soon :) Let me say folks, as a total rookie woodworker, I've learned a ton of excellent stuff on this newsgroup over the last 12 months - thanks ever so much to all for putting up with my beginner questions and making me feel so welcome. Bart.

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=================== Bart, Instead of trying to set them all up at one time, do them by twos. Put the first 2 together, then the next 2; then put those together to make 4, etc. until you have a half ring. Then do the other half ring. Then you trial fit the 2 half rings. If they are a tight fit, glue them up as is; if not, do a saw cut thru one end, and that should make a tight fit all around. If you have a problem with the angles, set the angle on your miter as close as you can, make a cut off the end of the piece you want, then turn it over to cut the other side. That will give you a matching angle. Even tho it may not be exact angle you figured, it will match without a gap.

Ken Moon Webberville, TX

Hi Bart, To make a hexagon without any gaps glue up two half rings of three segments each. This will give you two half rings that each have one straight edge of 180 degrees. But, Prior to gluing the individual segments the edges need to be trued. You can do this by sticking a sanding disk to a piece of melamine or a sink cutout from a countertop. Anything flat. Lightly and without tipping draw the segment edges across the sandpaper. This will get rid of the very small nub left by the saw. Sometimes you can't see these nubs but they are there. Once you have done all the segments test fit them dry to be sure they fit tightly. Sometimes flipping them will give you a better joint. This is because if there is a vertical error in the saw it will be cancelled with the opposing piece. Using a small amount of titebond 2 (use the smallest amount you can) glue the segs. into two half rings. When gluing segments rub them together to get rid of any excess glue. Too much glue will give you gaps. Clamps are not needed. Once the glue dries true the 180 degree edges and glue them together. I true them by hand on the disc on the sink cutout but you can do them with the disc sander. Be careful not to take off too much when using a disc sander as this will give you a smaller finished diameter and will also make your ring oval. If you must use a disc sander do your sanding while the sander is coasting to a stop. This will prevent you from taking off too much and will help eliminate the burning that sometimes occurs with disk sanders.

Bob, Naugatuck Ct.