Turning a long taper

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?

Thanks, Richard

Reply to
Richard Green
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"Richard Green" wrote : (clip) 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. (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Your method sounds good to me. You could refine it slightly be turning at the 1/3 points or 1/4 points if you are not satisfied with your results. Remember that when they are mounted on a table, no one will be able to place them together to look for differences. If they look good enough to you now, they are good enough.

Reply to
Leo Lichtman

Leo's suggestion of adding more points is good. Also you might consider sanding with the paper wrapped on a block. Use a block long enough to bridge between your starting points.

Reply to
Harry Pye

Build a very long and wide table, then nobody can see two legs simultaneously ;)

Reply to
Derek H

LOL :)

I was actually thinking a long table cloth would do the trick :)

Reply to
Richard Green

There's a different way. Chamfer the edges with a plane or shave prior to turning. That way you have a continuous reference, not three points. Turn to circularity along its length.

Shakers would have done it with a drawknife, I imagine, but I'd use something less likely to make my hands look like Roy's. Long tapers are a great place to use a straight chisel. No sanding required!

Reply to
George

Norm would probably:

Build a taper jig for the table saw

Cut 4 tapered legs after glue dries and nails are removed from taper jig

Mount them on the lathe between centers and sand well using shop-built sanding block.

I tried the eccentric tail stock on the Shopsmith once and decided that I was not skilled enough to read the directions and the tapered leg sample turning was VERY weird..

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

Reply to
mac davis

Thanks everyone. I got the legs finished this weekend and they turned out pretty good. I used four reference points instead of two and make an 8" sanding block to smooth things out. It never occured to me to taped the legs before turning them, even though I used my table saw to cut tapered legs for another table I made a couple of months ago. I think I'll try this next time.

Richard

Reply to
Richard Green

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.

Reply to
Prometheus

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