Thread: question re turning timber

Does it just have to be round or does it need to have fillets & coves & beads etc?

If it just has to be round, a mate of mine made some spars & oars for a small wooden boat by planing the corners off & then sanding it with a belt sander.

If it needs to have fillets & coves & beads etc, you can dick around with mounting the legs between some centres so it can be rotated & use a router but turning on a lathe would be the quickest.

Use a Handplane to make it 8 sided then plane the corners off till its 16 sided and plane thoise corners off etc, just keep going until all you need to do is sand it.

It doesn't take as long as it sounds but you need a very sharp plane blade

or impose on someone with a lathe

I know of the method of which you speak Echidna. however i've only done it with metal (nail punches etc) as an apprentice 20 yrs ago.... not on legs 850mm long.

I was hoping there were other methods... and yes Cliffy they do need to be round 0 zero coves etc... these legs need to be symetrical across all 4 legs with a slight taper... I could prob do one easy enough but getting 4 to LOOK the same would be as hard as reading one of Wild Dingo's posts!!! lol!!! (Kidding dingo...)

Because the klegs are so far apart you probably wouldn't even see a 3 or 4 mm varition between them

You could try the 'between centres' jig with a router set up to slide along at a taper.

Zed, I had a similar situation a while back.
I needed two wooden round rails for the end of a cot and I don't have a lathe.

I did what Cliff suggested.

My effort with a plane and sanders was round but not even. Rustic would be a kind description.

Then I built a box to hold the square length of timber between a nail and a drill. I trimmed the edges of the square timber on the tablesaw.

I set up the router with a wide flat bottomed bit on top of the box.
Set the timber rolling with the electric drill.
Steadily worked the router along the box, lowering the bit until I had the right thickness.

It actually did a good job.

Good one Scally, there ya go Zed, you can make a real fancy jig box with your Gifkins.

Zed,

You are near me. Easiest might be to make the blanks, and bring them round on a w/e, and we'll turn them! pm me if interested.

regards

Zed you silly bugger

Just borrow my lathe and turning chisels.

Won't need it for weeks. You can get it in yr car.

It may open up a whole new area of expenditure for you. You can pay over $5k for a lathe!

My brain sez "Dont buy a lathe... dont buy a lathe...." but my other brain sez.... "more tools......"

I'll try the box method to start with and if that sucks Ill contact Al or Bodg.

Big wet kiss to all respondants.

Zed - the box for the router should work fine. I use a similar box on my lathe to hold the router for fluting turnings, & since flutes are usually cut on tapered pieces, I made the cleats that support the router pivotable from one end. Since you said you wanted tapered legs, you could either fix the cleats at the desired angle, or make them adjustable so you could use the same box for 'turning' other objects, later. I used a bolt in one end of the cleat, and one of those lag bolts with a metal thread on t'other end that goes into a slot in the side of the box. (Sorry, no pics, but it's just the same as Scally's, except for the adjustable cleats and a cutouts at either end for the lathe's spur-drive & live centre, instead of a pointed nail.)

The only drawback with this method (apart from time) is that you will have a rather austere square pummel, instead of a more friendly rounded shape. However a lot of 'modern' stuff does have square pummels, so if the chairs are in that style, it will match.

Looks like Scally puts the router on a square base that fits neatly in the box, which is what I also do. Keep the base as narrow as possible in the fore-aft direction to maximise travel....

But my advice would be to take Alistair or Bodgy up on their kind offer - a competent turner will crank out 4 simple legs in Beech (turns like butter!) in less time that it will take to find the jig material. You could be enjoying a celebratory cleansing ale or two in less than an hour....
Cheers,

you are all right... however the box method may be a fun way of learning something new....
i've sorta avoided getting a lathe coz I prefer cabinetary so i've geared my toolware / workshop in that direction... a jig that turns rounds may be handy ongoing...

Originally Posted by Zed

you are all right... however the box method may be a fun way of learning something new....

I have every sympathy with that view, Zed!

Originally Posted by Zed

..i've sorta avoided getting a lathe coz I prefer cabinetary so i've geared my toolware / workshop in that direction... a jig that turns rounds may be handy ongoing...

Well, my main love is cabinetry, too, but got a lathe many yrs ago, just so I could do my own table legs. Took a whole month of weekends and nights to turn my first set of legs (and they were so crude I dismantled the table & put them back in the lathe years later!). However, I can usually knock up a set of reasonably complicated legs in less than couple of hours now. Never got into bowls and 'really serious' turnery, much, but a lathe is such a useful tool around the shed for so many things apart from furniture bits (handles, mallets, knobs & all sorts of fixery) & doesn't take up a huge space. Takes a little while to become confident with a skew, but once you can keep the dig-ins to a couple a day, you are off and running...

Anyway, you should ALWAYS be looking for excuses to add another tool to the shed - you'll be in violation of the shed code of practice, otherwise.....

Cheers,

Originally Posted by Zed

... a jig that turns rounds may be handy ongoing...

Yep,

I've got one of those......... called a lathe

regards