Thread: Carving a spiral

I'm not really sure if this is what you're after, but it's quite easy to do.

I marked out the spirals using two pieces of ribbon wrapped side-by-side. One marks the cut, and the other marks the timber that will remain. Once you're happy with the ribbon arrangement, mark with a pencil and remove both ribbons. I then used a fixed router, and a special jig to hold and spin the timber - nothing fancy, just some scrap to stop the router bit throwing the timber, since I held the dowel by hand. Once the curves were routed, I finished off with sandpaper to smooth out the edges.

steve

Gday Steve, nice work, mate tell us more about your special jig.

Is it a homemade router lathe, or what?? Any chance of piccies??


Cheers...............Sean the twisted member

Thanks sjm, I was thinking on a smaller scale so perhaps the ribbons and Dremel carver are the go. will try it out thanks.

Originally Posted by scooter

Gday Steve, nice work, mate tell us more about your special jig.

Is it a homemade router lathe, or what?? Any chance of piccies??


Cheers...............Sean the twisted member

Nothing that extravagent. Just a few bits of scrap nailed to another piece of scrap clamped to the bench. The router was bolted on top. It was just a once off, so it didn't need to be adjustable or anything like that. The L shape pieces hold the dowel in place, and I held it firmly at both ends and twisted it manually, following the lines I'd previously drawn.

I rounded off the edges with a chisel (the carving part ), then sanded to finish.
steve

Hi Steve,
So Simple.I understand your jig and the use of the router.
I gather that the timber work peice would be longer than required to hold with safety and also is it necessary to drill a hole through the centre of the timber cylinder first.
Regards Terry

Right about the first part, wrong about the second

You need to leave extra length on the ends so you can hold it comfortably, but you don't need to drill a hole through it. I made several passes, plunging about 5mm deep each pass. As the bit gets half way through, it meets the cut made from the other side, thereby creating a completely hollow center - no drilling required!


steve

Hi steve,
Sorry mate, I was thinking of two spirals coming down like ribbons. Your spiral is a solid peice all the way down.
Regards Terry

Thanks for the explanation Steve.


Cheers.......Sean