Thread: Flag pole

Definately have to be very flexible to withstand wind, know anyone with a popular tree that needs cutting down?
Have fun putting a 6m lenght through your BS, by a draw knife probably be the best bet.

When 6 meters is not that long, perhaps it would be wise to make it from two or three pieces glued together. Have a look how it is done in a factory. http://www.woodenflagpoles.com/how.htm
http://www.gilligansflagpoles.com/Building.html

Douglas Fir, aka Oregeon is a good choice of timber but you will need to source it clear, and from USA or Canadian origin (usually yellow end paint) and avoid the NZ one like the plague (red end paint). Then you must let it dry for a couple of years (?)
Even better if you could find some pieces in reasonable good nick from a demolition place. Dress them glue them and start the shaping process. Which glue? The boat experts I'm sure have an answer to that.

For shaping I would chisel down to size, 4" wide rings every 1.5 meter, in decreasing size, from one end to the other, working out the diameter I want at the base and at the top, perhaps using 5 different gage to keep it nice and circular.
From there it would be easy to plane the blank down to size with an electric planer and finish it perhaps with a number 7. I never used a draw knife so I cannot comment on such tool for this job.

Certainly a fun job, good luck !

Originally Posted by pedro66

I want to make a flag pole about 6 metres long. What timber would be most suitable of the timbers commonly available in Oz.
I am thinking Oregon but not too available in a section of 75mm to 80m square.
I am thinking of cutting the taper with the band saw, and planing the taper with the buzzer. Any thoughts ?

Pedro

Why not use a steel tube?

Pedro,

Why not steel indeed!

Ignore Marc's construction advice (sorry Marc): too hard!! The links are great though!!

Firstly, you are indeed building a spar, so boatbuilding methods are far and away the easiest to copy.

IF you decide to build a solid pole, don't do it out of one piece, use at least two, laminated with opposing grain direction to give you a chance of keeping it straight long term.

There are lots of mast making sites on the web like this one:http://www.alistego.com/enm_spars.html

Once you have a square blank, taper it accurately either by cutting an appropriate wedge off, or with a power plane (it doesn't take very long).

Mark the sides with a make-shift gauge and using a hand plane take off the corners so that the thing now has eight sides. Knock off the corners again and you will have a sixteen sided mast... one more time taking very light cuts and you'll have a perfectly round and tapered mast!

I use a sanding belt cut and stand over the spar to rough sand, then go along the grain with finer grits.

Alternative "B" is to build a completely hollow mast using thinner sections (My preferred choice). See http://users2.ev1.net/~fshagan/bm.htm

The initial cuts are a bit of dicking around, and the gluing is a bit messy, but it's a lot more fun and uses a little over half the amount of timber for the same dimension and strength of spar.

Oregon is easy to work, and if you use the hollow section it'll be easier to buy in smaller sections.

If you are going to paint it, I'd use Radiata!
:eek:

Use a quality brand boatbuilding epoxy: BoteCote, West etc.

Good luck!

P

How about bamboo- strong light etc
Rosethorn

Radiata and Bamboo even painted are just not durable enough.
Oregon is ok.(painted)
I can take some flagpole photos of steel and also timber ones if that will help

A 6m flagpole needs to be made of 100 x 100 oergon then tapered.
You could cut the taper with a normal builders saw and roughly shape it with an electric plane and sand it true with a belt sander if you work to guide lines.

I saw a classified here today for 6m alum flagpoles for $200 or $450 installed with flag. you might find someone down your way at similar prices.
Cheers
Michael

I agree with the alum. I have one and it is in two sectons -easy to handle except when you are trying to lift it up over the inner sleeve. If light alum is hard to do this with handling a 6 metre wood post would be harder still.

My wood suggestion - why not try a good SA timber - sugar gum - you should be able to get a 6 metre straight sapling that with very little work would come up nicely - and you could work it green.

I have a heap in Vic but if it was me I would go for a redgum hybrid which are even straighter and taller. Age of sapling needed would be about 3-4 years old.

Good luck.

Whay not steel?
Well, good question...here is the answer) http://www.woodenflagpoles.com/album/three.html
and here http://www.woodenflagpoles.com/why.htm

You cannot even consider to compare a proper wooden falg pole with some steel imitation, (conceded much cheaper and easier to make, providing you have some steel work knowledge and tools.)

The wooden boat mast proposed above are a good alternative but seem to me much harder to achieve then the four piece method used by Hennesy, and this gives the chance to have a square bottom section that can be bolted to two steel or wooden supports concreted in the floor.

Thanks for the replies,and Marc, the Hennessy link sums it up.
Wooden flag poles are better asthetically, and the halyard won't jangle around and drive everyone mad like on a metal pole.
I don't care for those poles which have a large loop at the bottom of the flag when using an internal halyard.

I think I will get hold of some Oregon from demo sites, dress it and laminate the pole then go from there.

Thanks all
Pedro