Pole Lathe

I think the spar gauge doesn't create the taper, but just honours it, so would work if you had a correctly tapered square section and wanted to mark it for the octagonal stage.[/QUOTE]

Mea Culpa, yes, it marks from a square tapered spar for the octagonal.

Being a birdsmouth glued up fan, I have yet to use one.
A
 
Progress report:~

Having cut a perfect octagon, now I paused.

I used a spokeshave (with a very very thin cut setting) to cut the Sixteenagon.

Then instead of continuing with the spokeshave I used a flat engineers file all along the lenghts to round off.

Then coarse sandpaper. Then medium. Then fine. Then superfine.

Then finally I have polished the surface with the wood shavings I saved.

Then polishing again with plain white paper kitchen towel.

The result is a perfect staff and smooth as glass. You can see all the grain below a glossy surface. Impressive.

Next job:~

To fit the cap and pulley and the cleat and to reduce the base to match the internal diameter of the deck fitting for a snug fit.

All very pleasing. SWMBO impressed, doing a great job sweeping up. Now for a cup of tea...:D
 
gandy said:
Brilliant. Did you taper before rounding?
Click to expand...

Yes. The taper commences 1/3 up from the base.

All the components are finished.

The cap with its slot and hole.

The pole with its taper and base reduction.

The cleat to match.

All of it polished as suggested by using the shavings.

Now all that is needed is assembly.

I am waithing for the glue to arrive, and then assembly and varnishing...:D

The Admiralty Chart Agent here, who is a personal friend has seen it and is gifting me a yard Red Duster to set it off, lucky me...:D
 
A minor detail.

I have decided against a pulley inside the slot.

The slot has a concave bottom, facilitating roving the flag halyard through.

Istead I am fitting a short length of highly polished S / S rod, such that its length is less than the diameter of the cap.

Then the rod serves to imprison the cap, and the hole at one end will be plugged with a scrap of the same wood used for the cap.

Another minor detail is that I have cut the underside of the cleat concave, to fit the curvature of the staff.

Not content with that, I have additionally cut a shallow slot so that the cleat seats exactly before it is attached by two small brass screws. That, will absolutely guarantee that the cleat remains in place forever, I hope.:eek:

Then the cleat itself has a small arch cut crosswise at its base, so that the top of the flag can be tensioned properly. The halyard goes through this arch, is tensioned and the secured with a slip knot acting as a stopper.
The other halyard winds and is made fast round the cleat in the conventional manner.

In this way, it looks neater and is easy to strike.

I am making a big meal out of this, I know.:D
 
Slow_boat said:
It sounds like a good job.

I was going to suggest spokeshave at the start but the pole lathe sounded like a fun project in itself. Spokeshave is quicker, though. I used to make longbows and could do one in an afternoon with a spokeshave and a bit of glass.
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I love little projects like this one. I try to achieve to the best of my ability. Its the challenge, you see ?:D

I can understand the spokeshave. How do you use the glass, to take out any ridges ?
 
My Dad was a glazier/leaded light maker and good amateur woodworker. He often used a piece of glass, of which he obviously had a plentiful supply, to finish off and clean up wood. It was used in the manner of a cabinet-maker's steel scraper by using two hands and drawing it towards you. The advantage of steel is that you can flex it slightly to prevent scratching flat surfaces, but on the other hand it needs "resharpening" with a chisel, while you simply cut a strip off the worn glass edge.
 
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52". suggest you should have made this length out of Ash. It will take a bend without snapping and if made up of 3 lamins will be extremely strong.
This length does like to bend when turned but a finely angled skew chisel and a lot of practice on shorter lengths, holding your hand around workpiece and T rest will help this.
Taking a fine cut and being patient is best advice.
 
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Scotty_Twister said:
52". suggest you should have made this length out of Ash. It will take a bend without snapping and if made up of 3 lamins will be extremely strong.
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How strong does an ensign staff need to be? I'd go for durability over strength in this case (although in actual fact I went with what was available and looked OK).

By the way, you spokeshave fans, what does the spokeshave give you that a plane doesn't, for this sort of job where its all straight lines and convex curvature? Is it the instantly variable depth of cut?
 
Hi Gandy
just that in my experience they seem to get broken fairly often and with the large bit of rag you'r intending to fly, it may be a bit more vulnerable.

Best thing is though, you've made it yourself and have the pleasure and satisfaction of that....... I've been there, done that and miss it loads now I no longer have all sorts of facilities for my use as a CDT teacher of old.
cheers
s.
 
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gandy said:
How strong does an ensign staff need to be? I'd go for durability over strength in this case (although in actual fact I went with what was available and looked OK).

By the way, you spokeshave fans, what does the spokeshave give you that a plane doesn't, for this sort of job where its all straight lines and convex curvature? Is it the instantly variable depth of cut?
Click to expand...

In my experience the advantage of a spokeshave is that it is not as heavy as a plane and also that you can control the progress of the work more clearly as the spokeshave does not cover the work to the extent that the plane does.

The advantage of a plane is that it cuts perfectly flat but it has to be held perfectly level.

However, with practice, both tools can be used to cut dead flat.

In each case, less is more. I mean the depth of cut should be small, even if it means more strokes. Then an error can be more easily rectified.
 
gandy said:
How strong does an ensign staff need to be? I'd go for durability over strength in this case (although in actual fact I went with what was available and looked OK).

By the way, you spokeshave fans, what does the spokeshave give you that a plane doesn't, for this sort of job where its all straight lines and convex curvature? Is it the instantly variable depth of cut?
Click to expand...

1. Fine control. You can see where a spokeshave's blade is, but not a plane's
2. You can change the angle of the blade so that you are less likely to tear the surface when cutting across, or into, the grain (though a hand plane is as good - I assume the question was about a comparison with a typical block plane)
3. A plane of any sort can't replace an inside spokeshave
4. Some spokeshaves used shaped blades
5. The clue's in the name; planes are designed for, well, plane surfaces. Spokeshaves have evolved for working with curved things like, well, spokes
 
Cheers. As I said I haven't used spokeshaves much, and almost always on curved work. I suppose I take the amateur's route of using the tool I'm most comfortable with, even though the work is slower. For my staff I used a normal jack plane for the tapering and all stages after sawing to an octagon, with the staff lying on the bench against a stop.
 
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