Advice/Suggestions on project needed

[TenguWoodwork]

I've been asked to make this for a friend. In essence, it's a 6ft x 4in x 4in octagonal baseball bat. So far I've created a maple 4x4. I'd love some recommendations on how to form the tapered regular octagon. I essentially have a full shop at my disposal. Thanks all!

 

[Semmons23]

a tapered sled on an indexed lathe and a router could be one option but a bandsaw and some hand tools is probably the easiest method I can think of.

cut one piece off and tape it back on then rotate the part and repeat. you may need an angled sled to hold the piece as you push it thru

 

[Jeff]

Interesting question that puzzles me. This bat will probably not be used at DBAP or Wrigley Field in Chicago so maybe it can be 2 or 3 segments for construction.

It's a 4" diameter octagon at both ends and the middle handle is a 3" octagon. A circular tenon on both ends of the center piece secures it to each end. Your pics didn't describe a tapered handle, but that's okay too-can deal with it later.



Hope this helps you out.

 

[Joe Scharle]

A long bed joiner will make that taper.

 

[Steve Martin]

If I were making it, I would use a drawknife and a shave horse.

 

[chris_goris]

I would create a template that was the same cross sectional shape that was longer than the finished piece so that I could screw it on, run a straight cutting , bearing piloted router bit against it on 2 sides. The template would have to be stiff enough (and long enough) to go end to end, and be able to support the work piece as it hangs off the router table. That comment may or may not make sense now, but will be come obvious if you do this method. Index it 4 times and Viola! youre done! After rereading your post, I realized how big this thing is, I you will need to rough the shape with a bandsaw probably ( you can use the template there too as a rough guide and sled, but not required. Also, I would integrate an end stop in the template so you will have repeatability axially. Also, i believe the mounting screws will need to be dead center on all 4 opposing sides and in the template to ensure its centered, sounds complicated, but it really should be easy. One additional thing to remember, the smoother the template, the smoother the finished piece, so take care to create a nice template and it will repay you in droves!

 

[TenguWoodwork]

Thanks for everyone's advice. What I ended up doing was creating a Sled and passing the 4x4 octagon though the band saw. It worked wonderfully. Thanks for everyone's input. Check out my post on Japanese weapons for photos.

 

[Touchwood]

A long bed joiner will make that taper.

Joe...I'm with you on the jointer approach. If you clamp a stop on the outfeed table to stop going all the way down the billet to the end...to leave the thick part at the end untouched, and drop the infeed slightly below the outfeed you'll start cutting a taper. You already have the octagonal shape, so you taper each side successively down till you hit the stop. The octagonal shape means you'll always have a flat against the fence. I would rotate the billet one flat at a time all the way around. The more passes , the more taper. You'll also end up with that curve up to the thick part, because of the shape the cutter head leaves when you lift it off the bed on each pass.:eusa_danc

Don