How would you do this?

[gfernandez]

I am in the middle of making a new Bo staff for my son. I laminated the wood pieces, glued them together to form a 1x1x70" laminated piece. I then used a 1/2" roundover bit in the router table to get it almost round.

My question is the Bo needs to taper from 1" in the middle to 5/8 inch at the ends. How would you do this? It is too long and thin for a lathe. Last time, I used a horizontal edge sander and eyeballed it.

Any other ideas?

 

[Hmerkle]

sounds like time to buy a longer lathe! :wink_smil
(with a steady rest)

Maybe someone here has one you can borrow?


Seriously,
How about using a draw horse and spoke shave?

 

[gfernandez]

Tried a spoke shave last time before the belt sander with less than ideal results. Probably not proficient enough for that.

 

[Mike Davis]

I can turn 68" might be able to squeeze out 70. Would need to build a steady rest, maybe.

My son turned 40 inch walking sticks without a steady rest by going slow and supporting the work with his hand.

40 grit sandpaper would taper that pretty well and not need a steady.

 

[mkepke]

Make the stave in two halves using a walking stick fitting. Then each will fit on a conventional lathe.

Alternatively you could make a simple jig for a router. Imagine a ~38" long plywood box. Half the staff sits in the box canted at a slight angle to introduce the necessary taper. The router sits on top of the box with a straight bit. The staff is turned by hand and the router is moved along the length of the box cutting the taper...

I've cut 6x6s into columns using this method.

-Mark

 

[smallboat]

theres a technique used in making tapered spars, oars and paddle shafts in the wooden boat world.

first cut it to a rectangular section with the appropriate taper- like making a tapered table leg
then 8-side it. I use the hand plane for this to cut 45 bevels on all four corners.
In the past on some bigger jobs I've used a handheld power plane
Somewhere I have notes on making a simple jig to scribe the lines so the 45 follows the bevel- I'll see if I can find them or you can search.
From there its pretty simple to round it off with your weapon of choice- I like a spoke shave and sandpaper.
I hate sanding so I get as close as I can with the shave.

It's pretty simple and quick for an item the size you're after.

 

[gfernandez]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I was able to take a few pics today of the staff so far. Looks like I need to taper the last 20-22" or so off each end

 

[Michael Mathews]

Wow! That's going to be beautiful! Very nice.