near perfect round taper

[CarvedTones]

Yeah, I know; it looks like I am posting in the wrong section. This is exactly what lathes were made for. But I don't have one. I may make a small one or get one of those tiny hobby ones for just this purpose, but for now, I am thinking about how to carve and/or sand to do it. Here's the application:

That is not the one I am building; it will be natural finish. Anyway, I chose that pic because it shows the pegs pretty clearly. I have cut and roughed 3 pegs out of pear wood. Right now they look like small tan carrots. I will grind a reamer from an old pair of scissors to do the taper inside of the peg holes. I need the peg taper to match pretty closely or it won't hold a tuning well. I can make a peg shaper, but that is just for final fitting. Basically, you use the reamer in a block of wood and then cut it open to expose part of the hole and make what looks like a big pencil sharpener. But the peg has to be pretty close before that works.

Ideas?

 

[Glennbear]

Andy :
I noticed this page yesterday in Hartville catalog. Perhaps the pointer tool would work for you. :wsmile:

http://www.hartvilletool.com/product/12362

 

[Mike Davis]

Andy,

I have a nice 50s era Craftsman cast iron lathe that I will give you if you want to come get it. I think it would be perfect for the kind of turning you want to do.

 

[CarvedTones]

Andy :
I noticed this page yesterday in Hartville catalog. Perhaps the pointer tool would work for you. :wsmile:

http://www.hartvilletool.com/product/12362

Those are a bit aggressive. Here is what I need to do (units are mm):

 

[CarvedTones]

Andy,

I have a nice 50s era Craftsman cast iron lathe that I will give you if you want to come get it. I think it would be perfect for the kind of turning you want to do.

Wow, Mike -thanks for the offer! I have a pretty small shop area. Is it small enough to be put away and brought out to use? And are you sure you really want to part with it? I would insist on sending you the woodwind book whether you have time to read it now or not. :wsmile:

It looks like you are up Mayberry way. I am not sure when I could get up that way. We are about to get into Y Srping outing season. I have 4 kids in 3 different tribes, so I will be down at the coast sleeping in cabins and getting up to reville 3 of the next 5 weekends, which probably means I will need to hang around here to get things done the other two.

Hmm- I sense a disturbance in the force; did Earl put you up to this? :rotflm:

 

[Mike Davis]

It's not as clean as I remembered, but all the parts are there, nothing is damaged and very little wear. I think it will clean up and make a nice little lathe.

If you get a face plate or chuck it will have to be 3/4 - 16 tpi.

 

[Kdub]

i'm not sure if i understand exactly what you're trying to do. if i understand correctly you want to get through the in between stage of rough and finish size? if that's not correct just quit reading. with a small, sharp hand plane, or spoke shave, and careful cutting a near round shape can be achieved. a curved cabinet scraper or homemade scraper may also help achieve the finished product. by the way, i'm guessing that is some sort of fiddle?
good luck
kurt

 

[Gofor]

If it were me:

I would make the reamer amd ream a hole over depth in a fitting piece thicker than the final product + one to match finish size. Cone shape some sandpaper to fit in the fitting piece. This will give you the correct taper. Run a trial peg in and turn until it fits. Scrape/spokeshave/carve off any really high spots until you can get a good fitting peg. Make the peg "sharpener" to fit the sized peg at the corect thickness. Hopefully you made the rough pegs longer than needed.

or you could try this: http://www.art-robb.co.uk/pegs.html

Go

 

[CarvedTones]

Kurt,

You understand correctly. I want to get close accurately. Once I am there, a peg shaper can get it perfect. Even chalking and scraping would be okay for this type of instrument. Yes, it is a fiddle of sorts. It's a jouhikko, which is a Nordic instrument of ancient origins that is still somewhat popular in Scandanavia. It's for a guy in Durham who is really into historic northern European music. I have my fingers crossed that it turns out well as he has a few other instruments he would like and knows other locals that play early music and want reproduction instruments.

Go,

Yes, I left them a little long for now.

All,

I started a new thread over in turning:
http://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/showthread.php?p=141879#post141879
because I improvised a way to turn them down closer and still make them look carved.

 

[Tarhead]

Andy,
Have you seen this?
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/Special_tools_for:_Tuner_installation/Peg_Shaper.html

 

[CarvedTones]

Andy,
Have you seen this?
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/Special_tools_for:_Tuner_installation/Peg_Shaper.html

Yes, but it is a little pricey for such a simple tool and the capacity is too small for this project. If you go back up to the early drawing and do the math to get from mm to inches you will find that this instrument is an odd beast.

Here is roughly the same product as the StewMac on from a supplier I use more:
http://www.internationalviolin.com/item_detail.aspx?ItemCode=T39
StewMac is close to 50% more on both the shaper and replacement blades.

 

[McRabbet]

Andy -- here is a hair-brained idea that might just work. I would start with a piece of dowel that is larger diameter than the fattest part and clamp a simple wood fence at the correct taper angle on the flat table of a large disk or drum sander (6" belt or a 9" disk). The fence needs to be placed closer at the thin end than the final diameter of the peg, and it could be made with a shallow vee to hold the dowel in proper alignment. Put the dowel into the chuck of a drill and feed the spinning dowel into the disk/drum. If you work slow and steady, I think you could get a nice taper with this.... Like I said, hair-brained, but simple.

 

[CarvedTones]

Mr. McRabbet,

Your hare brained idea is one I considered. I first happened on it in this article:
http://www.vintageprojects.com/woodshop/RebecFiddle.pdf
(scroll to the bottom and look at the lower left corner) which I based another instrument on. But I don't have a disc sander right now. I probably should make a jig to hold my hand held belt sander against a small table. But I really try hard not to sand when it will generate a lot of fine dust because my shop is in the garage and the space is shared. I need better DC so I can do the best way even when it generates dust.