Looking to find some 4" diameter wood .... something reasonably hard, but does not have to be oak ... a dense softwood would do. But very open grain softwood no good.
Will be used as a roller, so has to be pretty good in round section.
Only need around 12" of it .... anybody any idea where I can get some (don't have a lathe)
anyone selling logs for burning
Try and find an "old Man's Shed" near you an they might make you something.
OOPS not sure whether you have "old mens sheds" in Britain. (organizations where old men gather and make things)
You could machine it round if necessary with 2 drills and an angle grinder.
NT
got a clip?
Jim K
If your hand tools skills are good, you can use the boatbuilders method of making masts and spars - google "spar gauge" and look at several explanations until you get the idea.
This will give you some of the idea:
It's a fairly accurate technique for marking out a square section piece of timber, so that you then plane off the corners - to make an octagonal section.
You repeat the process to make a sixteen-sided section, and after that
- you can probably identify the high points by eye, and reduce it to a circular section by sanding with a long belt of sand paper, drawn back and forth around your mast/spar/roller.
(NB, the ratios on the spar gauge are slightly different between 8 sides and sixteen. Some texts say don't worry about it - the difference is too small. Others texts seem unaware of the difference. Often though, you can judge marking out the sixteen sides by eye, and don't use the gauge again)
Irrelevant aside to what the OP wants to make:
The joy of using a spar gauge is that it is no more difficult to make a tapered circular cross-section, as it is to make one of a constant diameter - the gauge simply marks out the correct ratio - provided the square section timber has had the correct taper cut on it (if it's solid timber - usually done with a bandsaw), or built up (if it's been glulam'd together out of smaller timbers).
How about the legs for children's swings. Usually made from pressure treated redwood - may be dense enough for your needs. I know you can get them in 4" dia.
Plenty of ways to do this. Much depends on the weight, the point loading, the wear life and the weatherproofing.
Buy a rolling pin!
Jonathan
That's just what I first thought of, but 4" diameter?
Buy a big rolling pin!
If you're near Telford I don't mind brushing the dust off the lathe.
Roller from a scrap lawn mower?
Look in junk shops, old ones used to have a much larger diameter.
Jonathan
Well done that man. Charity shops usually have an assortment
Possibly an old mangle? They have pretty big rollers.
I think we call them Preserved Railways ;-)
The idea seems to be catching on
We have building where old men gather to talk for no end, called 'House of Lords'
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