Log lathe

In message , Anna Kettle writes

You could ask Clarkes of Walsham. They supply posts in Oak up to 200mm x

tel. 01359 259259 They might put you in touch with their supplier.

regards

Copy of Turner's Monthly (there are any number of these)

Small ads in the back for local turning clubs (also surprisingly popular) / suppliers of timber blanks

Ask them / card on their noticeboard.

Think of masts.

Look at Buehler's Backyard Boatbuilding.

Some one might have a log lathe I guess, I read it that Anna already has her 16" square by 8'3" bit of timber. Bit larger than yer average light pull of fruit bowl. B-)

Masts aren't usually turned. As they're tapered, a spar gauge is used to mark off, then waste timber taken off with power-planers/adze (yes, really, it's a very capable tool for the job).

Anna - do you need precise roundness/concentricity (e.g. for mill workings) - or would hand working into roundness be ok (which can be done to a degree indistinguishable by eye) ?

Spar gauge:

presume its not an option to mount bearings onto the log and turn it yourself

NT

In message , " snipped-for-privacy@gglz.com" writes

I wonder if the device was originally created by rule of thumb or if some naval architect knew the maths?

regards

The maths was known since Pythagoras.

Sailing ships were the destination of most engineering effort in the late middle ages. Also cannon making..

Nor are columns like this. Most "turners" doing work this size have a lathe to swing them, but the initial roughing is done with a router or electric plane in a sled jig. This avoids the problem of spinning up a piece that could be well out of balance. Lots of such pieces also need reeding or fluting adding later, so it's back out with the router jig.

The bloke near me who makes things like this has a big wood turning lathe bolted to a concrete floor and also a portable tailstock that can be bolted down in turn. If he needs a length he hasn't done before, it's a few holes drilled in the floor and a few Rawlbolts.

So they do. And only five miles from me so def worth a call, thanks

Anna

I have found two places to email and have done so heres hoping Anna

No it doesnt need to be precise, but it does need to curve in and out a few times along the turned length and I think that would be hard to achieve by hand

Anna

I have some vague idea that you live in the North West? In which case, 'near you' is a long way from me in Suffolk. Pity 'cos I could do with a good contact :-)

Anna

You are right! I have never done any turning and the amount of trial runs / failed attempts I would need is entirely disheartening. I only need about a 40cm length of turning done (in my whole life) so I haved bowed out gracefully and am putting my efforts into the sort of DIY that I can do successfully within a reasonable timescale

Anna

No, that's Dad's place. I'm in the SW (Welsh side of Severn Bridge) and this guy's in Bristol. Nowhere near Suffolk though!

Nothing really to do with this thread, but I did think of masts the other day. I have a small boat with a wooden mast maybe 25 feet tall. It's made of spruce, apparently a single piece (at least, I haven't noticed any joins, although I haven't done a careful check). The interesting part is that it has a channel up the middle for cables to lights and aerials at the masthead.

How would they have made this? A 25-foot drill bit?

Pete

It's joined.

A single-log mast either includes the pith (core), or excludes the pith. If it's in, it's a weakness. if it's out, the mast is asymmetric timber and that's going to show up in a few years. AFAIK, all masts of that diameter are fabricated.

Although 25' drills aren't that hard. Medieval waterpipes were drilled elm and they could do 12' on a "production" basis.

In message , Andy Dingley writes

Must have been a bugger to solder together

First make a large socket out of copper, I'd think. An elementary elm entry, my dear Watson.