I use a router table to make tapered cylinders for kaleidoscopes, but the method could be adapted to make table legs or large dowels. I start by gluing up four pieces of wood into a column. Then I attach two 1/4-in. Lexan plastic circles to the ends of the column using a threaded rod and wing nuts. If the workpiece is solid, you can attach the circles with screws. I press the assembly against the router-table fence and make repeated passes, turning and sliding, to produce the cylinder. Stops on the routertable fence keep me from routing into the circles.

Note that two equally sized circles produce a straight cylinder, and unequally sized circles produce a taper. The circles should be larger than the cylinder by the distance of the router bit from the fence. In my case, I use 5-in. and 4-1/2-in. circles to cut cylinders that taper from about 3 in. to 2-1/2 in.

John Grant, Palmer, Alaska

Fine Woodworking Magazine, February 1993 No. 98

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