Replies

1. 
   RW | Jan 04, 2003 03:42am | #1

   Just a thought - so DK how well it would work, but if, when running a jointer, you set the leading edge over the knives onto the outfeed table, then push through, you get a taper. Of course, if the beds are out of whack you get that too, but option 1 might be a little easier. Like double sided tape and a 2x4 to give your paws something to sit on so you still have fingers when it's all said and done.

   " We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita . . . "I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." I suppose we all thought that, one way or another." - J. Robert Oppenheimer

2. 
   YesMaam27577 | Jan 04, 2003 03:52am | #2

   Going from 1/4 inch to 1/8 or even 1/16 should not take too much time for something as small as a bookmark.

   I vote for your favorite version of a power sander. Certainly a belt sander would be the quickest, but an orbital would also work.

   And if you don't have a power sander, use a rasp, then some sandpaper. The added feature available with the hand tools, is that you might think about adding an interesting shape where the thin portion transitions to the thick portion.

   Best luck-- and post some poctures when yuo're done.

   Dave Thompson

3. 
   forestgirl | Jan 04, 2003 07:37am | #3

   I instantly got knots in my stomach thinking about a jointer and a bookmark.  Be careful here!  Small stock (either thin or short or both) is dangerous stuff around a jointer -- fingers can be cut (off!), kickback can happen, and stock can get jammed.

   I would think a sander or a scraper could be made to work.  I could even imagine using a bandsaw or scrollsaw, but a jointer.  Nahhhh.  

   forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl   ;-)

4. 
   wrick2003 | Jan 04, 2003 10:35pm | #4

   perhaps you could acquire a bunch of 1/16" veneer.

   glue it up like this:                        -------------

                                                        ---------------------------------------------------

                                                        -------------

   make long strips, sand to the taper you want,  finish the whole piece,  then cut it into

   the narrow bookmarks you want. a large piece is a heckuva lot easier to deal with.

   you can stain the cut edges afterwards.

   good luck rg

1. 
   forestgirl | Jan 05, 2003 09:43am | #7

   "And the award goes to. . ."

   Ricky, IMO.  Great idea.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl   ;-)

1. 
   ian | Jan 05, 2003 01:08pm | #8

   Agree

   and you could use a couple of heavy books as a clamp !

2. 
   davamoore | Jan 06, 2003 12:55pm | #9

   FG, I have to disagree this time.  I think you'd get some mighty ugly glue lines on both faces of the bookmark if you did the sort of lamination you voted for.

   For example, let's say you're doing a tapered, bent-laminated chair leg (if the leg is straight, why laminate? -- hey! I'm a poet!).  Option #1 would be to use thin slices of equal thickness, glue/bend them to shape, then cut the taper.  However, as you cut through the leg to create the final taper, you'd reveal streaks of glue, in a sort of ladder-like progression, as you cut through the slices... and since it's a very slight angle, the glue slices would be rather broad, not thin as on the edge of a typical bent lamination that doesn't have some sort of banding to disguise the .  This effect would probably be magnified (to the eye) on a small piece like a bookmark... folks really examine the details on little things.

   (Of course, you could do the above method with the intent of ultimately veneering the piece, which would disguise the glue lines... but I'm not so sure I'd do that with a table leg... but that's another issue...)

   Option #2 (the better option, IMHO, in our chair leg example), would be to taper each slice FIRST, so that when the bending/gluing is complete you'll be able to keep a solid wood face on your leg, with only minor surface finishing required.  Of course, this does require a bit of pre-calculation and front-end work, to make sure you achieve the desired overall thicknesses at various points on the slices and -- ultimately -- the leg, etc., but it makes for a much prettier final result with no visible glue lines (except, of course, on the edges of the bent lamination, but those glue lines are very thin and somewhat resemble quartersawn wood).

   As for the bookmarks in question, you could use three thin slices, I suppose,  but I'd want the short piece to be the inside piece, with two longer pieces on the outside.  You'd have to pre-taper the inside piece, and there'd still be some finish work required... all of which makes me think that it'll just be easier to sand or scrape a single, solid piece and save yourself a lot of grief.

   DavidLook, I made a hat -- Where there never was a hat!

5. 
   jr | Jan 05, 2003 12:49am | #5

   Thanks so much for everyones good suggestions. 

   JR

6. 
   kennedy136 | Jan 05, 2003 06:14am | #6

   Jr,

           2 words.  Sharp  spokeshave.

                                    Mark