Replies

1. 
   forestgirl | Nov 05, 2003 07:39pm | #1

   Shasha, there was an article either in FWW or in Wood Magazine on building a poster bed and using a band saw with a tapering jig to make the posts.  It was an intriguing and seemingly effective way to make the posts.  I'll take a look and see if I can find the article.

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

2. 
   johnzeitoun | Nov 05, 2003 07:54pm | #2

   Sasha, I just made a similar last year and had great success with a jointer/router combo, that is, rough most of the stock off on the jointer, and then finish it up with your router.

   I built a long box the the post would fit into, and screwed into the center of the post (in the box) so the bottom was held low, and the top as high as required to get the taper (but always below the sides of the box, just a bit). Then I mounted a board on the bottom my router so it would easily span the sides of the box and with a with a straight double flute bit went back and forth as necessary. Did all four posts in a day.

3. 
   forestgirl | Nov 05, 2003 07:56pm | #3

   No luck so far, but now that I think about it, I think I'd use the table saw.  The cut surface would be much smoother than one that's bandsawn.  Are you sure you want "crisp corners?"  They'll be much more prone to dents and such.  Regardless, I'd think with a very sharp blade, the corners would be fine.

   How deep are the sides of the hexagon?  You could tablesaw a bit proud, and then clean up with a router -- there are long cutters out there.

   BTW, FWW #140 also has a poster bed article.  Tablesaw used in that one.

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

4. 
   aksophie | Nov 06, 2003 01:28am | #4

   I would use my bandsaw to waste most of the stock, then cut to the line with handplanes, starting with a #7. Careful layout is essential.

   I am wondering why and how you will make the transition from a square base to a hexagonal section. Four points to six seems awkward.

5. 
   Steinmetz | Nov 06, 2003 07:28am | #5

   Sasha, You can make a jig (fixture) that will ride along the TS rip fence.

   This open box shaped jig should hold the precut blank between centers (as in a lathe) Also needed is a disc screwed to the thicker end and concentric with the center

    The disc should act as an indexing plate with 6 holes.equally spaced on the disc's outer circumference once the blank is centered, tightened and indexed, you slide the whole unit along the fence  to slice it in 6 operations.

   The left side of the bottom of this opened sided box ( Long tapered flat bottom, cut to the correct taper along on  left edge. and two upright and braced end pieces, so when you slide it along the left situated fence,it produces the needed taper. 

   The forward center can be a stout nail or machine screw, filed to a 60 deg point. 

    The rear center should be two nails or machine screw and nut. (one on center and one offset.) Prevents workpiece from 'creeping'.  Stein.

   
   

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   Edited 11/5/2003 11:44:49 PM ET by steinmetz

6. 
   JohnWW | Nov 06, 2003 05:25pm | #6

   Sasha,

   I was wondering about that square to hexagon transition also, usually the upper part is an octagon.

   John W.

1. 
   Tao | Nov 06, 2003 05:37pm | #7

   Guys, he's starting at 6" x 6".  !0" table saw won't do the job.

   My way would be to rough bandsaw a square taper, then do the rest with planes.  I think I'd have it done before you could make a proper jig.  I would have to make some kind of fixture to hold the posts.

   Some sort of router box jig would be my second choice, with the post inside the box, and the router riding in a sled on top to make sort of a planer.  The post could be held in position so it just had to be rotated to cut the flats, and you could work it down as fast as the router would go.  This would be fairly precise, and take some of the skill requirements out of the job.

   I think ocatgon is the way to go, too.  Transition to hex would look awful against the square bottom.

   Michael R.

7. 
   sasha | Nov 10, 2003 04:13am | #8

   I wanted to thank each of you for your help on my poster bed project.  After some experimenting and reading thru the article forestgirl mentioned, I've decided that roughing these out on the bandsaw using the jig steinmetz described is probably best for my skill level and the expense of the wood involved.  The jig should let me keep the BS table level, making the locistics a whole lot simpler.  Forget who mentioned it, but my 10" TS is a non-starter. 

   I'm considering using the design from the FWW 140 article, as the veneering doesn't look too difficult and chamfering a tapered square turned out an awfully elegant look.  But I want to do another sample before giving up my design. 

   I'd thought some about the transition questions you raised.  The piece I was inspired by  goes from square to hex.  But, I found that a bullnose (like a hockey puck) between the two cross sections eases the transition.  Still the FWW 140 design is plenty beautiful and doesn't present quite so many risks and design problems.

   Again, thanks for your really helpful advice. Cheers - Sasha

1. 
   forestgirl | Nov 11, 2003 08:26pm | #9

   Glad you've figured it out Sash!  Be sure and post a pic for us when you're all done.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl   ;-)