How to do piecing together and scallops

[Scooley01]

I read a thread earlier on SOYP where a guy did an amazing pen with a bunch of different materials pieced together (http://www.penturners.org/forum/showthread.php?t=43525&page=5) and some of the piecing is angled so it turns to scalloped designs on the lathe.

My question is, how does one make these cuts? The only saw I have is a mini table saw, and it tends to lose a lot of material at the cuts, and makes rough cuts at that, which would make piecing like this very difficult.

 

[KenV]

It takes precision work to get the pieces lined up -- that means either precision in skills or precision in gear (or a successful mix of both). Most are not willing to put the time into precision labor --

precision can be in cuts (hand or power) or in sanding (hand or power). Many segmented designs can take longer to cut and assemble than in the turning.

 

[hdtran]

I read a thread earlier on SOYP where a guy did an amazing pen with a bunch of different materials pieced together (http://www.penturners.org/forum/showthread.php?t=43525&page=5) and some of the piecing is angled so it turns to scalloped designs on the lathe.

My question is, how does one make these cuts? The only saw I have is a mini table saw, and it tends to lose a lot of material at the cuts, and makes rough cuts at that, which would make piecing like this very difficult.

Problem with table saw is the width of the kerf (typically 0.130 to 0.135"). I'm surprised that you have a rough cut with a table saw, though. Bandsaws will have smaller kerfs, so you lose less material (0.040 to 0.060"?), but you will be sanding afterwards. A handheld miter saw with miter box will give you a very nice cut, with minimal sanding required. But you will need a massage for your elbow and shoulder afterwards!

 

[Russianwolf]

I read a thread earlier on SOYP where a guy did an amazing pen with a bunch of different materials pieced together (http://www.penturners.org/forum/showthread.php?t=43525&page=5) and some of the piecing is angled so it turns to scalloped designs on the lathe.

My question is, how does one make these cuts? The only saw I have is a mini table saw, and it tends to lose a lot of material at the cuts, and makes rough cuts at that, which would make piecing like this very difficult.

Problem with table saw is the width of the kerf (typically 0.130 to 0.135"). I'm surprised that you have a rough cut with a table saw, though. Bandsaws will have smaller kerfs, so you lose less material (0.040 to 0.060"?), but you will be sanding afterwards. A handheld miter saw with miter box will give you a very nice cut, with minimal sanding required. But you will need a massage for your elbow and shoulder afterwards!

the tablesaw will only cut as good as the blade you have in it. put a decent blade on a cheap saw and you get a decent cut. Put a decent blade on an expensive saw and you get a decent cut. The saw itself just make getting accurate results in terms of angle and repeatability better. The cutting is all the blade.

Get the diablo circular saw blade that is often mentioned and you will get good results in terms of both kerf (its a thinner kerf) and smoothness of cut.

 

[BigguyZ]

Freud makes a good blade, as does Tenryu, and of course Forrest.

I want to get into this level of segmenting, but I'll have to make a TS sled first. Another thought I had was getting the mini TS for models people have been talking about too...

 

[DurocShark]

Scooley, if you search "segmented blank" on this forum you'll get a whole slew of threads on how it's done.