8 laminated staves with a twist

[NGLJ]

I've started making blanks from laminated staves, typically 6 and 8 staves per blank. The woods in the attached 8 stave Sierra are padauk, walnut, sapele and maple. I am also making 12 and 16 stave blanks from the off-cuts from making the 6 and 8 staves. The end pieces are walnut. The drilling angle for the twist was 17 degrees into 1¼" wide blank. I make the blank by first making a 6" semi-circular piece (4 pieces cut at a 22.5 degree angle on the bandsaw for an 8 stave blank), sanding the face flat, cutting it into 2 pieces and gluing the 2 pieces together to make a 3" finished blank. Then I turn the blank round on the lathe before drilling. Any slight out of symmetry in the round blank is eliminated during turning. I cut the staves from ¾" x ¾" x 6" laminations. There are 2 different ways to orient the laminations for cutting, one with the face grain facing up and one with the edge grain facing up, each giving a different result. My work so far is with the edge grain facing up, which I think gives a more pleasing result. I plan to the try the face grain option at some point.

 

[mark james]

Very nice Graham. I like your choice of materials, gives a nice variation of colors. Keep experimenting and refining what you are aiming for. As long as you are having fun, all is good.

 

[NGLJ]

Thanks Mark - still having fun - just when you think that you have explored something else occurs to you - that is the fun of woodworking

 

[NGLJ]

In my original post I mentioned trying face grain pointing up when cutting the staves from a lamination. To make it clear I have attached a simple diagram. Also, attached is an example of what you might get using the face grain pointing up and drilling at an angle ("staves with a twist"). To my surprise I quite like the result and it is dramatically different from edge grain facing up. When I think about out it that is logical considering the different orientation of the laminations when cutting the staves.