Rounding wood by hand

[Biliphuster]

How successfully can one round wood (say 1 3/8") without the use of lathes, trapping planes, rounding planes etc?

I want to make three stool legs which will have some taper and a bulbous foot. Is hand work with a spokeshave the best approach for this? Is there some sort of jigging that can help with this? I would prefer to avoid sanding, but sanding round the leg would probably help a great deal in the smoothness department.

I had thought of making them octagonal, but it would not work well with the design. They don't need any sort of geometrical accuracy, just to look nice.

Any ideas greatly appreciated.

 

[David C]

If you start with an accurate octagon you will find that there is little more material to be planed away to bring you close to a perfect circle.

This is best shown on paper first.

Circles can be scribed at each end or less usefully drawn with a pair of compasses.

Dividers may be modified slightly. One point can be sharpened so that it marks a clean line.

David Charlesworth

 

[Fitzroy]

I made some round pegs for oak framing, using a jig and a hand plane. No idea if it's a normal approach but it worked well. See post below for details.

raised-beds-oak-framing-t100371.htm

Fitz.

 

[Jacob]

As Dave says you draw a circle of the right diameter at each end of the blank and then join up the lines with a plane. First octagonal, then take off the arrises etc. If you take off neat regular facets it's easier than just belting at it but you get there just the same. When nearly there finish off with sand paper.
A scribed line is better - you can see the groove appearing as you get to it.
Best of all for marking would be a wad punch of the right diameter,* or you could sharpen up a bit of pipe if you are doing a lot. Hit it with a hammer to make your mark really deep and easy to see
Don't really need a jig but a vice would be good with a stop held in it - you rest your dowel in the slot with one end against the stop.

*or diameters if you are doing a taper.

Best tool for that sort of size would be a 5 plane.

 

[Racers]

You need to make a long V block to hold the legs in while you work on them.
I ripped a length of pine at 45 degrees fliped one length over to make the V and fixed it to a base.
Fix a cleat on the bottom so you can clamp it in the vice and a stop and off you go.
You can either plane or spoke shave in it.

Pete

 

[GLFaria]

This might be of help:

http://www.boat-building.org/learn-skil ... par-gauge/

 

[Jacob]

This might be of help:

http://www.boat-building.org/learn-skil ... par-gauge/

Brilliant! Then you don't need to mark the ends - which would be useless anyway on a very long length.

 

[bugbear]

How successfully can one round wood (say 1 3/8") without the use of lathes, trapping planes, rounding planes etc?

I want to make three stool legs which will have some taper and a bulbous foot. Is hand work with a spokeshave the best approach for this? Is there some sort of jigging that can help with this? I would prefer to avoid sanding, but sanding round the leg would probably help a great deal in the smoothness department.

I had thought of making them octagonal, but it would not work well with the design. They don't need any sort of geometrical accuracy, just to look nice.

Any ideas greatly appreciated.

If your legs were a uniform cylinder or taper, the approaches suggest up thread would work.

But your bulbous foot makes life very, very hard.

BugBear

 

[bugbear]

This might be of help:

http://www.boat-building.org/learn-skil ... par-gauge/

Brilliant! Then you don't need to mark the ends - which would be useless anyway on a very long length.

Here's some more info you may have missed;

post930966.html?hilit=spar#p930966

BugBear

 

[worn thumbs]

It will help if you make a radius template from something like 6mm ply and cut the portion away that will be within the blank of the round section.If you apply a chinagraph pencil or wax crayon to the template and slide it along the leg blank any high spots will be marked as the template passes over.

 

[Jacob]

This might be of help:

http://www.boat-building.org/learn-skil ... par-gauge/

Brilliant! Then you don't need to mark the ends - which would be useless anyway on a very long length.

Here's some more info you may have missed;

post930966.html?hilit=spar#p930966

BugBear

Very interesting. I'm tempted to go out and make a tapered spar immediately but unfortunately I don't need one!
It's very much akin to the 'rod' and other utterly basic systems for doing sophisticated things with simple kit. Not even a pencil or a straightedge required!
Presumably you have to start with a perfectly square section workpiece, tapered or not.
The only prob with a spar gauge is that the workpiece need to be substantially longer than the gauge, so for short lengths you are back to the drawn circle at each end.
But you could get there by simply drawing a circle precisely on each square end, then 45º tangents across each corner to give you the octagon, then join with a marking gauge, but this would only work for a non tapered piece.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

1) Make a template of the leg shape in thin ply, cardboard or whatever.

2) Square up the required number of blanks.

3) Place template on each side of each blank, and draw in shape with pencil.

4) Remove waste by whatever method seems appropriate, and smooth off with spokeshave and rasps.

5) Mark in 'octagon' lines with a lash-up spar gauge or similar on all faces, and remove waste with spokeshave and rasps.

6) Take off all eight corners with spokeshave and rasp - by now, it'll be nearly round.

7) Fair the curves to a full round section - rasp will probably do this quickly.

8) Sand to a finish.

 

[Jacob]

1) Make a template of the leg shape in thin ply, cardboard or whatever.

....
3) Place template on each side of each blank, and draw in shape with pencil......

Much simpler to draw direct on to the workpiece.
I wouldn't use rasps and spokeshaves they are for freer shapes. If it's simple and straight then a plane is is the tool, not least because you want to be in control of the shape with fairly accurate facets on the octagons and 16agons.
A Stanley 110 comes into its own for final shavings before sanding

 

[dzj]

Some time ago, P. Sellers made a video of tapering jig using a hand plane.
Perhaps it might be modified so the piece rests between 2 points, like on a lathe
and then make a series of longitudinal, tangential cuts with a hand plane.

 

[bugbear]

Will people please read the OP's actual question (assuming they're trying to answer it).

He wants to make something which isn't a cylinder or cone.

BugBear

 

[Jacob]

Oh alright! I only read his first line.
Yes anything will do - axe, drawknife, spokeshave, rasp, knife, chisels, gouges.
Basically get stuck in. You might need to make a few before you get a matching set!

 

[AndyT]

I'd say it's definitely possible and exploring how to do it would be fun and would enhance your skills.

I'd use a spokeshave, a drawknife, a chisel and a crosscut saw.

I'd start with matching pieces​ of wood, longer than the finished legs, as wide as the bulbous feet. Longer, so you have a square piece to grip in the vice easily, at each end. Matching, to help them look lije a set.
I'd make stopping cuts to define the feet first, ie crosscuts down to nearly the finished diameter of the thinned leg.

Having clamped one end in the vice, with the drawknife, I'd shave down the leg part to an octagon, then a round, as described above. I'd reverse the piece to get a good shape and as required by the grain.
I'd carve the feet with the chisel. (A gouge or two might help. You could just use a knife.)
I'd refine the legs to a circular cross section with the spokeshave. I'd probably need some sanding or scraping too.
I'd finish by sawing off the end square parts when I no longer needed them.

I'd do the first step to all three legs, then the next step to all three, and so on. In fact, I'd probably make four and choose the best three at the end.

Obviously, a lathe would be quicker but it's not essential.

If you go ahead with this, please take pictures and show us!

 

[Biliphuster]

Thanks for the advice chaps.

I was a bit conflicted about whether to shape to a 4 sided profile and round that, or to cylindrically round to the thickest dimension and then shape in the details. Maybe I will try both ways.

In any case I think I am going to make at least 5 legs and choose the three most similar.

 

[xy mosian]

I would agree with Jacob, get stuck in! The biggest problem I have is thinking a job bigger or more difficult than it really is.
If the need crops up, the flats on an octogon are very nearly 0.4 (4/10's) the radius of the circle within the octogon. For the shaping, of the 'Bulb' neck, might I reccommend the MicroPlane circular 'files'. They may be a superior Surform but I feel they work well. Microplane at Axminster, http://www.axminster.co.uk/microplane/
If you are using a plane during the forming of the circular sections, at some time you will come across adverse grain. The use of a block plane, one-handed, will allow the rapid change from push to pull cutting.

Have fun, xy.

Edit.
OK! that should be 0.4 (4/10's) of the diameter of the circle.

xy

 

[Trafalgar]

How successfully can one round wood (say 1 3/8") without the use of lathes, trapping planes, rounding planes etc?

I want to make three stool legs which will have some taper and a bulbous foot. Is hand work with a spokeshave the best approach for this? Is there some sort of jigging that can help with this? I would prefer to avoid sanding, but sanding round the leg would probably help a great deal in the smoothness department.

I had thought of making them octagonal, but it would not work well with the design. They don't need any sort of geometrical accuracy, just to look nice.

Any ideas greatly appreciated.

Aldren Watson in his book Hand Tools takes the reader through the completion of a turned leg, all done with hand planes, files, and rasps -- a leg with coves, beads, tapers, round sections, the whole schmear. I've never done it, I fortunately have a lathe, but it can be done. You do have make a relatively simple "lathe box" that facilitates the process. Worth getting for the advice on the sequence of the work and strategies on marking and re-marking the workpiece as the process progresses.