Stave Construction

[cypher]

OK . . . For those of you out there that have done stave construction, can you tell me how in the world you do your glue-ups. I attempted a bowl of this type this week and the result are below. I had gaps in my joints and it is clear the joints were weak. I could not figure out how to hold the seems tightly while the glue dried. I have done a number of segmented bowls and i use hose clamps to hold each ring tight. I am wondering if there is some similar method for stave construction. Is there no other way besides glueing the bowl up in pairs? even this way it is hard to hold the joint together due to the shape. Any and all help would be great.

 

[Jeff Myroup]

I have not done many stave constructed bowls. The few I have done were clamped with duct tape and rubber bands. Malcom Tibbetts covers them in his book on segmented turning. It seemed to work well. Good luck. I am sure others with have some good ideas.

Jeff

 

[Richard Baker]

Malcomb's use of rubber bands is mind boggling. The man must have four hands (in addition to great skill and talent).

I use a simple "V" cradle for staves and glue them two at a time. The "V" is cut to match the staves' angle. Cut notches at the base of the V so you don't glue the cradle to the work piece. If the joint surfaces are smooth and flat, and you "wring" the joint together (rub back and forth until it's very tight) and set gently in cradle, there will be no gaps and the joints will be strong enough.

 

[rbabbittjr]

Try big hose clamps. The kind used on radiator hoses. I have some that must measure about 36" long. Mine are also "threaded" the entire length of the metal.

 

[Frank Kobilsek]

Cypher

Blue painters tape. Lay a strip of tape down a then postition the edge of two stave segments next to each other. More tape and the next couple staves. Keep working until you have all of the staves tape together laying flat on the bench. Now test by 'rolling' the whole sube assembly into a circle. If things look good roll it back out flat and generously apply gllue in the joints. Roll it up and tape it tight. You'll be able to skitch the segments a little until the glue starts to tack. Giant rubber bands on the rim help to. Leave it several days to dry. Untape, scrape excess glue off, chuck'er up.

Happy Day
Frank

 

[n7bsn]

I have not done many stave constructed bowls. The few I have done were clamped with duct tape and rubber bands. Malcom Tibbetts covers them in his book on segmented turning. It seemed to work well. Good luck. I am sure others with have some good ideas.

Jeff

Ya know I've read that section about a dozen times and am still not certain how he affixes the staves to the base waste block... glue? (his preferred method, not the other two).

BTW, Cypher, get his book, there are many slick methods described there that you need to read.

 

[john lucas]

I use all of the above plus bicycle inner tubing. One the best methods I've seen is the clear cling wrap used for packing. You can buy it at office max in 3" wide rolls. This stuff sticks to itself and stretches. It's great.
I don't have the best tools in the world and have trouble cutting staves of any length accurately enough to glue in one setting. I glue them up 1/2 at a time using a board with slots cut in it and rope running through the slots. I put the staves together with glue and blue tape. Then I put them on this board and add wedges to take up the slack created by my inaccuracy. Then I tie the rope around the staves and through the board. I use a small dowel through the rope to twist the rope and apply tension. Between this and tapping the wedges I can get gap free glue ups.
I know I should find a way to get better staves but I just don't do enough of that and this method works. After I get the 1/2's done I flatten them using sandpaper and my table saw table. It usually only takes a few passes.

 

[Brodie Brickey]

My staves mugs are 8 pieces, so I glue up half at a time. Then run them through the jointer lightly, to make sure they're flat and glue the two halves together.

The jig is essentially two strips of plywood cut at an angle that matches the tilt of the first piece. I screw that strip into the table, and start gluing up. When I've got everything correctly spaced, I screw down the opposing strip on the other side. This keeps the ends from spreading. I then put a bag of sand over the top to keep pressure on the upper 2 staves pushing down. 12 hours and its dry and ready to be jointed and joined.

This only works because I have straight staves. I've heard of other people gluing all of them up at once and putting circles inside the staves to keep them from getting out of round.

See below for my ugly jig.

 

[MichaelMouse]

I find pinch dogs to be a big help on subassemblies, but they do take some planning to turn away ugly parts. Final assembly can benefit from shrink wrap, followed by wedges and web clamps.

 

[Rick H]

Stave

I have been having good luck just using masking tape to hold the joints on each half. Then sanding the two halves and glueing them and holding with masking tape. I have not used any clamps or jigs to hold the staves.
I have pictures of the jigs I use to cut the staves and the way I tape them on my web site under plywood stave and bowl stave pages. http://www.scrollsaws.com

 

[rbieniek]

I do the same as Rich H, a lot of masking tape. If the angle isn't to steep, I glue the halves, I hot glue scrap peices to the sides so I can get hose calmps around it to to get good clamping pressure. I think Malcom's book has a photo using that technique.

 

[georgetroy]

Kevin Neelley does a lot of stave constuction. Go to www.turnedwood.com
more information from http://groups.yahoo.com/group/creativewoodturners/
http://groups.msn.com/CreativeWoodturnersII

I would do my setups without any horizontal pieces in the staves until my sizes, gluing and degrees were locked in. GT

OK . . . For those of you out there that have done stave construction, can you tell me how in the world you do your glue-ups. I attempted a bowl of this type this week and the result are below. I had gaps in my joints and it is clear the joints were weak. I could not figure out how to hold the seems tightly while the glue dried. I have done a number of segmented bowls and i use hose clamps to hold each ring tight. I am wondering if there is some similar method for stave construction. Is there no other way besides glueing the bowl up in pairs? even this way it is hard to hold the joint together due to the shape. Any and all help would be great.

 

[Malcolm Tibbetts]

Hey Guys,

Thanks for all the "plugs" on my book. I've found several different techniques are necessary depending upon the slope angle of the cone and depending upon the stage of assembly. When all else fails, a simple rub-joint, along with a few minutes of hand pressure will always work. My favorite is the "duct tape/rubber band" trick.

Stave construction presents another big challenge. With the vertical grain orientation, how does one add additional material (rings, etc). If you attach a horizontal grain ring, then you've really asked for trouble with long-term stability because of the cross grain joinery. If you add another layer of vertical grain, then you've created a weak end-grain-to-end-grain joint. Neither situation is desirable. My solution is to create a half mortise/half tenon type of joint within the vessel wall. This maintains grain alignment along with creating a side grain-to-side grain joint for strength. Hope this makes sense.

Merry Christmas and happy segmenting.

 

[Richard Baker]

Apology

Tahoe,

Apologize for the incorrect spelling. My copy of your book has moved to Wimberley, and I'm still in Madisonville.

 

[Keith T.]

Here's what I do....first I use a shop-built sled which holds each stave securely and allows me to make perfect cuts on my table saw. I make test cuts in scrap and test fit pieces until I'm happy with the way they fit. I usually work with 16 staves, I glue them up two at a time...this way, I only have to focus on ONE glue joint at one time. (You have a choice: Perfection, or Speed..take your pick.) I bandsaw cawls that allow me to clamp two staves together without them moving. You can rub the joints together without clamping, but the results are not as good. I glue pairs of staves until I have 8 units. I repeat the procedure, the result is now 4 units. I can now go to the jointer, which must be sharp...very sharp, and the fence precisely at 90 degrees. ..I run my four assemblies through the jointer. Next, glue up again, the result is two complete halves. Not easy to clamp, but can be done with some thought. One more pass through the jointer, taking a skim cut to true up the surfaces...it's easy to clamp this up. The result is a perfect blank, with absolutely NO gaps in the joints. This method takes more time than attempting to glue up all at once, but one look at the results is enough to see it's worth. There is no point in going for more complex designs until this stage of the game is mastered. Hope this helps.