staved vessels

[Bill Wilcox]

I just finished watching the 2 videos on FWW site concerning Bob Fultons staved vessels. I was am very interested in doing some of these and have downloaded the vessel clamping jig that Bob had for gluing up the stave's and the veneered splines once they are cut and glued.
The question I have is that in the video he cut 8 pieces of wood. He used his compound miter saw to cut the wood and it was set at 22 1/2 degrees on the compound miter and 4-5 degrees on the angle rotation. He was using 7 inch stock.
Question: What is the size of the stave's he cut so that the 8 pieces formed a circle to complete the vessel. I am not a math guy as you can tell and I really need help setting up the jig on my compound miter saw for this project. He also had 3 small veneer splines he placed in between the stave's.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Happy Holidays,
Bill W

[Richard Madison]

Bill,
Will need to watch the videos to understand. The angles you gave do not compute. The 22-1/2 degree cuts with zero in the other direction will give you 8 pieces to form a circle or a cylinder, assuming the width of all the pieces is equal. If you add the 4 or 5 degree compound angle, the 22.5 angle would have to be reduced in order for the 8 pieces to match perfectly. In that case they would form a conical rather than cylindrical shape.

By "size" do you mean the width of the staves? They can be any convenient width, and that will determine the diameter of the resulting piece.

[Malcolm Tibbetts]

Bill, I've not seen the videos, but I concur with Richard; those angles will not work. Regarding the width of the staves (at the big end), it can be roughly calculated by multiplying the desired diameter by 3.14 and then divide by 8.

[Bill Wilcox]

You are correct, the shapw will be conical. He then turns a top of solid wood for the top.

Here is the video. It may not work

http://www.finewoodworking.com/SkillsAndTechniques/SkillsAndTechniquesArticle.aspx?id=30703

[Harry Hagan]

http://www.finewoodworking.com/SkillsAndTechniques/SkillsAndTechniquesArticle.aspx?id=30704

[Richard Madison]

Ok, I watched the videos, but the stated combination of angles will not work. Assuming the staves fit up well, he did not use a 22-1/2 degree bevel angle. It was closer to 22.00 degrees, depending upon whether the other angle was 4 or 5 or ? degrees. Bill, you might want to get a copy of Malcolm's book The Art of Segmented Woodturning, as it explains this very well. Book is available from Amazon or himself at tahoeturner.com.

[Bill Wilcox]

ok will do thanks for all of the information.

[Ryan Baker]

I always wondered about that Bob Fulton jig. It seems like a really difficult, overkill solution for clamping up some staves. Maybe all that pressure is needed if his angles aren't matching up well, but I don't really see the reasoning. Trying to spin all that stuff on the lathe doesn't make much sense either. The solid caps he puts on are usually cross-grain orientation to the staves, which is a set-up for joint failure. Bob has some nice looking pieces, but I think there are much better methods available.