Chris Schwarz's winding sticks

[Zach England]

In COURSE, MEDIUM AND FINE Chris Schwarz uses aluminum bars as winding sticks. He says in the video they come from a home center. I am assuming he is referring to the stacks of random metal pieces at any Lowes/HD, but are these really accurate enough? Do you have to true them when you get them?

[Sean Hughto]

I've never used metal ones, but I've routinely used winding sticks over the years - just pieces of wood. The idea of winding sticks are to roughly tell you where the highspots are so that you can begin to tame a twist. They do not have to be micrometer accurate to give you useful feedback and get your board to flat.

[Zach England]

edit: COARSE

I know they are usually wood, and I have some wood ones, but I'd like some permanent ones that will not be mistaken for scrap, as happened with one of my wood ones.

[Sean Hughto]

You could splurge:

http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=53276&cat=1,230,41182

[Prashun Patel]

You can use angle iron or aluminum angle stock.
I'm betting it's right on. However, even if it's not, if your eye cannot tell, then a 'more true' winding stick isn't going to help you more than that.

[David Weaver]

I haven't seen the ones you're talking about, but the extruded angle aluminum is probably fine, and it's not too expensive.

Any quartersawn stock/offcut would do, though, and probably be just as straight (if you end up with quartersawn stock at some point).

Did he paint/mark any indicators on it at the corners?

[William Hovis]

You could splurge:

http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=53276&cat=1,230,41182

I have those Lee Valley winding 'sticks' and I like them - as with all LV stuff I've used, it's a very well thought out tool and are straight enough to double as a straight edge in most cases (but they are not Starrett accurate of course).

Sean is right, though, winding sticks don't have to be machinist-accurate, or expensive. As long as the edges are reasonably straight and parallel to each other it's fine - it's just an eye-ball check anyway.

[Frank Drew]

Winding sticks are very useful but needn't be any more than low tech shop-made; accurate, but not expensive.

[Matt Benton]

Honestly, I would have thought the LV sticks would have been a bit more pricey. At $30, they look like a pretty good deal...

[Zach England]

I think I'll hold out for the LN version...

[Bob Strawn]

Take two rulers. Cut notches in four blocks of wood so that the blocks can be pushed on to either end of the rulers so the rulers will stand up straight. You now have precision winding sticks that can also be used by looking for light going under the stick.

If you have four small wooden clamps and two rulers in your tool box, then you are already setup. hold a ruler on it's side and put the clamps on either end. You can even use a shim to set the ruler above the surface for sighting below the ruler. You could make do with just two clamps.

There, you probably already have precision winding sticks that cannot be beat by store bought. You just didn't know it.

Two triangular architectural scales can not only help you scale models and drawings, they make superb and convenient winding sticks.

Bob

[Mark Dorman]

I use a couple of 24” aluminum I-beam levels. The inside of the beam is black and the edges and the outer surfaces are polished creating a great contrast. They also make a good three in one tool because I can use them for straight edges and occasionally as a level.

[Jake Rothermel]

Zach, I also took Chris's advice from an article of his where he mentioned using the aluminum angle as winding sticks. I don't use them often as I'm not really at a point in my work where I'm using much more than BORG-bought stock-sized lumbers yet (though I am falling in love with resawing 5/4" stock...) but on the instances I have found to use them they've worked very well for me. Place them edges-down so the angled part is facing upwards (like two little long pyramids). I'm not sure if The Schwarz recommended using them like this but it seemed logical to me. I ended up sharpie-ing the edge of one of the pair to help with their contrast. If you can get a thick enough angle stock and take care of them, they should last FOREVER.

[Dave Anderson NH]

I purchased a 6 foot length of 1/2" x 1/2" extruded aluminum angle stock from HD about 10 years ago for my winding sticks. I cut 2 of them 24" long, primed them with zinc chromate primer and then spray painted one white and one black after drilling hang holes in each. As a note on accuracy, aluminum extrusions tend to be extremely straight since the extrusion process is really more pultrusion than extrusion. If I hold one up against my LV 24" steel straight edge there is less than .004" deviation at any spot over the 24" length. The LV straightedge was tested on the coordinate measuring machine at work after I bought it and there was less than .001" deviation from true though LV only claims either +/-.003 or +/-.004 (I can't remember which). This is more than accurate for anything that any woodworker will be doing.

[Bill Houghton]

I use a couple of 24” aluminum I-beam levels. The inside of the beam is black and the edges and the outer surfaces are polished creating a great contrast. They also make a good three in one tool because I can use them for straight edges and occasionally as a level.

I found a couple of 24" levels at garage sales, 50 cents or so each. Even the ones with godawful level vials, that you would never ever dream of using to check the level on something, have straight extrusions. I knock the level vials out, so I won't forget and try to use them as levels.

Around here, at least, they're common enough that, if I lost mine, I could replace them in less than a month.

[Tony Shea]

I also took Chris's advise after watching that video and went out and bought some aluminum angle extrusion iron. I applied blue painter's tape to one of them and marked center on both with a sharpie. I use them so the angle tip is pointing up creating a long triangle across the wood. They are absolutely more than accurate enough for winding sticks and will not move with the seasons as my old non-quatersawn wood ones did. They moved enough to give me false readings always thinking that one corner was lower. The aluminum is cheap and should last a lifetime of use for this purpose.

[Rick Markham]

I made mine out of Aluminum angle from the borg... The back one I masked a small rectangle at the top corners. Spray painted them flat black and then peeled the masking off. There ya go... $6.00 permanent winding sticks. As long as you don't let some fat guy sit on them they shouldn't warp or twist :D Mine work great! and didn't cost $30... Of course, scrap wood is FREE!;)

[michael osadchuk]

I've used right angle iron, about 1.5" wide per side, bought from a metal retailer; no machinist grade, just ordinary stuff.....one thing to avoid is a rounded right angle corner, which is what the borgs sometime carry... used as winding sticks, the legs of right angle sit steady on the workpiece while the sharp right angle corner also allows you to use it as a straight edge reference against a work piece, especially against the face of workpiece, because the right angle point against the surface to the workpiece will let in light at a shallow angle, making it easier to see any dips, and the weight of an right angle iron will make it easier to feel any crowns........ aluminum right angle stuff should work fine as well.....

good luck

michael

[Christopher Schwarz]

Credit where credit is due:

I got the idea from Michael Dunbar at The Windsor Institute. Aluminum extrusions are *very* accurate -- it's a result of the manufacturing process.

Chris

[Zach England]

Credit where credit is due:

I got the idea from Michael Dunbar at The Windsor Institute. Aluminum extrusions are *very* accurate -- it's a result of the manufacturing process.

Chris
Good enough for me. Thanks. Good DVD, by the way. Too bad lumber cannot be manufactured in similar fashion.

[Rick Markham]

Good enough for me. Thanks. Good DVD, by the way. Too bad lumber cannot be manufactured in similar fashion.

Those pesky trees need to be taught suitable manufacturing processes! :D sorry couldn't resist ;)

[Harlan Barnhart]

I use two try squares. A 12" for the close end and a 24" for the far end. The stock hangs down and keeps the blade upright. I haven't needed more.

[Zach England]

Those pesky trees need to be taught suitable manufacturing processes! :D sorry couldn't resist ;)


Yeah, that's the joke.

[Adam Cherubini]

I'm not sure winding sticks are "tools". They may just be any two sticks you find when you need to check for wind. If that's the case, there are very few design requirements, making comparisons between angle iron, store bought sticks, and scrap wood difficult.

I have used a short spirit level before. Slide it along your stock and watch the bubble move. You just want an idea for how the board is twisted and where to plane.

I think it's possible that some tools should not be improved. I'm trying to think of another example. Ok, here's one. I bored holes in my saw horses so I could put a holdfast in them. The holes have been helpful for driving pegs thru my dowelling plate but I think I've never used a HF in a saw horse.

Adam

[Greg Becker]

In COURSE, MEDIUM AND FINE Chris Schwarz uses aluminum bars as winding sticks. He says in the video they come from a home center. I am assuming he is referring to the stacks of random metal pieces at any Lowes/HD, but are these really accurate enough? Do you have to true them when you get them?

I used 1” aluminum angles about 36” long. I painted one black and the other bright orange for visibility. I added a paint mark at the center of each winding stick so I could quickly balance them on narrow boards. They are very accurate (more than can be used “eye-balling”) and easy to use. Take a look at the photos below. You’ll see that on a 78” x 13” cherry board they give a very good idea of board straightness.