Built a few columns

[mreza Salav]

The past couple of weeks (among other things) I was busy building a few columns for the new house trim work.
I purchased the carved caps and the bases from Osborne wood and built the fluted columns out of hard maple. The cap and the base are solid (not hollow) but the columns I made hollow from 12 segments. The glue-up was a bit challenging (to say the least). I have used dominos to help with alignment of the pieces. The first glue-up I did 6 pieces at once: the first few photos show the pieces and the dry fit, and the glue-up:

285271285272285274

soon I realized this was a big mistake and the final result was less than perfect and even though my wife said it looked fine to her I decided to start from scratch and make 4 new ones, this time glueing pieces 2 at a time, then make a half circle with 3 paired pieces. I realized I need a few more clamps than just the band clamps. The photos should show the construction process.

285276285278285275285277285273

The fluted column is 6' tall and with the cap and the base they are just over 7'. They have a very slight taper (7.5" wide at the base and 7.25" at the top).
To cut the pieces to length since I couldn't cut them on my home made milling setup and don't have a large enough cross-cut saw to cut through 7.5", I made a shallow cut with the router on the "lathe", then made the rough cut on my miter saw by rotating the column a few times and then cleaned the rest with a flush trim router.

[mreza Salav]

I use ten 2" (3/8") to connect the caps and bases to the column. Used the bushings on my Jessme dowel jig to make another jig to drill the holes. Here is the final result:

285279285280285281285282285283285285285284

[Kent A Bathurst]

Impressive.

Just so I understand - the box with the router - that functioned as a lathe to smooth the columns into round, before the fluting?

If I got that bit right - how long did it take to pass the router back-and-forth to make the tapered round profile?

[mreza Salav]

Yes, that box was built to round the column and make the flutes. I used a 1/2" spiral bit and one pass (along the length) was enough to bring it to the height I needed, each pass taking about 1/4"-3/8" of the perimieter. It took about 2 hours to round each column and about 1 hour to make the flutes (although the first one was much slower).

[Chris Padilla]

Sweet!!! I love it!! I assume you purchased the tops and bottoms to your columns?

[mreza Salav]

Sweet!!! I love it!! I assume you purchased the tops and bottoms to your columns?

Yes, as I said in the first post they were purchased from Osborne wood (I don't have a CNC unfortunately ;)).

[Sam Layton]

All I can say is, WOW. Your columns are impressive. You did an outstanding job. Good thing you have a good assortment of clamps. How are you going to finish them? Will you put finish on the inside of the column to seal the wood?

Good job, Sam

[Dave Richards]

Very nice columns.

I noted your comment about clamping the pieces for gluing. Are you familiar with the "birdsmouth" method used by spar builders to create hollow spars for boats? The process involves making a V-groove on one edge of each stave. This provides a nest for the neighboring stave to rest in. After applying glue to all the V-grooves, you put one end of the column together and slide your hands down the length. The staves will all snap into place and will stay there. I made a few spars that way and used zip ties to clamp them up. The typical birdsmouth spar uses 8 staves but the angle can be adjusted easily to allow as many staves as you wish. I made a calculator that allows you to enter the number of staves, the finished outside diameter and desired wall thickness. It returns the width and thickness of the staves. Tapered spars or columns are easily done be tapering the square edge of each stave.

[Scott Austin]

What excellent work, love the router/lathe. To do the taper did you just move the "axle" up off center on the top ?

[Vince Shriver]

I'll second Sam's comment: wow!

[Bruce Page]

Beautiful! Your clamp collection is almost as impressive as your work!

[Al Launier]

Very impressive indeed!

[Al Launier]

Very nice columns.

I noted your comment about clamping the pieces for gluing. Are you familiar with the "birdsmouth" method used by spar builders to create hollow spars for boats? The process involves making a V-groove on one edge of each stave. This provides a nest for the neighboring stave to rest in. After applying glue to all the V-grooves, you put one end of the column together and slide your hands down the length. The staves will all snap into place and will stay there. I made a few spars that way and used zip ties to clamp them up. The typical birdsmouth spar uses 8 staves but the angle can be adjusted easily to allow as many staves as you wish. I made a calculator that allows you to enter the number of staves, the finished outside diameter and desired wall thickness. It returns the width and thickness of the staves. Tapered spars or columns are easily done be tapering the square edge of each stave.

Dave, any pictures, or reference source, to further explain this process?

[mreza Salav]

Thanks to all.

Dave, I am familiar with that system but unless I use a router bit like this
http://www.mlcswoodworking.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/smarthtml/pages/bt_door.html#multisided_glue_anchor

making the grooves still is prone to error. The problem is the height of these bits were not large enough for the stock (8/4) I wanted to use.
In a 12 sided shell even a 0.1 degree error in the bevel cuts will result in 2.4 degree of error (there are two cuts per joint) and 2.4 degree will show like a sore thumb at the time of glue up.
What I ended up doing was to make two half columns and then run each on the jointer to get a perfect joint at the end.

[Dave Richards]

Dave, any pictures, or reference source, to further explain this process?

Made a quick sketch, Al. Eight and 12 staves.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7360/13311617055_790371819d.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/8294157@N08/13311617055/)

Lee Valley sells router bits to do this but I just make them on the tablesaw. I haven't had any errors when I've made them.

[Keith Outten]

mreza,

Beautiful job on the columns.

[Mel Fulks]

Nice work,Mreza. I've done some of those ,too. Our staves were like yours and we clamped with HF nylon strap clamps. Ours were sent out for the turning but we did the fluting by the same method. I find these columns too straight and the flutes too far apart.While columns have been used slimmer and fatter than yours the basic rule of the curved taper(entasis) is pretty standard. Increasingly in recent years columns of type you are doing have become more common.
How appealing buyers will find them in the future ,I can't say. But I am a great admirer of your intrepid will and speed.

[Charles Coolidge]

Those columns are impressive, as is the sheer volume of clamps you have!

[mreza Salav]

Thanks.

Sam, I don't think I will finish the inside as the cap and the base should seal that hollow.

Mel, the taper was dictated by the size of the base and cap that I purchased (I had no choice). Having said that I think the amount of taper is just right and so is the distances/sizes of the flutes (1" wide and about 1" apart). I have seen some with fewer and shallower flutes (e.g. the one Osborne wood sells). I guess this is a matter of artistic taste and different things pleases different eyes differently.
And thanks for the encouraging words. I'm about to start the railing/posts for the stairs and then cabinets but I'm worried that I might not be able to finish things within the time frame I've set for myself (Sept). Will see how it goes...

[Tom M King]

Very nice work! I bought a couple of fluted columns last fall that were replacements for rotten ones on an old house. They were about that length but 10" at the bottom, about $900 each, and I'm sure nowhere nearly as nicely made as yours.

The original ones has rounded shapes in the edges of the segments. The only thing holding them in alignment was an applied top, that went under the capital, that was fastened to the column. The inner shape of the column top was cut to fit inside all the segments.

The home owners had simply failed to keep the gutters cleaned out, for some years, and it required a very expensive repair.

[Peter Quinn]

Beautiful work, great to see your process. Going to be a spetacular house.

[mreza Salav]

thanks to all.

[Frederick Skelly]

Beautiful! Well done Sir!

[Al Launier]

Thanks for your effort Dave, but the image didn't come through, or it had a "shelf life" & I was too late:confused:


Made a quick sketch, Al. Eight and 12 staves.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7360/13311617055_790371819d.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/8294157@N08/13311617055/)

Lee Valley sells router bits to do this but I just make them on the tablesaw. I haven't had any errors when I've made them.

[mreza Salav]

Thanks for your effort Dave, but the image didn't come through, or it had a "shelf life" & I was too late:confused:

Just google birdsmouth construction and look at images.
Here is one example: http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/04/s/articles/birdsmouth/
or look at the MLCS link I provided.

[Dave Richards]

Al, I think you got my PM. ;) Cheers.

[mreza Salav]

In the middle of working on the posts for stairs I got tired and decided to build two smaller versions of these columns. They will be used as part of the fireplace mantel. The caps were purchased and the rest was built to fit.

288408288406288407288410288409

[Gus Dundon]

That's a lot of work. Well done.