Tapering Wooden Combs????

[Charles McKinley]

Hi All,

I'm making some wooden combs for Christmas and am looking for a faster way the taper them either before or after the teeth are cut.

The pieces are about 1/2 to 3/8" thick when I start and about 3X4".


I tried cutting 2 pieces on the band saw but the blade needs to be thicker as it wandered too much from top to bottom.

I made a zero clearance insert for the table saw at 5 degrees of tilt but will need to make a jig of some sort as there is too much blade exposed and the fingers are way too close. (It took me a long time to listen to that little vioce and I'm not about to ignore it this time!)

I tried a hand plane. Would making a sloped bed to rest the piece on and plane "flat" help?

The article suggest using a belt sander but it is slow and dusty.

All those evil people at FWW and PWW with their article on carving letter made simple and beginning carving grrrrr. ;)

As long as the little angels are happy.

Thank for the ideas

Pics to follow when I have something to show.

[Larry Reimer]

I think the challenge with this is going to be holding the piece while working on it. Even on a shooting board with a plane the workpiece needs to be held fairly solidly and reliably.

My first reaction is that I would make the comb "blanks" about an inch longer than the finished size. Then use that extra inch to securely hold the workpiece (run screws through it or ???????). Then when done with the taper cut the extra off and finish shaping.

I think I would cut a block at an angle to fasten the comb to and use my belt sander. It's a stand type and has fairly good dust collection. If that's not available then a shooting board with a plane will work, or back to the bandsaw. Good luck.

[Fred Woodward]

I would try the bandsaw and either tilt the table or make an angled sled. re-saw the comb blanks.

[Robert Mickley]

Or leave the board long, cut the angles on the table saw, then cut them to length.

[Jack Hutchinson]

from a stock block - might alternate top and bottom on the table saw, moving the fence in 1/2" after each cut.

Or could do that on bandsaw.

Could that work?

- Jack

[Perry Holbrook]

I do a lot of shaping of little pieces. I've tried several things but nothing beats the edge sander for my application. Sounds like you don't have one of those and may not be enough justification to make a purchase. Before I bought one, I took one of the cheaper 6x48 belt/disc sanders, figured out how to rotate it 90deg and made a make shift edge sander. You could do that with a hand held belt sander, probably.

You do make a lot of fine dust but I have found that sanding things to shape gives me a better product and is actually faster if you don't mind changing belts.

Perry

[Charles McKinley]

Thank you for all the responses,


I'll probably sand the couple more that I have to do as I have the little 4" belt sander. I'll builtd the jigs to try the TS and BS when there isn't a time constraint.

I would like an edge sander but that just isn't in the budget.

Thanks again,

Chuck