For Malcolm and other segmented turners who make staved vessels

[Brian Brown]

I want to try my first staved turning, and need to know if there is a special miter sled you use to hold the staves on a table saw while they are being cut? It's obvious that staves require extreme accuracy, and I'm not sure how to hold them down.

[Richard Madison]

Brian,
My neighbor built two sleds for staves, one for each side, and used toggle clamps (two per sled) to hold the pieces while being cut. Seemed to work well once he got the angles fine tuned. The taper angle is not so critical, but of course you want the bevel angle to be as nearly perfect as possible so the staves will form a circle. And/or you can glue them up as "half bowls" and sand the joint surfaces flat so the two halves will match up.

[Mike Golka]

Richard pretty much summed it up. I have Malcolm's book and that's the way he does it. I made a sled using toggle clamps to hold the piece being cut and as Richard said the critical angle is the bevel. Make some test cuts in less expensive wood to fine tune the blade angle of your saw and when you can fit the pieces into a cone shape with tight fitting joints your ready for the real thing. Glue up half cones and sand the faces of the two halfs to get a perfect fit.

[Brian Brown]

Sounds like exactly what I need. You wouldn't happen to have drawings/plans/pictures would you? I have Malcolm's book, but I'm a bit dense, and I'm missing something in what I'm reading. I understand the first cut, but I am missing something on the second. :confused:

[Mike Golka]

Brian, The second cut is made with the piece (that has the first cut) flipped over and placed against the stop block which sets both the width and angle of stave taper. Look closely at photo 10-04 on page 91 of Malcolms book. The bevel that was cut first as in photo 10-03 is on the left and slopes upward left to right. I hope I haven't confused you even more.

[Malcolm Tibbetts]

Brian, it looks like you've already received good info. I'll add a little... Short staves, up to about 5", I usually cut on my sliding compound miter saw. All the staves that I use in my "ribbon" constructions are cut that way. For longer (taller) staves, I usually resort to the sled on the table saw. What you might have missed in my book instruction is the second cut is done with the same sled, without moving the miter angle or blade angle. The sled is used to cut an angled-stop-block, so that by flipping the stave over and around, you can match the first cut. To achieve close to a perfect fit, both the miter angle and the blade angle are important - one affects the other. Both angles don't have to be exactly as listed in the charts, but they have to compliment each other; otherwise the staves will not form a perfect cone. When adjusting these angles, I usually lock in the miter angle as close as can guess and then only adjust the blade angle while making test cuts using 3/4" MDF. To improve the glue joint further, I recommend just a little very light sanding of the glue surfaces in order to erase any evidence of a saw blade. The sanding can be done manually on a flat surface with 80-grit adhered to MDF or by carefully using a disc sander.

The other challenge with this type of vessel construction is how do you add anything to the staves without creating a cross-grain joint. That's a whole other discussion.

Good Luck.