Are winding sticks nothing more than 2 identical pieces of wood?

[Adam Herd]

I want to make some quick and easy winding sticks. I watched part of Paul Sellers video on how to make them. He had a pair of winding sticks he said were made by a friend. They looked to be nothing more then 2 medium length pieces of wood that were identical. Can I just cut 2 say 18" long pieces of wood 1 1/2" wide by 3/4" thick? That would be a lot easier then making them triangular.

[sean contenti]

Yes. Fundamentally it's just two exactly equal sticks of wood. Gang up a couple scraps, and square up the ganged set. Personally I'd go longer than 18". Mine are 36", of beech with an inlaid blackwood strip on one stick.

Of course, sometimes people like to add embellishment, or find that there are additions that add value. In no particular order...

- a contrasting inlay on the "rear' stick can help highlight the observations
- a dot inlaid at the centre of the stick can help position the tool on the lumber
- a tapering (top to bottom) profile can add stability

[andy bessette]

It can help to make the sticks of contrasting shades, 1 light and 1 dark.

[bridger berdel]

They should be nice and straight. The tops of them should be parallel the bottom surface.

[Steve Kaminska]

My current "winding sticks" are a 3 foot length of 3/4" square oak from Home Depot that I cut in half. There is a bit of a bend in them, so I drew an arrow to define which faces are flat and parallel to each other, also at some point I blackened the ends of one stick with a sharpie for a bit of contrast. One of these days I will make proper winding sticks, but for now, these do just fine.

[Derek Cohen]

Winding sticks do not have to be wood. They can be anything that is parallel, even of different heights. I use a couple of cast iron levels. Sometimes two blades from a 12" combination square. I also have wooden winding sticks. Whatever is handy.

Usually two of these machinist levels (both 18" long) ...



Regards from Perth

Derek

[ken hatch]

Winding sticks do not have to be wood. They can be anything that is parallel, even of different heights. I use a couple of cast iron levels. Sometimes two blades from a 12" combination square. I also have wooden winding sticks. Whatever is handy.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Derek is correct. Two lengths of "L" extruded aluminum make very good winding sticks. Wood can be pretty and a fun project but other things work as well.

ken

[Osvaldo Cristo]

I use my levels instead. I have one 1200mm long and two smaller... I think 720 mm and 450mm... good enough for me with no additional stuff to arrange place in my small shop...

[Warren Mickley]

I have used the same mahogany winding sticks for more than 40 years. Genuine mahogany is a good choice because of long term stability. Walnut would make a good choice also. The sticks should be prepared with as much precision as you can muster. You will want to use the same sticks every time so that you can easily and quickly assess the situation.

I recommend sticks in the 18 inch range; you want pair that you can easily sweep up with one hand and distribute on the work surface. We use the sticks constantly during stock preparation so we can sneak up on a flat surface while removing a minimum of material. Longer sticks are considerably more clumsy and trouble to use. I once saw a guy using framing squares as winding sticks. It was pitiful how much trouble he went to for every use in order to avoid making a nice pair of sticks.

[Phil Mueller]

As others have said, any two straight pieces of something will work...angle iron, straight edges, levels, etc. If you get the notion one day to make them, the wooden angled ones aren’t too difficult. Just a nice straight stable piece of wood, cut on a diagonal on the table saw. A quick couple pieces of contrasting wood. They don’t have to be pretty...just relatively straight. IIRC, these were made on a rainy weekend afternoon.

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[Tom M King]

I just use whatever I have laying around that's straight and parallel. I find it easiest to look at the gap between the two by sighting a line over the near one, and under the far one, since that eliminates any matter about what they're made from.

Somewhere in this video (edited to add: about 2:45), I pull two pieces out of the scrap pile. They're leftovers from Cypress shingle roof purlin replacement pieces, made from treated decking boards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SED7B65cppM

[Mike Harkin]

My winding sticks are two pieces of aluminum angle, with the ends on one piece painted black.

[Prashun Patel]

"They looked to be nothing more then 2 medium length pieces of wood that were identical".

I wouldn't spend too much time making them. The hard part is learning how to read them and respond to them. Save the effort to make the Mercedes versions once you get comfortable with how they work.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

This may sound laughable, but I ended up buying the Veritas winding sticks. Why on earth would I buy something so simple to make? The answer is because I have an eye problem- I see things in a curve rather than a straight line. I depend on rulers and winding sticks to visualize straight edges and flats. The reason I chose to get the Veritas winding sticks is that they have etched lines across the top that for me really helps visualize the difference between the two sticks, which look curved to me, so I just make sure one matches up to the other one, and the lines really help. Also the contrast between black and aluminum is great.

[chris carter]

When I needed winding sticks early on I grabbed what was handy: a couple slats from some 1950s chairs we had to throw out. I'd kept all the slats. They were dead straight, and since they were old wood, there would be no surprise movements. So I used them, and I still use them. I just put tape on the edge of one of them so I can see the contrast easily. Super ghetto, just as effective as anything else.