I need to build up a 4″x5″x6′ piece of cherry, but I don’t want to spend the money for cherry throughout the entire piece. The inside can be a different species. What inexpensive wood has similar movement to cherry? Poplar, pine, etc?
thanks,
Joe
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How many sides are exposed? How big are the pieces you are thinking of using?
May be post this in knots?
I actually need to make a half cherry column. From the drawing attached - the gray will be cherry and I would like to use a different wood for the striped area. It won't be seen so no reason to spend the money on real cherry.
Other construction ideas will be welcomed too. I may be in the process of reinventing the wheel.
Joe
p.s. Posted in Knots too, but I always feel that a question gets more traffic here. Answers are just as good too.
Is there a reason you need to fill in the space? Should be plenty strong on it's own.
I am thinking along the same line, just leave it hollow and if he lets the ends float the miter will not open up.
I was thinking the same as the two previous posters. Why put anything behind it?
I think it might be more stable without the secondary wood.
Doug
I can't get even pressure on the two glue joints, how do I clamp it up if I don't put something behind it?
I would think that you could build a simple jig, just a flat board (1x6 or whatever is a couple inches wider than the back of that column). nail a little strip on each side right where the edge of the half column lands. then glue the thing up, using masking tape on the outside to align it, and wrap the column and jig with shrink wrap or surgical tubing or bungey cords.
Other option is to glue it up with epoxy, and use masking tape alone to clamp it. I've done some stuff that way, and it works pretty well- the epoxy is strong enough without much clamping force.
zak
Fair question about clamping :-)
There was a discussion here recently about some kind of spring clamps that had points on the end - handy for gluing miters in trim and the like, would work great for your application. Can't rememer enough to find the thread tonight - must be time for bed...
Why make it solid? Leave it hallow.
Why make it solid? Leave it hallow.
I asked because I couldn't figure out how to glue it up. By filling the inside, I could have more parrellel surfaces to squeeze the thing tight. The idea of using a piece of plywood and some strips to contain it has me intrigued. I think that's the direction I'm going to go.
If you are making pairs then make it as one just no glue between the halves, but biscuits for alignment.Then you can use strap clamps, tape, or wraping with bungy cords.
What's the best material to wrap the wood in that won't get stuck by the glue?
If I wrap a strap around this thing, the glue-out is going to make the strap part of the piece.
Well if you use a PVA you could use most any non wood, non fiberous material. Epoxy and polyurathane would be more of a problem.FWW had an article a while back on making 4 sided qtr sawn oak legs using interlocking miter joints. He used surgical tubing.Stretch shipping tape would work.Maksing tape could be used with any adhesive. While it will get "glued in" is in thin enough to scrap/sand off.Another option using the strapping (or rope or bungy cords) is to use corner blocks. They come with some readly made strap clamps. Basically a female mold of the joint, but with a notch cut out at the inner corner so that it does not touch any glue.
Real, I mean REAL, waxed paper under teh strap. If any does stick you just scrap / sand it off.
If making pairs I would clamp up as an irregular hexagon with the two half-columns unglued, lots of good suggestions on clamping here. I have seen a router bit that allows you to glue up segmented columns as they kinda lock into each other. Never used it though.
My question is how are you going to mill the glue-up round? I've thought about making huge complicated router sleds but haven't gotten around to it. Will the columns be cylinders are will they have entasis? I've even thought off making a huge treadle lathe to rough the columns to shape. But then that hasn't happened either...
mbdyer
I've made/turned round columns(9' tall) by building a jig for my router to hold the glued up column.
All I did was make a three sided plywood box with ends on it, picture a shoe box without the lid, but it was 9' long.
I put a nail through the ends and that held the column just like a lathe holds its piece of turning stock.
I took a router with a dado cutting bit and mounted it on a sled; I then ran that router sled from the top of the column to the bottom. I got a big surprise when I did this, the spin from the router caused the column to spin so all I had to do was move the sled down the jig and in about 1/2 hour I had a complete 9' turned column.
I have pictures of the jig and the columns but there at home and I'm out of town on a job but I could get my wife to send them to me if you needed to see how its done.
Doug
I would love a picture if you could get it.
thanks,Joe
When I return home I'll post the pics, Or I can drive about 15 minutes and take pictures of the finished columns!
Doug
Excellent! I hadn't anticipated the spinning action, thought I'd have to rig up some indexing jigs, but wow! Now I'm looking for an excuse to do this! Perhaps turned columns for a pergola? I'd thought of a turner's trick for making half columns, they'd glue up with paper inbetween the halves they'll later seperate, turn the entire piece then spilt at the paper line, scrape clean. The paper is weakest so it seperates before the wood, haven't done it though. Am building my deck soon, perhaps turned columns for the railing posts? Would stops leave a fairly smooth transition from square to round, I wouldn't mind so hand tooling to fair them up? I guess cut all the mortises while square then turn with a router. I got two 5' tall pallets of ACQ 2x4's for little over a hundred bucks, I could make round spindles for a fraction of buying off the shelf.
If you really want to put something in there, make plywood ribs in the shape of your hatched area. Place a rib every foot or so. You don't need to make it solid. Think of it as an oddly shaped boat.
"Let's get crack-a-lackin" --- Adam Carolla
From your drawing it looks like you will be machining this down to a half circle, so any strapping stuck to the surface or blemishes will be cut away. In that case plastic wrap, wax paper, etc. should work fine. Of course you want to minimize squeeze-out anyway :-)
Because of how you are going to machine this into a ahlf circle I'd avoid the biscuits. Too much risk of "finding" one of the biscuits as you cut away all that nice cherry. Don't ask me how I know.
I hate when I accidently expose my biscuits ;)
I made a coopered door with methods similar to those being discussed here. Make forms that match the shape of the striped area of your diagram. I would probably put them every 12 inches or so going up the 6 feet. I would cut them out of ply or mdf. Then make a base to tie those forms together, 6 feet long or so. Cut your cherry pieces, then glue, then use strap clamps every 12 inches, wrapping them around the whole assembly. Definitely use the waxed paper. Hopefully this message has been decipherable.
Dustin
Made some progress...
Glued them out of three pieces of solid cherry in the jig shown in the first pic. The jig is just a piece of plywood with two slats fastened as close to parallel as possible. This kept the the pieces from wanting to spread out from pressure. Put them all together and wrapped the whole thing up in shrinkwrap.
Started the cutting on the TS. Took about 9 cuts total. Now it's off to a hand plane and a sander.
I have used maple with cherry with good success.
Elliott
I've done several of these. First, make sure all your stock is the same thickness. Rip the angles on the edges with a "glue-line" blade so you don't have to joint. Lay the pieces flat, face up and use packing tape on the joints. Flip it over and close the joints and check for fit. Cut a piece of ply and tack a strip along one edge. Cut another and start some screws in it. Flip your work back over and apply glue to both faces. Close the joints and butt them against the ply tack strip, and push the other strip in place and glue. The ply strips sould be ripped at the same angle as the outside face so as to lock the strips into place. If you notice any gaps, use some clamps in the center of the top face. As far as shaping this piece, I'd screw the ply to the back so as to be able to fasten it securely to a bench or a caul if you free-hand it thru a shaper.