Source for tapered dowels?

Greetings and Salutations
On Tue, 2 Mar 2004 02:26:09 -0600, "Damon"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>After some experiments to make some pointy dowels I'm hoping to find a
>source for readymade. I need them 6 inches long by 3/4 inch diameter, with
>about a four inch taper down to a 3/16 inch point, or something close.
>Basically a pointy stick. I've been all over the web and haven't found
>anything close.
>
Pretty amazing that you have admitting posting a query on how
to make a "pointy stick" and have not gotten flamed but, have gotten
resonable replies. *smile*


>Or if you have suggestions for making these from 3/4 inch dowels in a
>repeatable manner. Using a lathe seems like overkill (especially since I
>don't have one or know how to use one), I was thinking maybe the dowel could
>be chucked into a drill press and a file/rasp pressed against it at an
>angle.
>
Close...but, kind of awkward...

>It would be a lot easier if I could just buy them. ;-)
>
Indeed....there is always that question of what to throw
at a project - Time or Money.

>Thanks for any leads or suggestions,
>
Here is a way to do it if you have a sander of some sort (belt
would be good, 9" disk would be great, ROS would be ok).
1) Drill a hole the size of the dowel through a block of scrap
wood. 2x4 stock is great for this.
2) In the case of the ROS or beltsander...clamp the tool to
your bench so that the sanding surface is about 90 degrees to the
bench. This is a tad easier if you have one of those 9" disk/6x48"
sander combo units.
3) Clamp the block you drilled to the table/bench so that a
dowel stuck through it will angle into the sanding surface at JUST
enough of an angle to end up with a 4" long taper.
4) put some fairly coarse grit paper on the sander...30 grit
or so. You mainly want to hog off material now.
5) fire up the sander.
6) Push the dowel through the block until it touches the
sanding surface. Rotate constantly. For a ROS, you probably will
need a FAIRLY light touch. Dust collection would be a VERY good thing
too. Sand until the taper is close to what you need.
7) repeat step 6 until all dowels are tapered.
8) change the sandpaper to a finer grit...120/200, something
like that.
9) Resand the dowels to their final surface and size.

As a woodturner, I would suggest investing in a mini-lathe
and a chuck. Jet has a fairly nice one that can be gotten for $200
or so at most Woodcraft stores. That will be the fastest and easiest
way (after the learning curve) to make these things. a nice, wide
scraper, properly sharpened, will do it in no time. The sanding
method, while workable WILL be slow and produce a cloud of dust.
Dave Mundt

"Damon" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> After some experiments to make some pointy dowels I'm hoping to find a
> source for readymade. I need them 6 inches long by 3/4 inch diameter, with
> about a four inch taper down to a 3/16 inch point, or something close.
> Basically a pointy stick. I've been all over the web and haven't found
> anything close.
>
> Or if you have suggestions for making these from 3/4 inch dowels in a
> repeatable manner. Using a lathe seems like overkill (especially since I
> don't have one or know how to use one), I was thinking maybe the dowel could
> be chucked into a drill press and a file/rasp pressed against it at an
> angle.
>
> It would be a lot easier if I could just buy them. ;-)
>
> Thanks for any leads or suggestions,

Damon, here's my idea on how to point the dowel. First of all this is
just conjecture, never tried this method. Take a look at a pencil
sharpener, the type kids use that have a small razor blade in the
molded plastic. I believe you could use a block plane iron in a wooden
jig to achieve what you want.
Another wild idea would be to use a router or laminate trimmer on a
ramp. You would have to make a device to hold the dowel and turn one
end by hand while routing on the ramp.

mike

> Pretty amazing that you have admitting posting a query on how
> to make a "pointy stick" and have not gotten flamed but, have gotten
> resonable replies. *smile*

LOL, I know what you mean, and I appreciate it!

Thanks Dave for the detailed suggestions, I do have access to a large belt
sander so I'll try making a jig as you suggest, basically creating a big
pencil sharpener.

Since a picture is worth a lot of words, here is a pic of what I need.
http://www.linkpro.net/images/pointy-stick.jpg

It needs to be fairly tough, so hardwood, Poplar dowels are quite a bit
cheaper than oak, but seem strong enough.

I'm wondering if anyone out there would be interested in making these? I'd
be willing to buy 100 pieces to start. If anyone wants to quote a price
please send me email to damon(AT)linkpro(DOT)net. I'm located in Memphis,
TN.

Thanks to the group for letting me pop in.

Damon


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> Damon, here's my idea on how to point the dowel. First of all this is
> just conjecture, never tried this method. Take a look at a pencil
> sharpener, the type kids use that have a small razor blade in the
> molded plastic. I believe you could use a block plane iron in a wooden
> jig to achieve what you want.
> Another wild idea would be to use a router or laminate trimmer on a
> ramp. You would have to make a device to hold the dowel and turn one
> end by hand while routing on the ramp.
>
> mike

Two ideas! Thanks

I'm no woodworker so I had to lookup what a "block plane iron" was. I like
the pencil sharpener idea, any ideas on how to rotate the dowel against the
iron? Is there an attachment for a hand drill that would allow the 3/4"
dowel to be turned by the drill?

How bout some kind of attachment for a drill press to hold and spin the
dowel, the iron would be on a block setting on the drill press deck, the
spinning dowel would be pressed down onto the blade, the drill press would
also allow repeatable movement so the dowels could come out the same each
time. I think that could work! Is there such an attachment to a drill? I've
done some googling but don't know the terminology well enough to do a proper
search.

Thanks, and anyone else with ideas I'd like to hear them. (I'd still prefer
to find a ready made source)

Damon


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