# Making a finial



## Nelly111s (24 Jan 2022)

I'm making a finial which is about 1500mm long in total, out of iroko. The top part of it is a "spike" which is hexagonal. See pictures of original, CAD render of new one, measurements of new one (110mm a/f, 560mm long).
I'm after some "best practice" for making this. I can think of three ways

Mount the blank in the lathe and use a router over the workpiece with a tapered jig to route the flats. I can use the lathe indexer to turn and repeat 8 times.
Mark the blank, bandsaw off a piece, tape the waste back on again and repeat 8 times. Then hand plane to finish.
Make an mdf jig for the thicknesser so that the top face is parallel to the bed.
I'm sure there's more ways, too!

Has anyone done this, if so, how?


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## Tris (1 Feb 2022)

I seem to recall an article in the wood turning magazine some years ago, could have been Richard Findlay, making one of these. The blank was turned down close to size then routed as you describe. Probably the quickest method to my mind


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## MARK.B. (1 Feb 2022)

Could you maybe ( could be a crazy idea ) but could you turn your blank longer than needed ,leaving a good chunk nice and square at both ends, then run it through a tapering jig on your Table saw before cutting to finished length 
Edit

No need for the lathe at all Duh  see i told you i woz crazy


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## Jameshow (1 Feb 2022)

I would taper as a square on table or bandsaw, then plane the remaining flats with a plane?


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## Richard_C (1 Feb 2022)

How about making it as a regular non tapered hexagon on the Bandsaw, about 20mm longer than you need. Then cut the tapers but stop/ back up when you get to the waste end, that way the waste fingers stay in place. I think you would start the cuts at the fat end but it's too late at night to think very hard. Then cut the waste end off.


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## Adam W. (2 Feb 2022)

Turn it and plane the facets by hand, or even just plane it down by hand.


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## Doug B (2 Feb 2022)

I’d mark the required size hexagons on the ends of the blank, turn it to a cone shape to the size of the outer points of the hexagons then hand plane the flats using the hexagons as a guide.


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## niall Y (2 Feb 2022)

I used to produce octagonal tapered legs for a series of chairs that I made. This was before I had a lathe. I used a pair of cradles that I passed through my planer/thicknesser. The first was to taper the square stock - until I had a long gently tapering square. I removed the full taper from two sides only, which changes the geometry at the ends of the stock. this means that you have to use slightly longer stock, and re cut the ends to their correct angle The second had a tapered V-block fastened to it, to hold the stock sharp-corner-up to plane down to the sloping octagon - Though this is probably a bit of a faff for a one-off. 
I was recently working on an Arts and Crafts lamp with an octagonal taper, for this I used a jig to taper the square. I then glued thin paper to each of the faces, before working out and drawing the lines for the octagon. This has the added advantage, in that things are a lot easier to see, especially if the wood is dark or the grain is busy. This last part I planed by hand - so that I could work accurately to the drawn lines
Niall



Nelly111s said:


> I'm making a finial which is about 1500mm long in total, out of iroko. The top part of it is a "spike" which is hexagonal. See pictures of original, CAD render of new one, measurements of new one (110mm a/f, 560mm long).
> I'm after some "best practice" for making this. I can think of three ways
> 
> Mount the blank in the lathe and use a router over the workpiece with a tapered jig to route the flats. I can use the lathe indexer to turn and repeat 8 times.
> ...


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