How do I cut a taper along the edge of a wide board?

chuckk2333 · Post by **chuckk2333** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 11:35 pm

All,

I've begun building a rocking horse for a Christmas present for my little girl. The plan shows that I need to taper along the edge of four 1-1/2" x 8" boards that make up the legs of the horse. This is necessary so that the legs will splay when mounted to the horse body. I do not need to taper across the face of the board. If I did, I would simply use a tapering jig and my tablesaw.

I can think of a couple of ways to do this.

1. Flip the wood on its edge and cut with a bandsaw. The problem is that the Shopsmith bandsaw I was considering buying for this project can only handle about 6" of resaw. So this option is out unless I buy a much bigger (non Shopsmith) bandsaw.

2. Do the tapering by placing the face of the board on the jointer. But I only have a 6" jointer and the board is 8" wide.

Are there any other ways to do this? Will I have to plunk down loads of cash to buy a new tool? I'd really like to do this on my Shopsmith if possible.

Thanks.

Chuck

a1gutterman · Post by **a1gutterman** » Fri Oct 30, 2009 11:55 pm

chuckk2333 wrote:All,

I've begun building a rocking horse for a Christmas present for my little girl. The plan shows that I need to taper along the edge of four 1-1/2" x 8" boards that make up the legs of the horse. This is necessary so that the legs will splay when mounted to the horse body. I do not need to taper across the face of the board. If I did, I would simply use a tapering jig and my tablesaw.

I can think of a couple of ways to do this.

1. Flip the wood on its edge and cut with a bandsaw. The problem is that the Shopsmith bandsaw I was considering buying for this project can only handle about 6" of resaw. So this option is out unless I buy a much bigger (non Shopsmith) bandsaw.

2. Do the tapering by placing the face of the board on the jointer. But I only have a 6" jointer and the board is 8" wide.

Are there any other ways to do this? Will I have to plunk down loads of cash to buy a new tool? I'd really like to do this on my Shopsmith if possible.

Thanks.

Chuck

Hi Chuck,

Do you need to taper the full length of the board? Or just the portion that goes against the body of the horse? If it is as I suspect, and I understand your question correctly, and the taper only needs to be for a couple or a few inches, you can stand the board on edge, and with the table tilted the correct angle and the blade standing proud, run the board through the table saw. Using a tenon jig, whether SS, someone elses, or a self made one, you can safely do this.

chuckk2333 · Post by **chuckk2333** » Sat Oct 31, 2009 12:13 am

A great idea, but as you said, it would only work if the taper needs to run for only a few inches. While my taper does not need to run the full length of the board, I do need it to run about 7". If I understand your approach correctly, the longest taper I could create would be the maximum height of the tablesaw blade above the table, which is probably under 4" or so.

iclark · Post by **iclark** » Sat Oct 31, 2009 12:45 am

how about rigging an extended table on the belt sander?

you would have to slide the boards side to side on the face of the sander.

you might be better served by doing it with a jack plane - especially if the boards are long enough to clamp safely (safely for the plane, that is).

also, you could taper 4" boards and then edge join them. if you are keeping the finish natural, you could mix in some different woods to put stripes or lines down the legs.

a1gutterman · Post by **a1gutterman** » Sat Oct 31, 2009 1:02 am

chuckk2333 wrote:A great idea, but as you said, it would only work if the taper needs to run for only a few inches. While my taper does not need to run the full length of the board, I do need it to run about 7". If I understand your approach correctly, the longest taper I could create would be the maximum height of the tablesaw blade above the table, which is probably under 4" or so.

Oakay! Do you have a planer? If you place the board on a sled that holds one end up the proper distance to get the desired taper, you can slide your board through a planer on that sled.

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Sat Oct 31, 2009 1:56 am

Hi Chuck! Seems to me the best way to do this tapering on an 8" wide board would be to use hand tools. A hand plane, chisels and a belt sander, or a wood rasp!

If you want to use the Shopsmith, you could rip the leg boards into narrower pieces and taper those before re gluing.

Of course the easiest way is to not taper the legs at all, but manufacture small pieces into wedges to put beneath the top of the legs.
Good luck with this project!
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Wonder how the Shopsmith horse plans do it? Found the plans in the Archives of Hands On Magazine of November/December, 2001. http://www.shopsmithhandson.com/archive ... roject.htm

Their horse doesn't have splayed legs. The Outside of the legs turn out to be about 7½" apart (at the outer faces) Then they go straight down to attach to the front and rear braces. The braces are 14" long, making the rockers 14" apart.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Sat Oct 31, 2009 2:30 am

I was thinking jack/bench plane, but Chuck beat me to it!

We often overlook the simpler hand tool way since we typically use a power tool almost exclusively.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Sat Oct 31, 2009 7:01 am

If you have a surface planer Shopsmith Pro Planer you can use it. It will require that you build a sled but that is quick and simple. The piece to be tapered lays on the sled. One edge needs to be lifted to produce the taper effect. The sled and the piece to be tapered are run through the surface planer together. Take very small cuts, raising the table with each pass until you have the desire effect. Do all pieces at each depth of cut setting and then raise the table to get identical pieces. This is the same approach as using a jack plane but done with the surface planer.

Different approach: Taper one long board first and then cut into the appropriate lengths. No sled is used. I narrow strip, the thickness of the material to be removed, is attached with two sided tape to the tapered edge of the board. Run that through the planer as above to get the taper.

mickyd · Post by **mickyd** » Sat Oct 31, 2009 9:22 am

dusty wrote:If you have a surface planer Shopsmith Pro Planer you ......

Your link needs editing for it to work dusty.....too many "http:" 's in front of it.

If the board being tapered is short enough and the taper angle shallow enough, I think your planer approach is the best. I can't trig it out since I don't know the distance from the cutter to the end of the planer table or the angle of the taper but a 7" long taper of x° on a board that is "x" long with a 6" max planer height (minus the sled height) will only allow a board of a certain max length.

a1gutterman · Post by **a1gutterman** » Sat Oct 31, 2009 1:11 pm

I must be on dusty's and mickyd's ignore list.

See this post.