How to taper a mast on a model ship. This can also be made using a drill.

Although this technique uses a lath to taper the mast, you could hold the blank square wood in a drill and using sand paper achieve the same thing. It will be more difficult to reduce the bands but it is possible. In fact before i had my lath this is how i tapered my mast sections. You may also use a round dowel in this case.

[@MU-2]

Food for thought so thank you for pointing out the subtleties of your technique. It’s been interesting to read viewers’ reactions.
On another note, you have a photograph of a person who appears to be a clergyman on your back wall. It’s nice to see someone who obviously means a lot to you to be with you as you work.

[@willvolny5343]

Thank you extremely for your detail. It will never be forgotten.

[@lancecaldwell3874]

Excellent work and great lathe tips. Always support your work!

[@gbwildlifeuk8269]

To make the mast taper on your lathe easier use a graduated top slide and a travelling steady.

[@fx1c333]

Tapered shaft.
You could try the coned shaped sand paper design.
Although it all depends on the taper metal is different to wood in shaping and the length is also a factor in the jig design.
Say a taper of 12" long from 3mm to 5mm.
The problem is it's a sliding scale but the kicker is 3-5 and the length comes into play.
Two pieces of wood 14" long hinge one end 8mm groove from one end to the other now make a slant cut so one end of groove is 8mm and the other end is 4mm.
The size is to give you lee way of the size. Now cut other piece of wood the same then place together now you have 8mm hole one end and 4mm the other use a small hinge on the 4mm side gives you a taper jig now the size is the size for then you have to take into account the thickness of the sand paper. Glue in some sandpaper into groove or grooves your choice. get scrap piece of dowelling to fine tune it to your specs.
You could go with only one groove and the other flat so to glue sandpaper on it. Hope this makes sense or points you in the right direction.
On your lathe you could make a tool rest as in a wood lathe and make it adjustable using block for height and L shape for part to hold sandpaper and to get correct angle.

[@kevinkenny5122]

Fx 1C i will give it a try. Thanks,

[@pter7531]

Nice job sir! Thank you for sharing.

[@kevinkenny5122]

I supposed you could as i never though about doing it this way. The truth is what ever works for you. As has been pointed out you can taper mast stock using a drill.

[@riku61]

Never thought to use a table saw to make a mast. What kind of lathe did you use?

[@kevinkenny5122]

I use a Sherline lath

[@anthonyholley786]

For a more sophisticated lathe it is possible to offset the tailstock and turn between centres. Could you make an offsetting piece for the tailstock and do this?

[@kevinkenny5122]

sorry, just saw this question. not sure what u r asking. i do use a steady rest in the center if the spar is long. but now prefer to shift the piece through the head snd adjust the tail stock keeping the cutter close to the head.

[@captainprototype187]

I am using tapered chopsticks........

[@jonathansimmonds5784]

That's an awful lot of lathe work. Surely it would be much quicker to make a tapered spar the same way as the real thing by plane? You've done the difficult part creating the taper in the square and began the process by planing off those corners, with a spar gauge and a plane you just keep going! Maybe use the lathe for final sanding?

[@kevinkenny5122]

Hi Jonathan. Thanks for the response. You are correct, you can taper using a plane and sand paper. That in fact is how actual mast were tapered. The challenge is to have a small enough plane to do the work. Lee Valley sell excellent ones. At the end of the day each of us decides how to do these tasks, this happens to be my method. Again, thanks for the feed back.