Wooden pedestal column Part 2
First pass completed with the router sled. Many, many more to go. Its a slick setup for making wooden cylinders.
Here you can see the area that will be routed. As the sled rolls forward ever so slightly on the circles I cut earlier, each pass of the router will take away amounts of wood. Most of the wood will be removed in the area where two boards are edge joined. While in the center of the board not much, if any, amount of material will be removed.
Here’s a view from the top of the router sled.
This is me in action. You can see the wood flying away from the other side of the sled.
So, now the job is partly done, the 42 inch tall column is made. I thought this was the hard part. Boy, was I in for a surprise!
Making these caps for the top and bottom took the longest. Actually I’ll admit I kept putting it off. I edge glued solid 2×6 pine to make a 12×12 inch square block. I cut it to make about a 11 inch round circle on the bandsaw. I made a jig for the router table that could hinge. Hinging the table allowed me to angle the profile however I wanted it to be. I placed 15 degree wedges (see next pic) underneath. I found the approximate center of the slab and screwed it directly to the top of the jig. All I did then was get the circle to the 2 inch profile router bit and start spinning the circle slowly. After making one complete pass around, I moved the whole jig and circle a little closer to the router bit and made another pass around. I continued moving toward the bit until I achieved the top diamter I wanted to match the diameter of the column.
Here’s a picture from behind the jig where the wedges were placed.
All Done! Two spray coats of Benjamin Moore Golden Oak stain using a mason jar sprayer then two coats of Benjamin Moore Polyurethane.
