Spar sanding

[imported_Steven Bauer]

I just made the gunter spar (upper section of mast) for my Gardner skiff, see Lee's Swampscot thread). After planing off the corners I sanded it with an 80 grit belt then Mary helped me to sand it with a 120 grit belt. With the 80 grit I just clamped the spar down but with the 120 I wanted it to be able to rotate as I sanded it so it wouldn't get out of round. Here's the setup:

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid126/p5f2d7a5bf729e2762d8e78ca70b2f58d/f7f4f034.jpg

Here's the rig - note the rubber bands on the drum, I couldn't get any traction without them:

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid126/p95dc8c1d843807224479472e1b328eac/f7f4f020.jpg

[Mrleft8]

Nice! Next time try hooking your drill up to the spar (think crude lathe) and sand the spinning spar with hand held paper. I did that (but with my lathe, not a hand drill) and got a very nice round spar.

[imported_Steven Bauer]

I tried that once but even on the slowest setting it still was spinning too fast. What did you use for a bearing on the other end? And did you have to steady it in the middle?

Steven

[Bruce Hooke]

Take a look back at the Jan/Feb 2004 issue of WoodenBoat. There's an article on a simple spar sanding lathe that it looks like your halfway to having built already...

[Meerkat]

That looks very similar to the illustrations in Bud Macintosh's book for rounding off new-built spars.

[Steve Lansdowne]

I used pieces of rubber inner tube in place of your rubber bands. Read somewhere (likely in Greg Rossel's book) to taper the piece the rubber goes around so it is thicker in the center and thinner (less circumference) toward the outsides. I did this by tapering the rubber pieces so there was more bulk in the center and less at the outside. Worked great.