Tips on prepping masts, spars, etc for tapering

[Capella]

I'm getting ready to taper the masts and spars on my ship (Ranger Revenue Cutter by Corel - my first wood model ship). I've spent a LOT of time reading up on various tapering techniques and I'll be using the method of holding a drill in one hand and sandpaper and the end of the dowel to be tapered in the other hand.

 

My question is, does anyone have any suggestions/tips on prepping the dowel, such as marking it up to properly know what part of it needs to be tapered and how much. I know I'll need to frequently check my progress and I have sandpaper from 150 to 400 grit.

 

 Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

[reklein]

If  you're using round stock about all you can do is mark the center of the ends so you won't get banana shaped spars. Also maybe the middle of the length to keep the tsper even. The best way to taper is to start with square stock and taper first then plane or whittle to octagon and from there sand to round being careful to preserve the center on the ends.'

[Capella]

Thanks, reklein.

 

I did some more research, hemmed and hawed a lot and finally just went for it.

 

I'm working with round stock, and the "drill-in-one-hand/dowel-in-the-chuck/sandpaper-in-the-other" method turned out to work quite well once I got the hang of it.

 

For my first time, I'm okay with the results. Of the seven masts, spars, jibs, etc. that I cut and shaped, most look pretty good. I broke three of them, but I had some store-bought dowels of various diameters standing by for just such an eventuality.

 

My next step is to put all of that together with their respective fittings, and then I'm on to the rigging (the next thing I'll be stressing out about for days before actually tackling).

 

Question:

Do some kits come with square stock? From all of the reading I've been doing on the subject it seems that starting with square stock is the best way to go.

 

Maybe it'd be worth purchasing square stock to replace round dowels that come with a kit for future projects?

Edited February 27, 2022 by Capella

[Brewerpaul]

FWIW-- I have a metal working (machine) lathe. On my only (previous) build, I chucked the spar in the chuck and lightly gripped the dowel with a piece of folded over sandpaper. Started sanding near the center of the spar, moving the folded sandpaper to the outboard end. As the diameter shrank, I started my strokes further out, leaving the center parts alone. I worked very gradually, with frequent diameter checks. When I got one end of the spar the way I liked it, I flipped it in the lathe and repeated the process, with frequent checks for diameter symmetry. I made my final sanding by hand, lengthwise to the spar to remove the sanding marks extending around the spar.

A small wood lathe would work too. The advantage over the dowel in the drill method is that you can pass a long spar into the headstock of the lathe which gives a lot more stability than a couple inches in a drill chuck.

[Gregory]

Another option whether drilling or lathing, is to make the spar in two pieces which can be joined together after the tapering is done..