Onion Bulb Pedestal
- Thread starter rhram
- Start date
Mark Arnold
Well-known member
Raul,
I suspect that the bulb is hollow and assembled as four, six, or eight staves. I would first dry-assemble the staves as overly large blanks, indexing them to one another with splines (locate the splines where they will not show once the stave profile is cut). Disassemble and then bandsaw the desired profile on each stave before glue-up. I have also seen pedestals like these veneered. In this case, you can veneer it one face at a time with a hammer or vacuum bag. The veneer on one face will overlay (butt joint) the veneer of adjacent faces. Or, if you are feeling lucky, you can dry-assemble and fair all surfaces, then disassemble and veneer each stave separately. The angle of the stave edge will need to be extended to the overhanging veneer. You could probably get by with secondary wood, but I would back up the edges of each stave with primary to hide the inevitable ding or chipped corner. I would go with the first method if veneering--it doesn't seem quite as fussy or exacting.
Mark
I suspect that the bulb is hollow and assembled as four, six, or eight staves. I would first dry-assemble the staves as overly large blanks, indexing them to one another with splines (locate the splines where they will not show once the stave profile is cut). Disassemble and then bandsaw the desired profile on each stave before glue-up. I have also seen pedestals like these veneered. In this case, you can veneer it one face at a time with a hammer or vacuum bag. The veneer on one face will overlay (butt joint) the veneer of adjacent faces. Or, if you are feeling lucky, you can dry-assemble and fair all surfaces, then disassemble and veneer each stave separately. The angle of the stave edge will need to be extended to the overhanging veneer. You could probably get by with secondary wood, but I would back up the edges of each stave with primary to hide the inevitable ding or chipped corner. I would go with the first method if veneering--it doesn't seem quite as fussy or exacting.
Mark
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Mark:
Thank you for your reply. The pedestal you show is similar to the one I want to make except mine is four sided with the widest part 10 inches wide. I think if it is staved up the glue lines would show where the curved profile is cut. Is there a way to avoid this?
Thank You
Raul
Thank you for your reply. The pedestal you show is similar to the one I want to make except mine is four sided with the widest part 10 inches wide. I think if it is staved up the glue lines would show where the curved profile is cut. Is there a way to avoid this?
Thank You
Raul
Attachments
Mark Arnold
Well-known member
Raul,
Each side or facet of the onion is a different stave so a four-sided onion has only four staves, but rather large staves at that. I can't really tell by the photo if you will need 12/4- or 16/4 x 10" to achieve this. If you do need to glue several pieces for each stave, orient the grain so that it is quartersawn or at least rift. This will help to hide the fact that it was glued up and will also avoid potentially unsightly bullseyes and hourglasses since the grain will flow with the curve of the bulb.
Each side or facet of the onion is a different stave so a four-sided onion has only four staves, but rather large staves at that. I can't really tell by the photo if you will need 12/4- or 16/4 x 10" to achieve this. If you do need to glue several pieces for each stave, orient the grain so that it is quartersawn or at least rift. This will help to hide the fact that it was glued up and will also avoid potentially unsightly bullseyes and hourglasses since the grain will flow with the curve of the bulb.