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Please note: Woodworking is an inherently dangerous activity. The non-woodworking techniques described here aren't all that safe, either. Sharp tools, powerful motors, big lumps of wood, chemicals, fumes, etc. can cause you serious bodily injury or even death. These pages are NOT meant as a substitute for instruction by a qualified teacher, just as an illustration of how I do certain things. I take no responsibility for any mishaps you may experience during a fit of inspiration. You've been warned.
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Making the stripes means joining end-grain to end-grain between the maple and wenge pieces. While this shouldn't be a problem in the finished rocket, I still needed to machine the staves on the router, and I was concerned that the joint might not hold up. I opted to reinforce the staves by cutting a 1/8" wide groove down the exact center of each stave (maple and wenge) -
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- and glued in a narrow strip of 1/8" plywood while creating the striped staves. Note that the reinforcing strip also helped to keep the maple and wenge pieces aligned during the glue-up.
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After cutting the stave angle on the router table, I cleaned up the cut faces by taping a sheet of sandpaper to a granite plate. These special plates are milled to be extremely flat, which is exactly what I want so my glue surface will also be flat.
Page last updated 7 August 2009