Replies

1. 
   DonC | Jun 29, 2009 07:44am | #1

   Search FWW for an article on making flutes.

   I have a tailstock on  my lathe that is hollow and allows a long gouge like tipped tool to drill out centers for lamps. The tool is staionary and the workpiece is turning slowly.It works great but your application needs thin wall. I don't think my tool would work for you but the flute article will get ya on the right track.

   
   

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   Edited 6/29/2009 12:45 am ET by DonC

2. 
   DonC | Jun 29, 2009 07:49am | #2

   Option 2 is to glue and wrap veneer over a waxed steel cylinder of your desired inside diameter. I think a twist bit would work ok or a waxed wood dowel. Clamp with hig tensile fiberglass tape. Vener with a fibergalss backing might be the best choice.

3. 
   RalphBarker | Jun 29, 2009 07:43pm | #3

   That's an awfully thin wall for wood, meaning that any lathe-based boring process would have to be extremely precise. And, at 3 feet in length, the process would be more similar to barrel making for firearms.

4. 
   JohnWW | Jun 29, 2009 09:04pm | #4

   Even if you could create the tubes out of solid wood they'd be as fragile as eggshells and wouldn't stay straight or round. Wrapping a layer of veneer, probably with a fabric layer underneath and an epoxy glue, around a removable rod would probably create a stable tube but it will take some experimenting to get the process down.

   An old way of making hollow tubes was to rout out two half round grooves in two lengths of wood and then glue the two halves together to create a blank with a hole down the middle. The blank could then be turned on a lathe to round off the outside.

   John White
   Shop Manager for FWW Magazine, 1998-2007

1. 
   Phinlip | Jul 02, 2009 05:07am | #5

   I thought of routing out the center of 2 half round pieces, but what is a good way to cut a dowel in half.  or do I need to make half round pieces not the full dowel. 

1. 
   JohnWW | Jul 02, 2009 03:00pm | #6

   You would rout the half round grooves down the middle of two rectangular boards, glue them together, routed face to routed face, to create the full round groove and then round off the outside, typically on a lathe, but it could be done with round over bits in a router.John White
   Shop Manager for FWW Magazine, 1998-2007

1. 
   WillGeorge | Jul 04, 2009 02:35am | #7

   And then you could do this..

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqVvuyKVsFQ

   And these old indians are less than others.. Hardly.. They have tools!

   NOT WHAT YOU said in any way.. Just a though that came to my mind at the time,,

   Edited 7/3/2009 7:50 pm by WillGeorge