I guess I did not phrase my question clearly. Several people replied with good ideas on how to cut the taper, but I already have that method down. As far as the spar being too thick at the root to cut the taper, I understand that the taper in that direction should be done before the spars are built. The spars are tapered in two different directions and my question was is there any advantage to doing the second taper before the spars are built instead of after. It is fairly easy to do the second taper after they are built and Mark's site shows how he did a good job of it.
As far as what method is used to do the actual cut, that is what I have been working on for a few days. After doing a lot of searching I found that the best thing would be a Festool. http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/decoder_festoolsaw.asp The Festool has guide rails you can buy 12' long, clamp to the cap, and just slide the saw for a perfect straight taper. Only problem is the whole setup was about $700 for something I would only need once. What I am doing now is the sled through the table saw method like Mark shows on his site. Since I don't have as good of a saw, don't have cabinets the right height to extend the table, and I am not as good with it I added a few things to ensure a perfect cut. First, I started with a 10" wide piece of shelf board and ran it through the planer twice on each side to make it nice and flat and smooth. Then I screwed a piece of 2 X 2 X 1/8" aluminum angle 10' long to one side so I would have a perfect straight side against the rip fence. Then I clamped a 12' piece of 4 X 1.5 X 1/4" aluminum C channel to the rip fence for the ultimate straight long rip fence which really helps on long stock. Then I clamped 10" wide strips of plywood under the C channel on the blade side so I have essentially made my self a 12' long table for the table saw to keep the ends of the stock from rocking up and down. I also bought a Bench Dog feather board which does an incredible job keeping the stock tight against the rip fence and solves what used to be my biggest problem with running long stock through the saw. I have pictures and will put them on a web site as soon as this roll of film is done. Brian Kraut Engineering Alternatives, Inc. www.engalt.com -----Original Message----- From: krnet-boun...@mylist.net [mailto:krnet-boun...@mylist.net]On Behalf Of boeing757me...@aol.com Sent: Friday, July 02, 2004 4:18 AM To: kr...@mylist.net Subject: Re: KR> outboard spar taper Anyone see any reason why cutting the taper before building the spar would have any advantage? Yeah, I the spar is 8.190" of an in thick at the root. Good luck finding a saw that will cut that deep.
