Stave Construction

I got into stave constructed forms as a solution to solving the problem of coming up with a design alternative to a four legged table. The forms that I have been making for table bases are different from barrels in that they do not form a complete circle and are not held together with steel bands. Instead, they are made up from individual staves that are joined together.

The method that I use is fairly straight forward and does not require any complex mathematics. Essentially, I begin by drawing the curved profile full scale onto a piece of half inch plywood. The curve can be a radius of a circle or generated by laying out points and bending a thin strip of wood to those points and scribing a pencil line to connect the dots. Once that curved line is drawn, set your compass to the thickness of the staves and scribe a parallel arc. After marking the center point on the template, I will set it on the bench. Next, I will lay out the hardwood that I want to use and begin the grain matching process. For table bases I use two inch thick stock but you can vary the thickness to match the scale of the project. When grain matching, I usually try to keep the lighter tones toward the center, graduating to the darker tones to frame the outside.

Once I have decided on the grain and color matching, I will draw triangles in chalk across the width of the boards to help keep track of the layout. .To determine the degree of the angle needed to bevel the staves, I’ll start by milling up some test pieces of poplar the same width as my staves, but they only need to be about 6” long. Set these on the template side by side so that they follow the curve. They’ll be tight on the inside curve but there will be gaps between them on the outside curve. Trace the outline of these gaps onto the template and mark a centerline between them. Next, position a bevel gauge on the template so that it aligns with the centerline and the back of the stave. In this case it was four degrees. Now set the table saw blade to match the bevel gauge.

After cutting the bevel on both sides of the stave, I will take the stave to the jointer and joint the bevel faces flat. I like to work from the center out, so I will set the staves onto the center of the template and continue to cut and fit each stave making sure that they conform to the profile of the curved template as I go. No joinery is necessary for the glue up because we’ll be gluing long grain to long grain but adding some splines or biscuits will definitely help with the alignment. The staves can be glued up in batches of 2, 3, or 4 at a time. When it comes time to glue the 2 halves together, there will be a tendency for the 2 halves to bow upward so I use a caul and clamps to create downward pressure. After the columns are glued up, I’ll use a combination of disc, random orbit, hand sanding and scraping to fare the curve.