Anyone have advise on a better way to taper bamboo shafts. I have ruined about two shafts for every one successfully tapered in my first few attempts. I am using a tru-center taper tool which works great on eevrything else but with the bamboo shafts being hollow I am having some issues. Any advice would be appreciated.
Glue in a hardwood insert and taper it instead of the bamboo.
Don't use the pencil sharpener style tapering tools. It's very easy to catch the grain and split the shaft. I made a simple jig to go with belt sander and the result is much beter.
Besides, better off to glue a 1/8" dowel before tapering. that will make the wall a bit stronger since bamboo is hollow.
Thank you gents!
what mm said. make yourself a 5 and 11 degree jig to use on a disk sander. i have the degrees marked on my sander and just clamp a small block of wood. turn on and spin.