Australian Wood Review – June 2017

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http://www.woodreview.com.au 39

PROJECT

I decided to design and make new, more eye-catching
winding sticks, this time mostly by hand.

Choosing the inlay design

To make the twist stand out, strips of contrasting wood are
often inlaid on the sticks. Some find it easier to see the twist
with two short blocks of inlays instead of one continuous
strip of inlay. However, I personally have found no difference
in the gauging of twists between the two inlay approaches.

It does seem to be quicker to run a long inlay strip rather
than add two separate inlay sections. My design therefore

adopted the inlay strip approach. In addition, unlike the

usual one-sided inlay, I put inlays on both faces of the sticks,

making both sides suitable for sighting. Lastly, the sticks are

bevelled on the upper part to make them bottom heavy.

Winding sticks are designed to locate the twist with

exaggeration. How much? The exaggeration is a factor of

the length of the sticks to the width of the board. So, a pair

of 300mm long sticks used on a 150mm wide board would

amplify the actual twist two times. Knowing this helps you

determine what length of sticks to make or use. I made

mine 15 x 60 x 350mm and 15 x 55 x 550mm.

1. Make a slight cut on
   the stock with the
   plough to verify the
   fence setting.


2. Keep the fence tight
   against the workpiece
   as you push.


3. Set the blade just
   proud of the thickness
   of the stock to make
   machining safer.