Here is a nifty calculator for making items via splayed joinery that was graciously provided by Gerald R. What exactly is “splayed joinery” you say? Well imagine a tube made from multiple pieces of wood (staves) in which one end of the tube is larger in diameter than the other. An example is a tapered round waste basket. To construct the tube, each stave must be cut at the appropriate compound angle. That’s where the Stave Calculator (Stavulator?) comes in. You enter in parameters that include the height, number of sides, and diameter of each end of the tube and it figures out the dimensions and cut angles of each stave. It also helps you setup a jig to cut the staves.
Items made with splayed joinery
The stave calculator is implemented as an Excel spreadsheet. You will need to select Enable Editing and Enable Content in order to use it (at least on newer versions of Windows). For peace of mind, you may also want to scan it with your anti-virus software – I scanned it prior to uploading to the web site. There is also a helpful user guide that explains how to use the calculator along with instructions for building a jig to cut the staves.
Thanks Gerald for contributing this useful woodworking calculator!
