pointing posts

[aspenarb]

I need some help here I need to cut a couple of 12"x12"x 10` oak posts for a customer and he has asked if I can supply them with a point on the top. Are there any tricks to getting this accurate and getting the point in the middle with a hand saw?

 

I need to achieve something like this.

 

Thanks

 

Bob

 

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=176131&stc=1&d=1423521192

[wills-mill]

Start with an 11ft post then you've space for a cock-up or two!

 

To be honest, with careful marking out they aren't too hard, and in some ways you are best doing them slightly over the line with a chainsaw and finishing them off after a couple of days surface drying with a grinder and blue sanding discs. Handsaw is fine, but you start to regret doing it when you're a couple of cuts in.

 

Zirconia Resin Fiber Grinding Discs

[wills-mill]

Don't mess with angles and degrees. Choose how much 'drop' you want (maybe 4 inches) then mark all round the post at 4in spacing, then mark to a centre point for your cuts. Generally much easier that way.

 

A 45 degree point is actually pretty steep and quite tricky to hand cut.

[Walksatnight]

Use a circular saw set at 30 degrees be perfect

[carpenter1]

Use a circular saw set at 30 degrees be perfect

Would be a good idea but which circular saw has 6" depth of cut?

[Woodworks]

Would be a good idea but which circular saw has 6" depth of cut?

 

This bad boy [ame]

[/ame]

 

Suspect it might be a bit pricy.

 

A good hand saw with some accurate marking out might be more suitable. Would be easy enough to build a jig to use as a guide.

[bobh]

This bad boy

 

Suspect it might be a bit pricy.

 

A good hand saw with some accurate marking out might be more suitable. Would be easy enough to build a jig to use as a guide.

 

Just had a google and yes its what you might call a bit pricey, £3500.

Probably not worth buying for a few fence posts 😁

[codlasher]

Hand cut after marking carefully and then plane with a SHARP plane. I prefer a block plane;

codlasher

[woody paul]

Maybe worth asking a local joinery shop for a quote to put the points on.

[wills-mill]

There are very few folk who could weather a 12 x 12, especially your average joinery shop that now deals mainly with veneer covered MDF.

 

Depth of cut on most hand held circulars is pretty woeful, you'd need way over 6in depth of cut by the time you've tilted the blade.

 

We did have a demo session with a Festool 'sword saw' which is a chainsaw bar grafted to a circular saw. The chain runs the 'wrong' way which is a bit weird, the depth of cut is great (8in?) and the price is a relatively sensible looking £700 (especially compared to Mafell kit). Sadly, it was a bit of an awkward/ dangerous nightmare when trying to weather a gatepost- the bar and chain tilt the opposite way to a circular saw, and so you have to try and balance the saw on the triangular waste portion that is being cut off. Not good in that respect.