How to make a tapered point on a wooden stake?

[AAJIII]

Today I was approached by the local water commision. They asked me if I could make 300 wooden stakes out of cedar, but they have a round tapered point.

The tapered section has to be at least 1" around and the taper needs to be about 5" in legenth. The over all legenth of the stake is 14" by 1 1/2" square.

Since I would have to make 300 of these I am trying to find a quick repeatable way to make the point.

One idea was some kind of giant pencil sharpener thingy.

Thanks

Al

[SARGE..g-47]

Evening AAJ III...

Calculate the angle required to get a 1" x 5" long taper at the end of the stake with a protractor. Drill a hole in a piece of stock that angle on the drill press. Rip the stock in half so you have a half-moon at the required angle. Clamp in too the rest on your Vertical Belt Sander and mark each stake at the 5" hieght and 1" taper. Put your stake in the angled half-moon jig and start turning till you meet your 5"-1" marks.

Sounds tedious to me, but I guess somebody has to do it! ha.. ha...

Regards...

[Tequila]

Find a giant pencil sharpener...

[steve-norrell]

Sounds like a good excuse to buy a lathe. Are they paying you enough to justify one?

Tough decision! Good Luck, Steve

[RodKirby]

A 5" taper on a length of 14"? Taper sounds WAY too long?

Whatever - make up a single-use taper jig - easy, just tedious. 4 cuts per stake

[LCHIEN]

rod's idea is fine unless it has to be a true conical point.
Its going to take awhile... figuring minimum 15-20 seconds per four cuts times 300 you're going to be going at it continuously for hour+15 mins to hour and a half. - 1-1/2" deep x 5" cuts may be a lot of wear and tear on the saw. Like ripping 62 8-foot 2x4s.
You may decide you don't want to put that much wear on your saw.

A true conical point would be lots more work...

You might question both the angle and the need for conical if not conical then the need for four vs 2 sides.
It'll still go in the ground with a big hammer.

[cabinetman]

Put the lowest number (roughest) grit belt on your sander, (either vertical or a clamped belt sander) and put on some gloves, eye protection, dust mask, ear plugs, dust collector, and let them rip, so to speak. Put a line on the first few as a guide, and then just wing it, from memory.

[Bruce Cohen]

There's this guy named Van Helsing, I think he's Romanian, Google him and I'm positive he'll know all about wooden stakes.

Bruce

[LCHIEN]

There's this guy named Van Helsing, I think he's Romanian, Google him and I'm positive he'll know all about wooden stakes.

Bruce

I was going to ask if the water commission has a lot of vampire problems...

[Jeffrey Schronce]

If the stake is being driven into the ground why would it have to be cone shaped versus square point taper? I would advise them that the job is $x with simple taper square and $x*10 for conical point. This 10* should cover the cost of the lathe and tooling.