Tapering the Staves

To accurately cut tapered staves, you will need a saw table. If your table saw can accurately angle the saw blade to the table, then you can cut both the taper and the bevel at the same time by laying the blade over to 15 degrees (for a 12 sided drum). It may take several tests and micro adjustments to get the angle just right. One way to test the angle of the bevel is to bevel both edges of a piece of scrap about 1m long, then cut this into 12 pieces (about 80mm long) and strap these 12 pieces together in a ring. Any gaps between the bevels will tell you whether to adjust the angle of the saw blade. Several adjustments may be necessary to get a close fit.

My table saw is a Triton Workcenter Mk III with a standard circular saw fitted into it in a special cradle. While it is possible to angle the saw blade (just), in the table slot, it required repositioning the saw in the saw cradle. It's quite fiddly and while I did this for my first drum , I was not happy with the process and have decided to cut the bevels in a separate step, using a router.

	A simple taper jig is used to cut the taper on each stave. The taper jig is a simple straight edge with a series of steps at one end. The first step is used to cut the first taper, then the stave is turned over, and the second step is used to cut the second taper. The height of each taper is the amount that you want to cut off each side of the board. For instance, this is an 80mm wide Sheoak (love the texture) board that wants to be tapered to 40mm at the bottom. So each step is simply 80 – 40 / 2 = 20mm. You don't have to worry about the width of your saw kerf, this will be taken out of the piece that is cut away. For a compound stave drum (djembe), you need to make two taper jigs, one for the bowl section, and one for the stem.
	The jig holds the board, and runs along the saw fence. If you are not cutting the bevel at the same time (ie the blade is at 90 degrees to the table), the position of the saw fence can be set by placing the stave flush along the base of the jig (ie not stepped as in the photo) and then setting the fence so that the edge of the board rests just along side the saw blade. Adjust the fence position so that the ends of the fence are even (ie same distance from the saw line). Then simply step the bottom end of the board in the first step of the jig, and you are ready to make the first cut (as shown in this photo).
	This photo shows a close-up of the board stepped in the first step, ready for the first cut. The step can also be filed very carefully to slope to the right to accommodate the angle of the stave, so long as the left edge of the step is 20mm from the base (40mm for the second step).
	The second taper is cut by rolling the stave over so that the recently cut (tapered) edge is towards the jig, and the untapered edge is towards the saw blade. The stave is then stepped into the second step of the jig and the second taper can be cut. If you are cutting the bevel at the same time (your saw blade is angled), the jig needs to be turned end-for-end and the stave rotated 180 degrees. The second step can have a small bevel cut into it to accommodate the beveled edge of the first cut edge. Particular attention must be paid that the stave is sitting tight in the step of the jig or too much may be cut off one or other taper.

Step 3: Beveling the staves

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