The Cooper's process is easily adjusted to make masts and spars of
varying diameter and wall thickness. The thickness is purely your choice
on how thick you make each stick and the mast diameter is a function
of the width of the stick.
To get a rough estimate of the mast diameter, take the width of the
sticks, multiply by the number of sticks, and divide by pi. For this
mast, the estimator equation is (.75 x 8) / 3.141 = 1.91 inches diameter.
In real life, the mast is about 1.81 inches across the flats and 1.97
across the corners.
If you want to round your mast, make the walls thicker and sand the
corners. 1/4 inch thick walls are plenty thick for 10 or 12 ft masts,
but you might want to beef things up a bit for longer masts.
It should be possible to connect several of these masts together by
inserting a plug at the join (similar to the reinforcing described above.)
A true craftsman could probably scarf a bunch of the sticks together
and assemble a mast as long as he likes (making sure the joins don't
match up, of course.)
UPDATE FROM JOHN WRIGHT - THE GUY WHO INSPIRED THIS EFFORT
One thing I have learned in the last couple of days is that after the
mast is glued and rolled up is to spiral wrap it with cheap (-$1 roll
will do several masts) electrical tape stretched tight as it is wrapped
at about a two inch spacing. That provides the clamping pressure to
insure a good joint.
The process of wrapping with the still wet glue will also help the
mast become a perfect octagon on its own and also even up the edges
perfectly.
I produced 64' of mast in less than 8 hours not including dry time.
They are perfect. The flat sides of the mast can be sanded with a belt
sander in no time and are furniture quality. The key to the whole process
is the jig that you must create for the table saw to handle the little
sticks.
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