How To Make A Pair Of Nunchucks
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Alexander writes…
“I was browsing through your wood working site and I’m in a bit of a dilemma.
I do nunchuck seminars for kids and I’m trying to produce a few sets of nunchucks myself to keep their costs down, but my issue is the octagonal shaping. I was wondering whats the best way to cut the octagonal shape on a 1 inch piece diameter wood. Say I had a square 1×1 inch x 12 inches long (so thin but long piece) . Im not looking for any tapered or bent pieces. Just straight across same diameter throughout the whole length.
I thought I could run it through the table saw at 45 degree tilted blade 4 times to cut each corner off, but is there a better method with other tools since my piece of wood is thin? Router? Shaper? What tools would you say are the best to get this job done quickly, effectively, and precisely.
Also is the drill press the best way to put like a 5/8’s hole through the top?
Any help would be appreciated…”
Nunchuck seminars… cool. As an a side my wife and girls are in Tae Kown Do, they have not yet progressed to weapons, but I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them shows an interest.
Ok, back to your question on how to make an octangle out of a square.
The simplest method that I have found using the table saw as you described. Now what you can also do is install a sacrificial board against the rip fence to protect it from the saw blade. I like to use 3/4 inch hardwood or hardwood plywood. Install it against the face of the ripe fence facing the saw blade. This will move the fence a little further away from the saw blade.
The other thing you can do is use a couple of feather boards to keep the tight against the rip fence and pressed firmly down on the table. That way you don’t have to be concerned that the piece is going to get away from you and accidentally get hurt by it.
As for drilling the holes on the ends of the sticks, a drill press will work if you have a long enough of a reach. A bench top drill press does not have enough clearance, even with the table moved out of the way to accommodate the stock to bore a hole in the end. Even if it did then next problem you face is keeping the stock still and keeping it parallel with the drill bit.
A horizontal boring machine makes drilling thse holes a snap. My father-in-law has a Shop Smith that can easily be turned into a horizontal boring machine. The nice thing about this setup is being able to use the rip fence and table top. By clamping a couple of cleats parallel and on either side of the drill bit and positioning the fence a little more than twelve inches away from the end of the drill bit I have a nice jig to repeatedly drill the same size, location and depth hole into each of the stickes.
I would drill the hole into the end of the stick first before clipping the sides off with the table saw.
Have you considered using dowel rod for the nunchuckes? That would eliminate the need to clip the ends and now all you would need to do is drill the hole in the top of each stick.
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