Making it round (or at least oval)

I fibbed a little in the last post. I wrapped the very last stave in plastic when I glued everything else up, so I still have access to install halyards etc in the mast once it's completely shaped. Otherwise the bits around where the halyards and antenna exit would be very difficult to work on.

With the mast in a state where it holds together reasonably well, I started shaping. First step was to mow down the rear either side of the sail track to make it an elongated octagon:

I went straight to the motor mower power planer for this. Otherwise the effort would kill me. I also did the work on the patio, where all the mess can simply be swept into the compost heap.

At this point I knocked a couple of cradles up to hold it, as once it gets more round it won't sit on a flat surface nicely:

I next went for a hexadecagon (being an engineer I didn't even need to look that word up).

It's getting reasonably light at this point. I reckon 12.9kg for a 6.1m mast isn't too shabby.

I also flattened the sides for the bottom 28cm, to make it work nicely in the tabernacle:

Which necessitates a quick test fit in the tabernacle. It's a little on the tight side, but once I'm done with sanding I reckon it'll be just about right:

My god it's long:

Back to the planer to make it a triacontadigon (yes, I had to look that word up), plus a lot of fussing and finessing with 0.3mm deep cuts to get it as straight and even as possible:

And now the really hard work begins, using a 40 grit belt sander belt to make it round: