I made a crude lathe putting my electric drill in a horizontal stand and then making a tail stock out of a block of wood. My mast tapered (chamfered) from 19 to 10mm over 50cm. The difficulty was to hold a chisel in the correct position. It worked after a fashion but the pine splintered. I finished it off with  a small plane and "Glass paper" No good for thin stuff ie 10mm dia, it bends. 

10-8mm bowsprit took 1/2 hour by hand using plane and glass paper.

Tony

the simplest way is to use an electric hand drill as the other two gents have said, but you can tape it, using gaffer tape to a chair/stool seat so long as it is solid and doesn’t move, and of course the switch is available to hand. preferably use a variable speed drill. using one hand use a towel twisted around the end of the mast to steady( there is no heat generated in the hand if the towel is damp).and turn the drill on at its low speed with the other hand.

use your other hand with garnet(sanding ) paper folded into three layers to stop it slipping and wrap this around the mast and hold in the palm of your hand until the mast is basically enclosed in your hand.

one hand is keeping the mast from whipping whilst the other is sanding.

this is by far the easiest method, doesn’t need the setting up of a head and tail stock and virtually most diameters of dowel upto 3/4 inch can be sanded to a taper.

I have done this many times, even prefering it to using my Myford ml7 laithe/  its the cheepest way too as you don’t need cutting chisels either.

I do hope Health n Safety arn’t reading this they would have a fit!

Len

STUFF HEALTH AND SAFETY, LEN we are hobby modellers  who believe in enjoying ourselves. whats a broken finger or two between friends. all adds a new  level to the term "built with blood sweat and tears" lol.

never was one  for political correctness anyway?

paul,

the roof on my converted garage lifted in the storms 3 years ago, but because I had notified my insurers that i had made the conversion to a hobby workshop, they had to fix it.

the first firm came along to fix it, took one look inside and left a note pinned to the door, (as I was out) that it WAS a health and safety hazard for their workmen to even enter into the building because of all the tools, solvents etc and that they would not be repairing any part of the building!

After calming down with a few quick snifters, my two young daughter who often come into the workshop to make their little creations, just looked at me and said.Daddy who are these whimps?

Just about sums them up"!

complete t*****s

haven’t put my nose out, Kevin.mind you i take a risk in life as soon as i get out of bed in a morning, trust me, so turning down a dowel in an electric hand drill is the least of my worries.

adds a bit of excitement to life.

Saying that I seldom use dowel these days, prefaring to go down to my local fishing tackle shop and releiving them from all the old busted tips of hollow carbon fishing rods. i then piece them together with the correct tapers, and can run electric lighting wire down the centre. works a treat.

Most towns have a " Pound Shop " and they sell wooden handled artist brushes at around 10 for £1 all different sizes and about 12" long,cut off the brush and you are left with a tapered mast!.

Len