What is coopered wood?

That is correct. A cooper was a barrel maker.

Do you have a jointer or a table saw? You can set the bevel with those and cut the wood. Or, you could even be one of those weird hand tool people and use a plane.

How many pieces will it take to make the telescope body? That will tell you the angle you need to use.

-- Steve, Webster Groves, MO

I don’t think you can walk out and buy coopered wood. I think you need to buy wood and cooper it unless you want someone else to make them for you.Also it’s a bit more complicated than just beveled on both sides the wood is cut in an arc then beveled. Quite a task if you want a water tight fit.Alistair

-- excuse my typing as I have a form of parkinsons disease

Thanks for the replies. After about an hour of Google searches I found a great reference page which explains in great detail how to make an OTA from coopered wood. For anyone that is interested here is the link to that page … http://www.cfellows.com/MakNewt.htm

Tapering the ends is required if you are making a barrel shape in which the ends are a smaller diameter than the middle.

Something tells me that the wood used to make barrels was quarter sawn. Also note that most of the barrels were designed to hold water and therefore required species like white oak that contained tylosis (sp?) so they wouldn’t leak.

-- Wonderful new things are coming! - God

He’s making a telescope – straight cylinder. After reading the page, a jointer would probably give better results than a tablesaw. Be sure to post pics when you’re done.

-- Steve, Webster Groves, MO

Let us know when you get this project done. Sounds like a very interesting project.

-- Jerry--A man can never have enough tools or clamps

this will give you an idea of coopering….and maybe how to it yourself…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z4dMBNCSAg

hope it helps

Another possibility is to use birdsmouth joinery bits. They are available for 6, 8 12, or 16 sided tubes.
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=45160&cat=1,46168,46174&ap=1

Will even the small amount of movement in the wood wreak havok on your mirror/cell alignment? This guy has built a lot of them but in my experiences, even differences in AIR temperature affect viewing. It seems strange to make them from wood….at least the non-strut versions….

JC

-- Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known. -Carl Sagan

JC you could very well be correct. I’ve taken on this project because I have an old primary mirror and have always wanted to make a telescope from scratch. Figure trying to make a wood OTA will fuse my two favorite hobbies woodworking and lunar observing. I could not find a local source for the cherry I wanted so had to mail order it which should be here by weeks end. Hopefully it will arrive right as I finish the table for my Big Green Egg.