I think we're talking about two different kinds of masts, staved masts are just cut to half the adjoining angle and then edge glued, so an 8 stave mast would have flat edges ripped at 22.5 degrees glued together, I wouldn't even try one of those let alone suggest it to anyone else.

A birdsmouth mast has a square edge the corner of which fits into a notch cut in the edge of the adjoining stave so they interlock when you assemble them, much less of a hassle.

I couldn't find that video, been a couple years, if I can find someone to hold the camera I'll post a video of the 20' 10 stave spar I'm putting together tomorrow or the day after.

Bill F

Arne, have you ever tried cutting a tree into quarters? It would seem, from the comfort of my armchair, that it would be easier to cut away the unwanted heart wood with a 45˚ power saw cut*, but then a bit harder to glue together again, needing the binding techniques used for staved masts. Anyway, cut into either halves or quarters, the hollowed out tree has much to recommend it.

* I've done this when making a four-square topmast from milled timber, to provide space for electrical cables.

David Tyler wrote:

…"Build your first boat for your enemy,
Build your second boat for your friend,
Build your third boat for yourself".

Probably applies to staved masts as well.

i'll try to build the first mast good enough for myself, as i don't have the right enemies for such a gift – and my friends are usually out with my boat…

…but – yes, the easy-peasy looking videos often lack some more instructions to understand what makes things work out so smooth.
my way is to build scale models before going to full size. with some experience i can (mostly) imagine how the difficulties will grow while upscaling…

ueli

Bill F wrote:

I dunno David, I watched a video where two guys assembled a 8 stave 30' mast in about 9 minutes, they just laid out strips of duct tape sticky side up and put a staple in each end to keep them in place, layed the staves out on the tape and whacked them with a rubber mallet where they crossed the tape, and just rolled them up.

This all sounds a bit suspiciously easy to me! I very recently needed to apply some window tint to the sunscreens on one of our ferries. The instructions said to peel the backing away from the tint, along with further easy sounding instructions and diagrams. Several of us tried to peel away the backing without success. I then watched a video of how to apply the tint. Well, that looks easy I thought. The tint eventually got applied, but it was not an easy process, and the finish was not crease free the way it worked in the video.  So this and other similar experiences have made me very wary of 'how to' videos which make things look easy. I also had a similar experience making up the tortured ply rudder blades for my new catamaran. Easy-peasy according to the diagrams, photos, and instructions. The resultant blades eventually turned out OK, but it certainly wasn't the simple bang, bang, bang process I was expecting.

I dunno David, I watched a video where two guys assembled a 8 stave 30' mast in about 9 minutes, they just laid out strips of duct tape sticky side up and put a staple in each end to keep them in place, layed the staves out on the tape and whacked them with a rubber mallet where they crossed the tape, and just rolled them up.

then they readjusted the staves to get them fitting nice and tight, retaped, cut the tape down one joint, and unrolled it again.

from there it's just a matter of three coats of epoxy wet on wet, roll it back up and  clamp with zip ties, make sure it's straight and true, and then clamp with hose clamps or electricians tape.

I'll see if I can't find the video.

The real problem is cutting the staves, you could probably cut the staves for an untapered mast with two guys and a lot of cussing on a tablesaw, but if you want to build a tapered or barrel cut mast you need to use a skillsaw and a bench which can be as simple as sawhorses every 2-4 feet, or even just 2x2s laid on the driveway although I'd want some really good knee pads and some pain medication for my back after I was done :), doesn't even need to be perfectly level end to end although it should be level front to back.

to cut the birdsmouth clamp the stave on edge between two planks, screw a guide strip down each plank, run your skillsaw down each guide strip, done.
you can use shims screwed to your bench to position the stave so you cut your taper at the same time you cut the birdsmouth for a straight taper, for a barrel taper you'd have to cut the taper in from both edges of the stave.

buying top grade timber or aluminium here is crazy expensive, a 16' 1 1/2" by 5 1/2" board of sitka spruce would run you $225 after taxes, about $190 usd, if i pick through the piles I can get a decent boards of western spruce or pine in the same length for $22, I'd probably have to get twice as many if I didn't want any scarfs, but it's still a savings of 80% and I doubt it would take much longer than laminating and then planing down a solid or dugout mast, especially if your ok with an octagonal mast, you could use the modified birdsmouth which doesn't need to be planed down.

I'm not saying that the hybrid isn't a great way to make a great mast, just that you can make a birdsmouth mast nearly as good for a fraction of the cost and not much more work.

BillF