More simple segmented.

The most important thing in creating segmented work is accurate machining.
If your segments are not exactly the same dimensions there is no way they will fit together.
There is nothing worse than segmented work with poorly fitting joints so take the time to get it right it is well worth the effort.
I am going to produce my segments using machinery simply because I have it but that does not mean it cannot be done by hand it is just more work.

The first process is to machine your wood into strips with all square edges and planed smooth.I am using Idigbo for this and as Idigbo is a very dusty wood I make sure I use a dust extractor on the machines and an extractor at roof height to take out fine dust in the atmosphere.

Before using my planer I check that the fence is at 90% to the in feed and out feed tables. This is very important if you want square stock.

The first thing we have to do is give ourselves a perfectly flat surface to work from.
As the stock is fed onto the cutter it is important that you put pressure on the piece to make sure it sits flat on the out feed table.
Depending on the surface of the piece you might have to make several passes.

We will now have a piece of stock that has one perfectly flat and smooth wide side ready to square up the edge.
To square up the edge the piece has to be held firmly against the fence and held down firmly on the out feed table.
Again this might require several passes.

We now have a piece of stock that has two perfectly smooth sides that are square to each other. Next we put the stock through the thickness with the rough side up.
Again this might take several passes.

We now have a piece of stock that is perfectly smooth and square on three sides.

Now I will cut a piece off the squared edge of the stock on the bandsaw.

The piece that has just been cut off is now set aside and the remaining large piece is again squared up on the planer.

This has to be done after each piece is cut off on the bandsaw to make it square and smooth ready to cut off the next strip

With all of our stock cut into strips with three square and smooth sides they are all fed through the thickness to prepare the final side.
We now have strips of stock with four perfectly smooth and square sides ready to cut into segments.
The strips are approx 3" deep by 1 1/4" thick although this is not important as long as they are all the same and you have enough for your blank.
This done my Thicknesser and Planer are tucked away until next time they are needed.

These go under a bench top to save space there is also my router table tucked away under the same worktop.

This is turning out not to be as easy as i thought it would.

I have tried to make segments using my cho saw but they have not worked out accurate enough.

This is the way I have tried to do it.

First i have fixed a temporary fence and cut through at 30% the object of the temp fence is to stop break out in the back of the cut.

It is always worthwhile using a temp fence when using a chop saw.
The next thing i have done is to cut of a piece of ply and fixed it to the temp fence at the length i want my segments to be.

The idea now is to slide the timber that I have squared planed and thicknessed against the ply block to create the segments.

Having cut of quite a few of these I tried to put them together to form a pattern.
Unfortunately the cuts were not accurate enough there were very small gaps.
I think the problem is that unless you sit dead tight against the block the cut is not going to be perfect.
Also if you get a bit off dust under the wood it is enough to spoil the cut.
I have not given up on this I have an idea to try and cut these longways on the table saw and then chop them into lengths.
I set my table saw to cut a 30% bevel and by carefull measuring I have made a diamond shape.
I have cut the strips into 3" lengths and created what I think is a good pattern.
This is not perfect when set out dry but tommorow when I glue it up it will be easier to get all the segments perfect.