Roughing in the Taper

In this series of pictures the beveled strips are being tapered to roughly 60 thousandths over the final dimensions with the bench top planer. I'm using an adjustable wooden form. The strip is placed in the form enamel side down, taped down on the big end and run through the planer several times, flipping it occasionally, taking small amounts of bamboo off with each pass. The tape holds the big end down until the planer begins to cut that end of the strip. Without the tape, the planer will snipe the big end of the strip and destroy it (don't ask me how I know). When the planer cuts the tape off, it's not needed any more. The strip will lay flat in the form from then on. I don't turn on the shopvac thats connected to the chip collector until I'm finished with a strip. I don't want the vacuum effect to pull the strip up into the cutter. On an entirely different subject...I wonder how the Spring River is fishing. Saturday might be a good day to pay a visit to Buzzard Bluff. Never can tell, might witness another baptism this weekend.