Today's task was to start the sanding of the mast to make it round, except for the square bit.

My knees hurt the day after I rounded the other spars so this time I decided to raise the level of the mast to a point where I could comfortably hold the drill at just about waist level whilst standing uplight. I contracted two temporary tripods and slung the mast from these.

As expected the sanding did not take too long, I completed the entire thing in just under three hours.

The taper at the top does not quite go far enough down the mast so the lower mast band does not quite reach the correct spot. Tomorrow's job, therefore, will be to sand a little more off the start of the taper but no more than is necessary to allow the mast band to reach the correct spot.

The top mast band does not go on the mast at all, so after I cut the mast to length at the top end I'll make a shoulder about 3" down the mast with the mast above the shoulder being just wide enough to allow the mast band to slip on.

I also have to think about the truck. A job for another day in the near future, I think.