How to cut concave curves

[Prashun Patel]

I'm trying to replicate the leg design of this table.

http://finewoodworking.taunton.com/i...ebrawood-table

What's the best way to cut the curve on the legs? Normally, I'd rough cut each leg with the bandsaw, and true everything up with a pattern and pattern bit on the router table.

But that'll be hard on these legs that appear to be 2.5-3" thick, and curved on the 2 exterior faces...

Is there a jig for the bandsaw that'll get me very close? I have no spindle sander so I'll have to hand sand it...

Help appreciated.

[Lee Schierer]

I saw a jig made for making a wavy front for a drawer, where the craftsman made a box for the front to fit into. The box was sized larger than the piece so the router could go past all the edges. The desired curves were cut in the long sides of the box and he made a jig to hold the router. The jig had two axles (just rods) that extended through the base plate of the router and reached out over the sides of the box. The router rode the curves like a car on a roller coaster. He used a either a straight or round nose bit and made multiple passes back and forth along the length gradually lowering the bit until the entire profile was achieved. As I recall he had to make overlapping passes to eliminate the cut lines. The surface ended up pretty smooth and he sanded it to the final finish. I believe he made four or five idenically curved drawer fronts for a chest of drawers.

[Doug Shepard]

I cant tell for sure from the pics but the dont look compound to me. It look like each curved cut would be a straight cut with the BS table at 90°. If you taped the offcuts back on then cut the other faces I think you'd have it? As far as smoothing the cuts, the faces are wide enough that I think a spokeshave or scraper would work pretty well.

[Jamie Buxton]

I'd bandsaw the curves, then clean up with a power sander. The curve is gentle enough that the pad on a random orbit sander will pretty much conform to the surface.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I agree...looks like a jig was used to mark the leg and then freehanded on the bandsaw and then power sanded.

[Tony Bilello]

I assume you dont have a shaper or you wouldn't be asking this question.
If that be the case, depending on how rough your bandsaw cut is, you can clean it up using a rasp, file, power sanding and hand sanding in that order.
Some of those steps can be eliminated if you have and know how to use a spokeshave.

[Lee Schierer]

I assume you dont have a shaper or you wouldn't be asking this question.
If that be the case, depending on how rough your bandsaw cut is, you can clean it up using a rasp, file, power sanding and hand sanding in that order.
Some of those steps can be eliminated if you have and know how to use a spokeshave.

Okay, I'll bite, how would you do this on a shaper?

[Prashun Patel]

Ok, so how thick do you think those legs are? My quess: 3" tapered into 2 1/2" tapered back out to 3"?

[John Schreiber]

Here's a picture of a band saw template guide (link). Since the insides of the legs are flat, you could modify it so that the template would be taped or tacked to the back side of the leg and the guide would contact the template below the workpiece. With that, and a decent band saw, I think you could reliably cut very close to the line and just sand or scrape out the remainder.

If that link isn't clear, Google "Band Saw Template Guide" and you'll get more ideas.

[Prashun Patel]

Thanks, John. I'll probably go this route. I also looked into the Bandsaw guide pins from Rockler. Might get one of those just bkz they're pretty cool!

[Frank Drew]

Taping the offcut back on to provide a flat surface to cut the next face is one way; another would be to almost complete your cut, but leaving enough of a tab (1/16"-1/8") to hold the offcut on, backing the bandsaw blade out of the cut, and then making your next cut. The barely held on offcuts can be removed in a couple of seconds with a sharp chisel.

The bandsaw marks can also be cleaned up with a spokeshave, probably working from both ends to avoid against the grain upcutting.