I am in the planning phases of making a queen sized windsor bed based on Jeff Miller plans. The tough part of this project is making the Headboard and footbard arches (I'll be using an ellipse layout jig). Each arch is 1 3/4 inch thick, 2 1/4 wide and roughly 10 feet long.

For each arche I will cut about 20 stips--each strip being 2 1/4 inch wide and a little more than 1/16 inch thick. The most obvious way to laminate these is building a form and cauls (it will be big!)--which is how it is done per the Jeff Miller plans.

But here is my question. I have a vacume press--so could I not build a form and put the lamination in a bag and then clamp the bag over the form (eliminating most clamping)? Of course this is the opposite of having the form in the bag. I have seen this done on video's--but I have no experience in doing it this way. I could make a long bag from 30 mil vinly I get from Tap plastics.

So what do you think? Would 20 cherry laminates (totaling 1 3/4 thickness by 2 1/4 wide) in a bag clamped to the outside of a form work per this scenario? Or am I asking for more grief than just using a form, cauls and a boatload of clamps?