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Thread: Curved elements on bed headboard. How to produce with uniformity?

  1. #1
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    Curved elements on bed headboard. How to produce with uniformity?

    How would one produce the curved parts of this Stickley design, those needed for the headboard assembly?

    Curvature needs to be precise, for things to line up adequately.
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  2. #2
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    I'd do glued up laminations in a form for the slats and copy route from an MDF pattern for the frames.
    Wood'N'Scout

  3. #3
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    Gene, I can't tell from the photo. Are all the slats the same curve or does it change from center to end ?

  4. #4
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    Looks to me like the same curve.

  5. #5
    The easiest way (given the gentle curve here) is to bandsaw thicker or wider stock to rough shape, and then template route it with a spiral bit. Personally, I think bent laminations are too much work here, and you risk uneven spring-back. The curve is so gentle, the strength of a bentlam is overkill. The curve is gentle enough that grain run-out of any solid stock should be easy to avoid.

  6. #6
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    I guess I'm not understanding the question here. If all the slats have the same curve, why not just make a template and either draw on the slats and saw and sand to the lines or do as Prashun says and rout to the template assuming there's a good way of afixing the template to the slats, such as clamping to a bench ?

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Prashun Patel View Post
    The easiest way (given the gentle curve here) is to bandsaw thicker or wider stock to rough shape, and then template route it with a spiral bit. Personally, I think bent laminations are too much work here, and you risk uneven spring-back. The curve is so gentle, the strength of a bentlam is overkill. The curve is gentle enough that grain run-out of any solid stock should be easy to avoid.
    Hmm..My take is exactly the opposite. I'm seeing a whole bunch of slats with the same curve. Bandsawing that curve one-at-a-time seems like a lot of work. Furthermore, making the curved slats the same thickness everywhere, on all slats, seems like a lot of very exacting work. Instead, I'd bent-laminate a panel with that curve, then slice the panel up into the needed widths. The slats come off the saw with the same thickness and the same curve.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jamie Buxton View Post
    I'm seeing a whole bunch of slats with the same curve. I'd bent-laminate a panel with that curve, then slice the panel up into the needed widths. The slats come off the saw with the same thickness and the same curve.
    You'd have to bend-laminate, maybe, 30" total width of panel(s). I'm trying to imagine that jig. The bend would have to be accurate all the way across and every section of each panel would have to spring back exactly the same way. Then there's cutting and gluing all the laminations and loading into the jig, line them up and clamp them down. My opinion is that it's less, and more accurate work to make each one individually. My 2¢ . . .

  9. #9
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    I suspect spring back variability (for the slats) is not a big issue given the gentle curve and I do like some of Jamie's idea for getting several pieces out of ripping down some wider laminations. Once these slats are secured in the requisite mortices in the top and bottom rails the uniformity will improve also. For the two posts, how much total bow do you think you need to get because I think that is the most important thing to consider for deciding between the bandsaw and shape approach or the lamination approach. If you end up wasting a lot of fine wood by cutting it all away then I'd be prone to lamination here as well and in fact, that should make a stronger finished product.

    By the way, that is a really nice bedframe. I'd sure like to put one of those on my bucket list to make for one of my kids.
    Last edited by Pat Barry; 01-23-2014 at 1:29 PM.

  10. #10
    If he does not have a vaccuum press, good luck trying to clamp the center of that 30" panel.

    This will go VERY fast on the bandsaw. The only thing that will take a long time is the 1/4" hardboard templates that you have to make for one leg and one spindle. Then you trace it on each blank, cut just proud of the line, then doubleside tape the template to each piece and flush trim it true on the router table.

    A good spiral bit won't leave any burnout and will leave a surface that only needs a modest amount of sanding.

    Doing this from square, thick stock also has the benefit of allowing you to cut joinery before you go to the bandsaw. It will be simple to reference a router off the ends of the spindles or the sides of the legs if you're doing loose tenons. If you wish to make the spindles tenons themselves, then you have flexibility to adjust the angle of that tenon by simply drawing it on the template.

    With bent laminations, you'll need to do your joinery after glue up. You will also require a jig to trim the ends of the glued spindles to consistent length and angle. That's doable but isn't as simple as just setting up a stop on the table saw for curved parts.

    The biggest hurdle for me when doing things like this is realizing that if you start from square stock, you will waste a lot of material. I don't mind doing that in favor of cherry picking the grain direction and making the joinery repeatable and brainless. But if you want to save material, you can nest your spindles on the same squared billet. It will require moderate adjustment when going to drill for mortises, or trimming the tenon before going to the bandsaw; just another option.

    You know, expanding that picture makes me wonder just how thick those spindles are. If they are thinner than 1/2", template routing might be tricky without a tall featherboard.

    Another option is steam bending if you have the apparatus for it...
    Last edited by Prashun Patel; 01-23-2014 at 1:49 PM.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Prashun Patel View Post
    ..If he does not have a vaccuum press, good luck trying to clamp the center of that 30" panel....
    You're right, I'm presuming a vacuum press.

  12. #12
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    Laminate thin strips for the slats would be my preferred method. You could laminate wider boards and after drying and cleaning up the glue edges, rip the slats from a wider board.
    By the way, thanks; I have a future project in mind for a bed with curved head/foot boards, and this is good inspiration.

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