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Thread: How to make a curved door?

  1. #1
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    How to make a curved door?

    I would like to make some curved doors for a bathroom vanity project, but I'm not sure how to do this. They are just simple curved doors as shown below. I am thinking of the possibility of adding a figured veneer to the face also.

    Any suggestions? I do not own a vaccuum veneer system.

    -Jeff

  2. #2
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    One of the taunton books on either joinery or cabinet making techniques has an article on coopered doors (like a barrel). For somthing different you could use 1/4" or 1/8" plywood and laminate up several pieces gluing it into a bending form.

  3. #3
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    Smile

    You might want to check out page 32 of the October '06 issue of Wood Magazine. It has an article on kerfing plywood. That would seem to be one way to get your curved doors.

  4. #4
    Jeff, Assuming you want a solid wood door . . .I would glue up the door in staves (I believe that is what they are called), with each piece cut at 6 degrees give of take. For the glue up, you can either biscuit the pieces together or use a form. If you take the biscuit route, be sure to cut the slots toward the inside of the door. Mark the profile of the door on the end grain (both ends). Go to town with a hand-plane. I would just leave the inside of the door faceted. Lars

  5. #5
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    Coopering or kerfed/capped followed by veneer would both be good choices.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  6. #6
    jeff, coopering is one way to build a door in this style......but coopered doors move in strange ways. any good lumberyard should stock bending plywood, i keep 1/8 and 1/4 on hand so i`m not at their mercy when i need it. if you opt for bending ply you`ll need to use solid edges applied before veneering the face.....this would be the perfect time to justify a vacuum set-up if not the ply glues well onto a form using old intertubes to apply pressure and veneer has been hammered for years. the other solution is a curved raised panel door?.....the styles will help keep a coopered panel in line.....02 tod
    TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN; I ACCEPT FULL LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR MY POSTS ON THIS FORUM, ALL POSTS ARE MADE IN GOOD FAITH CONTAINING FACTUAL INFORMATION AS I KNOW IT.

  7. #7
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    I'm assuming a coopered door is the same as a staved door? If so, would this construction be stable from seasonal changes or the high humidity environment of a bathroom?

    I have kerf-cut plywood before to bend around a curved carcass. But the carcass held the shape of the kerfed panel and the kerf cuts were not visible. How would this work for a free hanging door?

    Questions, questions, questions...
    -Jeff

  8. #8
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    coopered == staved It would be as stable as any other solid panel of the same size however the direction of the movement would be a little different. I would think that you could also make a raised panel door where the panel is coopered.

    I've bent 1/4" ply that had a walnut veneer over luan without kerfs. I laminated enough to make either 5/8" or 3/4" thick, glued it with yellow glue and set it in a form. When it dried it held the shape and has been like that for several years.

  9. #9
    Kerfed ply, bent lamination, or coopered solid wood, are all the good methods.

    Here is a link to my website where I have "sort of" a project tutorial of a coopered front, bathroom vanity I did a couple of years ago.

    http://www.chiselandbit.com/yoda/yoda_cabinet.htm

    I'm currently doing a bent lam door set, I'll put up pix if you want.
    John

    Chisel And Bit
    Custom Crafted Furniture


  10. #10
    Depending on the size of the door you could cooper it as many have said or you can use thin layers of wood cold molded on a form glued in place.

    You can lay up an entire curved door making it solid and as thick as you like or a box with a core just like a torsion box (only in a curve).

    Epoxy would help you make a weatherproof door.
    Hide would help you make a delamination proof door.

  11. #11
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    I made the following cabinet on SMC tutorial using a coopered technique....it has been very stable

    http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...light=coopered
    "All great work starts with love .... then it is no longer work"

  12. #12
    Italian bending plywood would be my choice.

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