Thread: need to bend some timber

do you have a sketch?
if the table is to have a curved edge, it may not be necessary for he apron to also curve

thanks Ian .. but I have a finicky wife who has seen one done this way and wants to know why I can't do it

My guess would be to build it up out o f thin ply and then veneer it on the final piece or buy all ready veneered ply ... would this work didn't mention it has to have 2 drawers right in the front as well.. gee these women make irtt fun don't they.. didn't want anything special when it was for my big (3metre) bookcase

hi gramac

stay away from ply except to make formers for laminating the front

how you do it will depend on what the table is to look like.
cutting from solid is an option if the curve is not too great
lamination might be the best option -- but do you want the drawers to be traditional or to have applied fronts? do you want the front to look as though it is cut from a single board?

Ian .. thanks again .I think it will need to be as a single board with the drawer fronts cut out of it.. as you say ply is not the answer so how thin would the timber have to be to laminate do you think.. the bend or hump or whatever would not be that great probably 75 to 100 m off straight

Have a look here https://www.woodworkforums.com/f187/h...le-wip-144070/ at my current WIP where I am doing some curved work, might give you an idea


Pete

Originally Posted by gramac

Ian .. thanks again .I think it will need to be as a single board with the drawer fronts cut out of it.. as you say ply is not the answer so how thin would the timber have to be to laminate do you think.. the bend or hump or whatever would not be that great probably 75 to 100 m off straight

the key to how to construct the front, is how you intend to build the drawers.
if you use applied fronts, you could get away with a single 6mm thick veneer
if you want a curved front on the inside of the drawers, then you will need to laminate the drawer fronts --use an odd number of laminates, say 5 or 7, with the last one covering the entire front apron.

I'm assuming you know how to construct a drawer frame using top and bottom rails

I would just bandsaw it from a single piece. If the curve is a bit greater than than the blank can sustain, you can cut a shallower curve on the front, take the waste piece from the front and glue it too the back and then recut the actual curve in the front. You would be able to cut drawer fronts from it then and whether you go on to finish this timber as the show surface or veneer it is up to you.

Cheers
Michael

Originally Posted by mic-d

I would just bandsaw it from a single piece. If the curve is a bit greater than than the blank can sustain, you can cut a shallower curve on the front, take the waste piece from the front and glue it too the back and then recut the actual curve in the front. You would be able to cut drawer fronts from it then and whether you go on to finish this timber as the show surface or veneer it is up to you.

Cheers
Michael

the problem I see with this approach is assembling the front apron.
If you want to dovetail the top rail into the legs -- which is the traditional construction -- the dovetail needs to be about 2/3rds the depth of the rail
which is a lot of material to remove from the legs

traditional construction, would use a top and bottom rail, each about 19mm thick, and about 50-80mm wider than the depth of the curve. These rails would be docked over length and then shaped into the desired curve as a pair.
the top rail would get a single dovetail each end to go into a matching socket in the front legs.
the bottom rail would get twin tenons, to go into matching mortices in the legs.
when shaping the rail, an allowance would be made for the (say 5mm thick) face veneer which would be attached after the rails were glued to the legs.
a vertical blade would be installed in the middle to separate the two drawers.

depending on whether the drawers occupy the full width of the front, or only part of the width, and whether the drawers are rectangular boxes with applied fronts, or have curved fronts, will decide how complex attaching the show wood strip will be.

I've seen tables like the one described, where the drawer box is square, and the front is the full height of the table apron -- the rails being checked to accommodate the drawer front
these tables only require that the drawer front be curved and the curve can be built up with off cuts and cut out with a bandsaw and shaped with a disk sander.
Because only the face-side and top of the drawer front is visible, it is only those faces that need to be "good" wood

Originally Posted by ian

the problem I see with this approach is assembling the front apron.
If you want to dovetail the top rail into the legs -- which is the traditional construction -- the dovetail needs to be about 2/3rds the depth of the rail
which is a lot of material to remove from the legs

I don't see the problem. 2/3rds the depth, which is what exactly?
The superiority of my method is that it expands the project into the universe of unexpected problem solving

Cheers
Michael

Originally Posted by mic-d

I don't see the problem. 2/3rds the depth, which is what exactly?

typically 100 to 120mm, for a 150 to 200 mm deep drawer front, creating a truly great problem to solve when it comes to attaching the side aprons

I really don't see the problem. I just offered a simple method to curve the apron using a bandsaw and solid timber. It doesn't matter if you shape it this way or by laminations or any other method, you still end up the the same shape apron which would then be installed between the two curved rails and carry on the construction as you've outlined if that's how you want to do it, or you could just M&T the aprons and legs Shaker style. If the curve was extreme, you would build up the apron by brick block which will be stronger and then shape it on the bandsaw.

Also bear in mind that a bandsawn front will have a sort of bullseye grain effect. You never see that in antique furniture. Anything with a serpentine, bow front or demi-lune form will be veneered giving the impression of bent wood.

If you want to bend instead, options are steam bending, kerf bending or laminating strips on a form. All of these will get you there.

I have used plywood as a veneer substrate without problems. I did carefully choose the panels I used as a substrate though.

mic-d's suggestion of a brick laid solid wood substrate is also a traditional method. Steve Latta wrote a good article for Fine Woodworking (issue number 180) that used this technique.

Originally Posted by markharrison

Also bear in mind that a bandsawn front will have a sort of bullseye grain effect. You never see that in antique furniture.

Never? Really?

If you cover it with veneer it won't, if you leave it solid wood, as were numerous antique bombe and serpentine chests it will. There's nothing urgh "unnatural" about it.

Cheers
Michael