Thread: Cutting curves in harwood

Pendeli

Normally an outdoor table, such as a BBQ table, has gaps to allow for the extremes of weather and movement.

As far as cutting a circle is concerned the easiest way is to use a length of suitable steel rod into the base of your router for say a circular table. Much easier than a jigsaw.

Regards
Paul

You don't say whether the table is round or rectangular, for round a trammel as suggested by Bushmiller is the way to go, provided that you can access a router. For radiused ends on a rectangular table, mark out the shape on a piece of MDF or masonite to make a template, cut outside the line (in the waste) leaving about 1mm oversize, then sand or file to the line to get a supersmooth curve.
Place the template on the stock to be shaped and mark a line on the stock, cut that piece with the jigsaw, leaving 1.5-2mm excess.
Fix the template to the peice so it is on the line using double sided carpet tape, and fit either a template bit (bearing on top) or a flush trim bit (bearing on bottom) to the router, and set the cutter depth so the bearing rides against the template, fire up the router and follow around the template trimming the job to match the template. Repeat for the other end.
If you have cranky grain, you would be better to ensure that you are routing down grain at all times. To do this follow the template from the mid point to one end, then swap the template to the other side of the piece, flip it over and repeat the first cut (relative to the template) to cut the second half.
If you are really tool limited and cannot access a router, cut oversize and trim to the line with a plane or power sander. If planing, work from the midpoint to one end then flip the piece and repeat for the other side to ensure that you are always planing down grain.