This Weekends Project

[Jamesc]

I've been posting/lurking here for quite a while and realised that I hadn't actually posted any of my woodworking projects. I think of myself more as a metal worker, but have strong family connections with woodwork.

Anyway here is my project. We are slowly redoing all the bodges from the previous owner in out house and converting the house to our own little Arts and Crafts heaven. This project is an arch into the kitchen. There is no room for a door so the arch is there to make it 'look' right.

Here is what I started with, less the wallpaper. Yo can just make out las years project of the arch to join the inner and outer halls. and on the right the edge of my Deco window.

All the projects in the house are in Oak (is there any other wood?). so this was no exception. To match the stairs I needed to make the framing 1" thick. This would be very weak and not able to hold the veneered ply in shape as I had done with the bigger arch. So I first made a former and laminated up three layers of ply to hold the arch in shape. Sorry no WIP photos yet as I got carried away with this bit.

Next to make each frame these are from 3 pieces of 1" x 5" mitered and gled together. The keen eyed will see that I have layed everything out on a full sized drawing. This is a great way of working especially if you have access to a plotter.

Once glued I used a simple tramel and router to cut to shape. Everything was held firm by screwing it to a base board.

Then it was a case of glue up one side and repeat.

To make sure everything stayed together I left the outer trimming until after the glue had set, using a temporary pivot point (batten)

I'll post some pictures of the ongoing progress (I've started fitting it in place) later.

James

 

[Jamesc]

Well, no comments either you don't like my work or are so dumbfounded you have nothing to say about it :?

Anyway work is progressing, I have carved out the old plaster, fitted and glued the arch in place and started the filling.

I just need to fit the to end pieces then I can stain and oil it.

Regards

James

 

[Geno]

Well I'll comment

Nice tidy job you're doing there!

Are you happy enough you'll be able to hide the join lines when its finished?

 

[Jamesc]

Hi Geno,

Thanks for the comments. The join lines should fade once I've played around with the stain. It's the technique I used on the bigger arch (just visible in the first picture) so hopefully it will work again.

If not I'm in trouble as my better half is obsessive about join lines.

James

 

[kasandrich]

Sorry James I did look at your post and I was impressed, but it was a WIP so I was waiting to see progress.

 

[wizer]

very ambitious and skilled work there. It looks like you've printed the full size drawing on a plotter? Very useful bit of kit. I wish I still had access to one.

Keep the updates coming.

 

[Offcut]

very nice work
Do you have any pictures of your former for the laminated curved oak?

Andy

 

[Jamesc]

Hi Andy,

Very timely question, I had just loaded the former in the car to dump it at it will be of no further use to me. I made the former from scraps of flooring grade chipboard. They were cut to shape using the same router and tramel. Also I found a good use for the heap of junk router bits that came with the router.

Here is the outside of the former, I made it slightly over half an arc to give me a little more room to play with and to give me some meat for the pivot point to attach to. It was built up in layers. Cut a layer, unscrew router, crew down another layer and pivot point, rout another layer. I could have used a bearing guide cutter after the first layer but as I was building in scrap there were a number of voids and dodgy bits that the bearing would have followed.

Here you can see how I built up the layers, I just screwed each layer together. Not pretty but it works.

After a quick sand I wrapped 3 layers of 3mm ply around the former. Initially dry to get the lengths rite, and then with plenty of assistance it was all glued together and held in place with a couple of webbing clamps.

One refinement was that I made the two backing plys thinner than the front so that it would fit neatly in a 3mm groove.

Tom, to answer your question, yes I did use a full sized plot. As you know I work from home, It's great to have and probably gets used as much for projects around the house as for earning a crust. Many is the time that we have had full sized plots of projects taped up around the house to see if we can 'live with them'.

Regards

James

 

[oddsocks]

James , to hide the glue line you could consider gluing on a length of veneer. I've done this on a number of projects recently. I use titebond adhesive on both the wood and veneer, let it dry for a couple of minutes then apply with a hot iron - it's stuck solid within two minutes.

I applied the same technique earlier this week in a freezing cold garage to stick veneer to the edge of some MDF. No need for clamps or patience!

Dave

 

[devonwoody]

You dont make your formers in oak then?

I think your post was missed because of excitement elsewhere. :wink:

 

[OPJ]

That's a fantastic piece of work. Really makes a huge difference where wallpaper would only otherwise start to peel off as it wears over time (well, that's the situation in the arch in to our living room... :?). :wink:

 

[Jamesc]

Hi thanks for all the comments and ideas. Not much to report at the moment. I didn't get to do much over the weekend due to work, work so to speak. Just a bit of poly filler.

Hopefully I'll get to finish off this weekend.

James