I want to apply a 3/8″ edge to a Maple door with a dark wood. The challenge is that the door is in the shape of a sine curve. I’m wondering what the best way to make this bend would be so I will get a good edge to edge match.
I read Craig Thibodeau’s excellent article in the Sep/Oct journal but he is applying a wide edge that can be edge glued to allow for a band sawn curve. I don’t see how that would work here.
The edging would presumably need to be bent first. I was thinking of doing this as a laminate on a bending template. Ideally I’d use Wenge but I’ve never tried a laminate bending with that. It’s not usually a fun wood to work with. I could ebonize another wood but sanding after it’s glued would be a problem. Waiting to ebonize once it’s attached is a problem with bleeding into the Maple. Or not if protected somehow?
Any thoughts or suggestions?
Thanks
Replies
I have never done anything like this but enjoy the challenge of working out how to build things. Please take this as an engineering solution rather than being from experience.
The obvious solution is to cut the edge from solid wood.
Expensive, but this is clearly a high-end piece.
If the curve is particularly deep, you could make a brick-block lamination of smaller pieces of timber then cut the edging out of that, which would save a lot of wood.
Once fixed to the edge of the door, sand to shape (I would not like to rout Wenge given the risk of splintering)
You could always try to steam bend the wood, which will give a nice grain pattern but of course will probably use more wood than the solid option by the time you have allowed for errors and experimentation. I had a look for projects on the net for steam bending Wenge - not much out there, so it is probably not an easy option.
Bent lamination of course uses very little wood but requires exponentially more work to achieve the same result as cutting from a solid piece.
Wenge is pricey but not unaffordable. I recently bought a 5" x 2" x 6' stick of nice Wenge for about USD 130. How big is your door? Even a sine wave with a massive 2" amplitude would fit on that - you'd be able to get at least 9 edges out of each door width worth. Three per layer, three layers if you resaw really carefully. See the FWW Adirondack chair which creates chunky sine-shaped pieces for the back splats.
What is the scale you are working with? Are we talking about the front door of a house or a tiny door on a jewelry box? Slab door? Raised panel? Photos would help us help you.
Rob_SS Thanks for your comments
_MJ_ Good question. Should have included that. It's a 36" x 22" cabinet door. The curve moves just about 6" in one direction over the course of 21" of the door. I've attached a rough drawing.
I might be missing something about your doors. are they supposed to look something like in my screen shot? Or is it a rectangular door with curved line running down it?
I would use the door as your template for a bent lamination. Make the plies thin and use a glue that won't creep, like Unibond urea-formaldehyde.
Three choices: 1: Bendlam directly to the door. 2: mask the door to use it as a bending form and glue it up later. 3: use the door with a flush trim bit to make a thicker bending form (like 2 layers of MDF).
#1 is the Hero move, #3 is the safest.
Dave - your screen shot is correct. What software did you use to produce that?
MJ - I like your choice #3. Seems obvious now that you said it. Thanks!
I used SketchUp for that.
I agree that thin plies laminated up make the most sense for this. If there's concerne about bending wenge, you might consider some other wood that you could dye. Maybe even maple with a very dark black dye would suit.
Do not use the door as a "template". The final result will not fit the door. Think about it.... an easy example to imagine..... Bend a number of layers around a circular template to form an arc. That final arc will not lay over top of the circle template because the radii are different.
Make a template from the door and then use that template as a form for your laminations.
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