Replies

1. 
   RickL | Dec 20, 2004 01:26am | #1

   When you say tombstone I think of a simple radiused top door not the ones with a double curve or small straight areas before it rounds over. If it is the simple tombstone a curved plane can be made to work the area. If making one of the more complex arched panels it still takes a lot of paring with chisels and or carving tools depending on which style.

2. 
   JeffHeath | Dec 20, 2004 03:09am | #2

   Art

   Get your carving tools and chisels nice and sharp, cause it's gonna be a long night.

1. 
   artd | Dec 20, 2004 04:47am | #3

   1. Rick- I meant the ones with a shoulder(short straight) then a radius.

   2. JC- That was the only way I thought of. Was hoping that there might be another way using hand tools. Thanks all Art

1. 
   wrudiger | Dec 20, 2004 08:50am | #4

   Coping saw?

1. 
   artd | Dec 20, 2004 06:45pm | #5

   wrudiger-Coping saw is fine for the exterior shape, I was talking about the raised part of the panel in the arch. I can raise the straight edges with a rabbit plane, it's the arch I was woundering if there was another way without using chisels. I guess not. Thanks again all

3. 
   VomSorb | Dec 20, 2004 11:58pm | #6

   They have to be carved and worked with files and rasps.

4. 
   BillH1 | Dec 21, 2004 01:51am | #7

   Check out Lonnie Bird's book, Shaping Wood. He shows how he does it. Its a combination of using the shaper and using hand tools.

5. 
   RMillard | Dec 21, 2004 04:51am | #8

   Art,

   You can of course work the straight parts with a rabbet plane. The arch part can have the shoulder formed with a router fitted with a straight bit. I don't bother with any kind of a guide, and just route freehand, and clean it up with a chisel. The rest must be worked with chisels. It helps to have opposing skew chisels, but it can be done without them. This process is not the big deal it would seem, and it goes quite fast. The only thing that is a little fussy it to have the intersection of the bevels come to a nice straight line. I have attached a photo of a pair of night stands that are modeled to look like spice chests. The panels on these doors were done entirely by hand, other than using the router to rough out the arched shoulder. I'm too attached to my fingers to use a horizontal panel raiser in the shaper and even they leave you with some hand work
   Rob Millard

   
1. 
   artd | Dec 21, 2004 04:56pm | #9

   Rob

   Very nice work. Thanks all for your posts. Was almost hoping that there was a hand tool other than chisles, I am so slow with them. This project is still on the drawing board when it is done I'll try to post photos. This is a great forum thanks- Art 

1. 
   RMillard | Dec 21, 2004 06:14pm | #10

   Art,Try one first in a piece of scrap wood like pine or better yet poplar, you'll learn all there is to know in a short time. You wouldn't even have to do both sides. I don't have the opposing skew chisels, but I'd buy them if I had to make any more of these types of doors. I used a 1" chisel for most of the work and at the interior "miters" I used a 1/4" chisel, working parallel to the miter. This left a small area in the corner that I could not get to. For this I used a small Pheil double bevel skew chisel. These are great tools, but they aren't rigid enough, to hog out the bulk of the wood, at least not in the 8mm size I had. I used a plane blade as a chisel to score the interior miters . I lined it up between the inside and outside corners, and gave it a whack with a mallet, directing the most force to the outside. This is a stop cut, to prevent lifting the grain as you carve the adjacent bevel. You have to do this several times as you work your way down to the final surface, being careful to not go to deep. The key to rapid work, is to read the grain, and then use as large a tool as possible taking quick controlled cuts, to get the waste out of the way. Then you can use fine slicing cuts to refine the surface and work the miters. On the reproduction, I did not sand the surface of the hand carved areas, in order to preserve the faceted tool marks, but if you wouldn't want these you may want to make some shaped sanding blocks so that you don't loose the crisp lines where the miters intersect.
   Rob Millard

1. 
   joinerswork | Dec 23, 2004 06:54am | #11

   Hi Rob,

   I use a V chisel to hog out most of the waste in that inside corner.  Just set it in the corner of the field's fillet or step, and plough "downhill" to the edge.  I have a carver's skew that's about 7/8" along the edge, and use that to get into/out of the inside corner. Repeat as necessary. It's awkward however you do it, but as you say, not as dreadful as it seems beforehand.

   Regards,

   Ray