On Aug 3, 2:00 pm, B A R R Y wrote:
On Thu, 02 Aug 2007 16:09:55 -0700, rich
wrote:



What is a good way to smooth these puppies, or similar projects, in
the future? I have the usual assortment of hand tools, but all seem
to work with flat/straight surfaces. What did people use before power
tools??? And making two pieces the same shape???

Spokeshaves, coping saws, scrapers, compass planes, scorps, rasps,
carving knives are examples of hand tools used to work curves.
Identical pieces were marked out from the same pattern, and measure
with guages, dividers, jigs, etc...

Many hand made antiques have parts that are FAR from identical, but
very close looking in actual installation. If you stacked some of
those parts, you'd be blown away how different some can be and still
look good. I've seen this when disassembling pieces for restoration.
The parts are often not interchangeable on hand made items.

Lots of antiques were in fact made in factories that had machines
capable of duplicating or following patterns.

Nowadays, I'd make a pattern, double-sided tape it to the stock, rough
it on the band saw. and finish with a pattern bit in a router. Final
prep would be with a card scraper or sanding sponges.

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**http://www.bburke.com/woodworking.html **
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Thanks for all the suggestions. It sounds like I'm doing it about
right, but a pattern and the router is one I didn't think of.

Rich.....