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dpb dpb is offline
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Default Best way to construct a curved piece for strength

Vic Baron wrote:
Planning a quilt rack. Current favorite design is a pair simple inverted
U's with cross bars between them. Material will be either 4/4 mahogany
or Red Oak.

My problem is in considering grain direction for good looks and
strength. One way would be two straight legs with a small inverted U on
top. Another would be for each leg to have half of the full arch on top
and be joined at the top. My concern is the cross grain in the arch.
Wouldn't this be very weak or would it be ok in this application?



W/ no more load than I would expect there to be, I don't think it would
structurally be a problem unless the pieces were exceptionally narrow.

But, an alternative would be to join the arch piece at the top of the
upright at (say) 45-degrees and the middle so could lay out the arch
portion roughly along grain. Many variations of the same theme are, of
course, possible.

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