On 4/10/2010 10:57 AM, Stuart Pearson wrote:

I have a bay which has been plastered to a smooth curve, which I need to
bend skirting board to fit. The bay is about 8' across and 3' deep,
either side finishes nearly 90 to the back. In the rest of the property
I have used MDF for the skirting but I can get the same profile in pine,
the finish will be painted. The skirting is 3/8'' by 4 1/2'', I have
thought of a few options outlined below but I am not really keen on any
of them.

Option one, kerfing the back and or front.
Option two, building the molding up in situ (not sure this would be
practical though.
Option three steaming a length to shape, I have only ever helped a
friend repair boats with this technique and seem to recall it does not
work so well with pine.

Obviously off-the-shelf molding?

If so, I would sacrifice a few pieces to option one. One trick, if the
kerfs will be visible from the top, is to set your kerfing saw to 45
degrees so that your bending kerfs will have a "v" shape.

I would want the wooden molding to be rather thin and flexible to start
with, so if it is the usual 3/4" thick molding, you may want to do a
combination of resawing/planing/jointing the actual trim to a thinner
thickness before kerfing, then using a more flexible piece (layers of
1/8" to 1/4" material; mdf, plywood, etc) beneath it to make up the
thickness.

I've bent plywood into some pretty tight curves with kerfing, but unless
the wood trim very flexible to start with, the thinner the better, IME.

Steam bending is best with green wood, cut specifically with long grain
in mind.

Then, there are plenty of architectural flexible moldings available from
many different sources. DAGS ... Here's a starter:

http://www.flexiblemoulding.com/products.html

In any event, interesting project, so let us know how it works out.

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www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 10/22/08
KarlC@ (the obvious)