DIYbanter - View Single Post - Bending skirting board to fit a bay window.

Doug Miller

In article , lid wrote:
On Sat, 10 Apr 2010 16:57:44 +0100, the infamous "Stuart Pearson"
scrawled the following:

Hi All

Sorry to be asking for advice again, but I would rather ask a stupid
question than make a stupid mistake!

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.

Any Insights would be gratefully received, I am leaning to option one at the
moment.

There are polyester moulding boards available now which are very
flexible, Stuart. Since you'll be painting it, it should work
perfectly for you.

That's option four. Here's option five (which I did a few years ago in exactly
the same situation): bent laminations. You'll need to make a bending form, and
use several thin layers of a wood that bends easily -- I used 1/8" ash. It's
also imperative to use a glue that dries rigid. Titebond won't do (it creeps
under that kind of stress). You'll want a urea-formaldehyde glue. Glue, clamp,
wait for glue to cure, trim, install.