I guess my "thin" strips of wood aren't thin enough! I just ran out to
the shop and tried to bend a piece of oak that is about 1/4" thick. No go.

I ran it through the planer (stuck to a thicker piece with carpet tape)
and promptly "blew" it up on the second pass. Took another strip and
got myself a 1/16+" piece to play with.

I ran screws into a sacrificial assembly table top and played around
with the strip. Seems like that will work. I suppose I can adopt the
same method with the MDF template? Just run some screws in at strategic
locations and bend the wood around them and trace? Am I on the right track?

dave

Morris Dovey wrote:

Bay Area Dave wrote:

thanks! [thinking out loud]I wonder if Office Depot carries any
drafting supplies like the flexible strip you mentioned? (I'm about 5
blocks from OD) I remember using a French Curve in grammar school, but
of course it wasn't near the size that I'd need. I'll definitely take
your advice on making a template. I don't have a pattern maker's
rasp, so I'll look that up to see if I've got anything similar. I DO
have a Surform rasp which is about an inch and a half wide and maybe
(going by memory) about 10 inches long.

For something this long I take it that it wouldn't be a good idea to
use my new handy dandy OSS to smooth out such a gentle curve?


A thin strip of wood would work well. If you go the Office Depot route,
an inexpensive flexible ruler would probably work as well.

The spindle sander should make the job of smoothing the part easier.
Just remember to take your time (or you'll be re-making the part.) Plan
to do the final shaping by hand with a sanding block.

Woodcraft, Lee Valley, et al carry bendable curves that make this kind
of layout fairly easy. I have one but am usually more comfortable with
the wooden strip approach.