"Morris Dovey" wrote in message
...

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.

--
Morris Dovey
West Des Moines, Iowa USA
C links at http://www.iedu.com/c
Read my lips: The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

I used this approach to apply a curve to some table base aprons. I bent a
thin (1/8") strip of wood and clamped the ends. I cut it out with a jigsaw
and used the first piece as a pattern for the second. I'm guessing that
doing it the way I did, I ended up with a parabolic curve.

todd