"Chap" wrote in message
...
I am making an outdoor garden bench. Originally I was going to use a
straight top rail for the back, and use separate mortises for the slats.
I have decided to curve the back top rail, as I think it will look
much better.

Does anyone have a suggestion as to how I could mortise the slots to
accept the slats for the curved sections? I thought of routing a dado
along the bottom and filling in the spaces with wood spacers between the
slats, but I don't know how that would work in the curves. Wouldn't I
need to take into account the curve angle for the spacers? I don't know
how to do this.

Can anyone help?

Thanks.

Chap

I had similar problem with the headboard of my mission style bed which had a
curved rail.
I cut a dado to the same width as the slats on the preformed curved rail
with a router and then prefitted the slats into the rail (no tenon) together
with spacers of fixed length. The spacers ( bits of slat material) were
then glued in position leaving them proud of the rail surface. Ensure that
the depth of the dado is less than the depth of the slats to ensure that
they stand proud. The slats were left unglued and removed once glue had gone
off. The rail could then be routed with a straight bearing bit to conform
with the curve of the top rail. Refit and glue the slats back into position.
Helps to number all the slats and put them back in the order they came out.
Came out perfect

Regards
Jamaro