Cutting curves:

Hello all.

I have an project that requires me to cut slight curves on pieces of wood about 10" Lx 3/4"Wx 1"D this seems very dangerous to do with jig or band saws. I was thinking of buying an Disc sander with the large vertical oriented disc and the table rest. This would allow me to grind off excess material and I might have more control. What do you guys think about said plan?

Sal

Reply to
sal
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I think a better idea is to cut the slight curve on a piece that's, say, six inches wide by the required thickness and length -- then use a table saw to remove the required narrow piece.

Reply to
Doug Miller

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Yep, and if there are multiple pieces needed, you can simply repeat the process and have near matching grain w/ well-selected piece to start with. Also, for a short piece that is shorter than the table saw fence you can save switching between operations for a slight efficiency improvement by making the cut on both edges, then slice two off, repeat...

Reply to
dpb

Number one rule of woodworking: NEVER pass up the excuse to get a new tool.

That said, this should not be an unsafe cut on a bandsaw if you give it some thought. A jig to hold the piece further away from your guiding/pushing hands ... or cut the curve first in bigger stock, then trim your stock to final width, etc.

Also, you might want to consider using a router template with a router and pattern bit on a router table. A simple jig can be made in a few minutes to hold the part securely/safely.

(Ignore the crap sitting on top of the one in the 3rd Spice Rack topic picture down, for one idea of a method I use quite frequently to accurately reproduce curves in small parts using just an mdf plank:

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Reply to
Swingman

Sounds good to me. A scrollsaw would also work.

Reply to
lwasserm

Sal -- especially if some of the pieces are the same shape, suggest you cut a slightly oversize shape on 1/4" - 1/2" plywood, using a band saw or jig saw. Sand or file the pllywood form until it's the exact shape you want. Then fasten the form to a block of wood of the right thickness and use a straight bit with a ballbearing guide riding on the form to cut the shape very accurately. The method you presented below is very difficult to complete without leaving flat spots or irregular curves on the work. -- Regards

Reply to
JimR

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