I've started on a stereo cabinet in a southwestern style with rope carved sections on each of the four legs, about 12-13 inches worth. Can anyone offer some advice or sources of information? I've googled and checked my personal and local libraries, but there's not a lot available. I've done a little carving and have about 5 chisels, but this will need to look well finished, closer to machine-turned than hand carved. Thanks in advance, Bob
Guy that I know that does rope carving does it by using a jig mounted to the lath. The jig holds a router and he turns the lathe slowly while moving the router down the length of the piece
check out legacywoodworking.com
I got their DVD demo while at the WW show in CA 2 weeks ago. Awesome. It will do roping and lots of other cool stuff, if your wallet can handle the price of admission. There are about 5 models. From almost affordable to about $5k IIRC.
dave
Bob Schmall wrote:
On Sat, 15 Nov 2003 23:13:47 GMT, "Bobby Schmally" brought forth from the murky depths:
Get thee to a Leebrary and find Mike Burton's "Architectural Carving: Techniques for Power & Hand Tools" and/or anything by Onians or Pye. You need to double grind your chisel or use an incannel for rope. Sanding will help it achieve(?) that lovely "canned" look.
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I ordered that CD online. It is truly impressive what can be done with that system. After getting over a little sticker shock at the price of the unit I really liked (Porsches and Corvettes give me sticker shock as well...), I had a minor sticker shock relapse when I realized the cost of all the router bits which would be required to fully support the machine's capabilities.
Now it is time for some hard choices...do I get a new upscale wood lathe , or one of those Legacywoodworking machines....so many toys...so little time!
Tim
I have put a sketch on ABPW showing how I would do it . It can be done using a saw and rasps if necessary ,carving tools would be preferred but certainly not necessary...mjh
-- mike hide
-- mike hide
Let's see.... Hmmm, that works out to at least $1,250 per leg. It's real nice wood, but...
Bob
Thanks, Larry. I found
Bob
Thanks, Mike. I printed it out. Actually I was fooling around last night after posting the message and tried something like what you suggest. My neandersawing technique needs work, but carving the half rounds produced something almost decent.
Bob
Mike dunbar's book woodturnig for cabinetmakers has a good bit on this. It seemed like a challenge so I gave it a try just for kicks. It turned out to be much easier than it looked. You would be surprised how uniform hand work of this kind can look. Give it a try on some scrap before you go investing a ton of money on something you might not really need.
But, Bob, after the next project, the amortized cost per leg will be a mere $625! two projects after that; a paltry $312.50/leg. And think how much fun it will be to have one of those bad boys in your shop. You most likely will be the first on your block to own one! sigh...if only I were made of money...
dave
Bob Schmall wrote:
I did some rope carving for a SW hall table, and the source I found invaluable is the book _Spanish Colonial Furniture_ by A.D. Williams. He gives an illustrated description of layout and cutting by hand.
I haven't looked at Mike's site yet, but Williams' technique involves dividing the legs into equal sections, laying out diagonals, connecting those diagonals so they "candycane" up the leg, sawing to depth at the diagonals, and then using chisels, rasps and whatever you have on hand to smooth out and soften the curves.
It is very time/labor-intensive, but was quite a bit of fun.
You can see pics on my website:
David, I AM made of money, but it's all pennies.
Bob
hey... don't knock it... I'd be worth $65,317.30. ;)
I'll bring the penny wrappers; I'll help you haul it to the bank...for a percentage, of course.
dave
Bob Schmall wrote:
snip
Whoa! You been peekin' at my plans, Vance? The base of the stereo cabinet will have legs very similar to those. Thanks for the input. Now all I need to decide is whether to use a half-round or just a standard curved chisel.
Bob
I would suggest a curved one instead of the half round . If you use a half round remember one part of the cut will be with the grain the other against it .However sharp the gouge there will inevitably be some tearout.
Using the curved gouge you can alternate the cutting direction so you always cut with the grain . Sometimes for final accurate cleanup I make a scraper out of scrap metal . I this case I would a scraper with the shape of the intersection of two half rounds [like a vee but with curved sides if you get my drift ] with this type of scraper you can do both sides of the rope carving and manipulate it so you are always scraping with the grain ....just a thought.
-- mike hide
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