Bent lams with tight diameters for cabinets
I want to build a modern style chest of drawers that have curved sides with different diameters such as 8″, 10″, and 12″ top to bottom. It would be 36″ wide, and look like nothing I ever build. I will most likely need a vacuum bag and lams to make all of these curves. I have plenty of thin stock that will serve as the sides. The species does not matter for my first attempt, I have time to get it right for my first official one in walnut. It could even be thin ply for v1.
The attached picture is my reference, but I will make mine taller and have a “traditional” base with stubby legs in a standard apron.
Would you use a vacuum bag? Glue up one half then the other half on that half to make each “tube” or drawer? Is there any other way to do this, or is vacuum the only path? Fine if so, I need to get good at vacuum work.
Replies
A vac bag is not the answer for deep interior curves. To build this in plies you'll need inside/outside forms and a method to combine end assemblies into your tube/boxes. A combo of solid wood and plywood covered with veneer might be a less frustrating build.
Thanks. My experience with curves is flexible back braces and rocking chair rockers - all done with a form, backer, and lots of clamps. My back braces are only 1 3/8" wide, so I would have to string together 12 of these in a row to get to 24" - assuming I would make the new form 2" wide. That is not hard for me, just tedious work to line up 12 2" strips that are only 8" diameter for the smallest.
I will pass on the vacuum bag, thank you. Good call.
Research making coaming or the masic for wood kayak. This is basically a giant version of that. You will need a full inside form and a clamping method to hold each layer tight. No vacuum bags needed but you will need every clamp you can find. You basically scarf each end of each laminate and build up one layer at a time. The steaming box you build will be interesting as well. Or you can laminate only the curves (like building the masic) and not worry with scarfing. You will likely still need the steambox though.
https://capefalconkayak.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/CFK_WG2_Plans_SAMPLE-2023-01a.pdf
An alternative is to cut the curves from wide stock or plywood and join them to the flat areas so you aren't bending anything. That will create a lot of waste though.
Yes, I think I will go the staves route to make 24" deep staves then cut them in half lengthwise for my 2 sides per shelf. Thank you.
Would building the curves from staves work. The semicircles would be easy to build and could easily tie into the case sides.
Great call! This is exactly 10000& better than my idea of doing it 90 degrees the other way - instead of 12 2" curves glued together, somehow, I love this idea of 24" long staves ripped in half for the 2 sides per cabinet. Thank you.
That could work. I have made full and half cylinders using a birdsmouth joint. It is a method boatbuilders use to make hollow spars. To make a half cylinder you just don't apply glue to 2 opposing joints.
You can also make two opposing staves wider so your cylinder becomes a racetrack oval, giving you a flat to work from when you split it.
Nice work, Cap'n!
How did you sand the vertical stave so perfectly? This is what I want to do for the 24" deep staves for each of the sides of the drawers.
The outside of that was shaped with a block plane. That was a proof of concept for a larger project. The larger one (the ring is an offcut) was smoothed with a router mounted on a traveller and the column mounted on a spindle. Quite a mess, but at 5' long it was more than I cared to plane and shave.
That was quite a while ago, today I'm sure you'll find all the youtube you need to get this done.
Thanks. I just spent 10 seconds and found this router jig on a traveller - https://www.youtube.com/shorts/lr4Udrl88go - so I am going to do the staves coopered up then figure out some jig to make each curvy side smooth
Search "birds mouth hollow spar" for the rest of it. The effort of cutting the bidrmouth joinery is more than offset by the simplicity of the glue up.
One more thought... If you are building the casework in solid wood the staved curves will behave like breadboard ends, with grain & movement perpendicular to the long panels of the case. If you are planning plywood & veneer all is well.
Intriguing problem. You can get the outer form for the circle by finding a length of large diameter pipe from the junk yard and cutting or having it cut in two. There is probably some welding involved to give you a flat surface for a press and for control. That's your outside diameter. Maybe there is another size smaller that works for the inside that gives you an acceptable thickness for your sides or you could turn that with a lathe. How you get full width veneers to accomplish this ..well good luck with that! Having really big resaw capacity would be really helpful if you were to end up making this a thing. You'll need an extra wide steam box and a fair amount of trial and error experiments getting your technique down. Will be different for each type of wood that you intend to use as well!
The drawers are most likely rectangular with curved fronts. You can build the thing like a bombe and the ends( sides) can essentially be solid blocks( lathed) then veneered over or possibly not even. No matter how you do this there has to be at least one joint somewhere and I'm thinking 4. While writing this I'm thinking that if I was making something like the example that you gave I would turn the ends and fit the top and bottom and make the whole thing out of solid wood. Possibly with a book matched block glued to some kind of good carcass wood like poplar to save material and would be invisible from the outside. That adds up to six joints but done properly the end curve joints could be nearly impossible to see.
That cabinet that you gave as an example is factory made in a world of lasers and microwaves and don't try this at home chemistry with big million dollar machines.
Thank you. I think this will work in two complicated steps
1. make staves like a wine barrel
2. build some sort of router traveller jig to make the staves curvy
I've made oval laminations with this technique: A pair of "J" shaped laminations are glued up with the center joint dry.
After some cutting and trimming, the laminations are split in two at the dry joints.
Each inner lamination is flipped and glued back to the outer lamination just at the curved ends.
Now the two "U" shaped laminations have the flat faces of the inner lamination glued to the flat faces of the outer lamination to form a full oval.
This oval has 6" diameter ends. The lamination is about 3/8" thick, 16 plies of white oak backer grade veneer glued with plastic resin glue for the initial lamination and yellow glue for the 2 assembly steps.
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Bending grade plywood I have edit this post to 1/8" product.
https://totalwoodstore.com/1-8-bending-grade-plywood-full-sheets-48x96-4-x-8/
How about turning 24 inches long cylinders from laminated solid wood, slicing them in half and having a plywood top and bottom ?
You could cold mold veneer around a solid plug and vacuum press it all in one piece. Vacuum press has a step learning curve and not cheep to get started in.
https://www.joewoodworker.com/veneering/visitorspress.htm
https://www.veneersupplies.com/docs/instructions-ProjectEVS.pdf
Solid wood construction:
Dale Zimmerman of Franklin International, maker of Titebond woodworking glues, recommends 100 to 150 pounds per square inch (psi) for clamping softwoods and 175–250 psi for hardwoods.
I cannot reply to the latest comments, so I can reply to all here: I do not want to use a vacuum press; I do want to make the jig like johngi, but make it deeper instead of 4" deep it needs to be 24"; yes I could glue them all but I would prefer to have one continuous side.
s1ngemalt,
I hope you didn't thing I was trying to dictation your modus of hoperandi.
Since this is a public forum, basic discussion can be beneficial to others.
Bending Grade Plywood would be an option for your project. There other options on the web-sites for thickness and finish layers of hard wood also.
I think johngi methodology works well with the Bending Grade Plywood also.
Cold molding doesn't have to be vacuum press.
There is another cold mold veneer method that is to glue veneer over tight seamed carvel planking that is fastened to a set of ribs as well as other ways to cold mold veneering.
I sister the planking and didn't veneer anything over the tight seamed carvel planking below. You could check out WoodenBoat forum for other suggestions. Bending wood into curves is kind of one of their thing.
Cheers
I woke last night and realized how rude my last post was. My sincere apologies to all here at Fine Woodworking. There are good people here that could explain this process as well.
If I might suggest a bending grade plywood around a veneer oval frame of the same material using johngi process.
I like gulfstar’s method for solid wood construction also.
Thanlks to the many people here who share their knowledge freely over the years and good on them.
I only take one foot out of my mouth at a time.