Replies

1. 
   ring | Dec 28, 2006 08:10pm | #1

   Jim,

   There's certainly more than one way to skin this cat. But here's one route:

   After you've glued the laminate to its substrate, you'll trim the round center of the table to its exact size using a router, straight bit and some kind of compass jig.

   Prepare 8 sections of 3/4" thick oak that will make the edging. Check me on this, but my gut tells me they each need to be about 3" wide. Leave them several inches longer than actually needed.

   Make a jig to hold each segment firmly while you run the router, on a compass beam, to cut the inner arc only.

   In the meantime, the outer edges stay straight, and you need them that way to reference the 22.5° crosscuts to make the 8 segments fit together. Cut the 8 parts to size, and join them to the main circle. (Biscuits? Let's not start that again...) Leaving the outside edges straight are also a help in clamping up.

   Finally, set up the router once more on a compass beam to now cut off the outside of the whole thing in one pass. You can jigsaw it first to just over the dimension so as to ease the routing.

   David Ring

   http://www.touchwood.co.il/?id=1&lang=e

1. 
   jimscustomwoodworks | Dec 28, 2006 10:19pm | #4

   david, thanks for your input,  i intended to run the edgegrain 3/4" thick on the horizontal & face grain vertical because i am matching (& making some ) some existing square tables & that is how they are designed. i am concerned about routing 1 1/8" facegrain, what do you think?

1. 
   ring | Dec 29, 2006 12:18am | #5

   Should not be a problem. Pick your direction (of routing) carefully and take it in small bites.David Ring

   http://www.touchwood.co.il/?id=1&lang=e

2. 
   JohnWW | Dec 28, 2006 08:39pm | #2

   Band sawing, even with a jig, will not create an accurate enough curved edge to get a good fit against the laminated panel.

   The best approach would be to glue up the segments into a complete ring and then, using a router and a compass jig, create the inside and outside curves.  The more segments in the ring the better, in terms of appearance and to avoid getting too far into routing across the grain.

   I would cut the inside panel after making up the edging ring, cutting test panels out of MDF to get the exact diameter before cutting the laminate panel.

   If you haven't done circular work before, be careful on bidding, once you get away from rectangular construction, time invested, and material wasted, goes up very rapidly.

   John White, Shop Manager, Fine Woodworking Magazine

1. 
   jimscustomwoodworks | Dec 28, 2006 09:04pm | #3

   John, thanks again for your input, you have helped me over the years with other projects too. i intended to run the edgegrain 3/4" thick on the horizontal & face grain vertical because i am matching (& making some ) some existing square tables & that is how they are designed. i am concerned about routing 1 1/8" facegrain, what do you think?

3. 
   pins | Dec 29, 2006 03:24am | #6

   I have made several laminated counter tops with oak trim and rounded corners and I cut the corners from one piece of oak and then routed the outside radius to fit.

   But the problem with this technique is that you wind up with a lot of end grain and the finish will telegraph this.

   I think the better option is, as suggested, to rout the table top to round and then saw some thin pieces of edge banding and then glue them to the edge of the top, matching the ends of each layer.

   The best way to rout the table to round is to do it from the underside, drill a shallow 1/4" hole in the bottom center to accept a 1/4" dowel on the end of your jig and the advice given to use a jig saw to rough-out the perimeter will serve you well.

   You will have no end grain to deal with and finished product will look fine.

   pins

   BTW: The edge banding does not have to be 3/4" thick to have the effect you want unless, of course, your client spec 3/4"

   
   

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   Edited 12/28/2006 7:28 pm ET by pins