elegant curves in 8/4 stock for seating

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vlocci

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My wife has asked me to make an entry bench for our home that has these elegant curved recesses for sitting as shown in the attached picture.

I'm trying to figure an efficient way of doing this that will yield crisp lines where the downward "sitting" curve meets the horizontal bench.  I toyed with cutting these individually on the bandsaw prior to gluing up the entire width but fear the accuracy is just not there.

I'm trying to visualize a router template that would work (as I need to reproduce these 3-4 times) that would allow me to make many many passes and hand sand to finish but continue to struggle with a solution

Absent having these CNC routered, how would you do this?

I have a fairly well equipped shop, (sans CNC) .

Many thanks

Vin
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A template (or 2) on the sides.

Put the router on a pair of skis.
The skis will try to low pass filter the profile of the template line a jack plane does... Or a long wheel base makes a bumply road seem smoother than a skate board does.
So you may need the skis to be more like a single 1x2 with aholw in the middle.
 
Remove the bulk by routing facets at the various depths needed to approximate the curve. Finish by fashioning a cradle for your router to follow the swoop. Try something with extended guide rods that will suspend the router but still allow you to move on all axis. Your template / cradle should be on the outside of your workpiece. That or a scorp to remove left ove waste after kerfing or cutting facets.
 
Hi.
Last one of these I made we took the large section, cut it into 6 pieces marking all the adjacent pieces for reference. Make a pattern from say ply and then using a copy router bit with bearing route the pieces. You might need more than 6 if you only have a shallow router bit.
Join all pieces back together with dominoes and sand to finish.
Worked a treat.
It looks like your photo piece is made with sections of timber?
 
If you set your bandsaw up correctly and used the right blade I feel you could get decent repeatability. The cuts will not match perfectly but nothing in woodworking is really perfect. That's the difference between hand made and machine made. If you have some scrap give it a try small scale and see what happens. I feel if things are not perfect you will never be able to tell
 
1. I'd cut the form out on the band saw and leave a little extra, maybe 1/32" to 1/16".

2. I'd decide how many Dominos I wanted to use to join each one to its neighbor and place each domino precisely in each strip, preferably using a jig for the Domino placement for accuracy and repeatability. I'd use the flat bottom of the strip for all indexing.

3. I'd produce a master pattern that would allow you to clean up each strip with your router. The master pattern would also have Dominos glued into it so that it will register each strip accurately to the pattern. The router bit would be a pattern bit with the follower bearing on the bottom of the bit.

4. Place each band sawed/Domino'd strip on the master pattern, the Dominos will align each strip and the master pattern should allow for some very good part registration.

5. Glue, assemble and sand carefully because you want to retain the sharp/hard edge look. That's what gives this bench its great looks.

I would love to see some pictures of the finished product. What type of wood are you thinking about?

 
I'd use a V-chisel to define the transition and then work up to it with whatever tool you want (adze, gouge, router etc.) finishing with a scraper. That's how we make the sharp transitions on Windsor chairs etc.
 
Cheese said:
1. I'd cut the form out on the band saw and leave a little extra, maybe 1/32" to 1/16".

2. I'd decide how many Dominos I wanted to use to join each one to its neighbor and place each domino precisely in each strip, preferably using a jig for the Domino placement for accuracy and repeatability. I'd use the flat bottom of the strip for all indexing.

3. I'd produce a master pattern that would allow you to clean up each strip with your router. The master pattern would also have Dominos glued into it so that it will register each strip accurately to the pattern. The router bit would be a pattern bit with the follower bearing on the bottom of the bit.

4. Place each band sawed/Domino'd strip on the master pattern, the Dominos will align each strip and the master pattern should allow for some very good part registration.

5. Glue, assemble and sand carefully because you want to retain the sharp/hard edge look. That's what gives this bench its great looks.

I would love to see some pictures of the finished product. What type of wood are you thinking about?
Click to expand...

[member=44099]Cheese[/member] +1 - simple and achievable by mere mortals with Dominos.  [thumbs up]

RMW
 
All proposed pattern bit approaches involve cutting the board on strips. Something I would like to avoid doing on a piece like this. The bench calls for a solid or a book matched piece.
 
[member=44099]Cheese[/member]

That's a Henrybuilt piece. They have most certainly matured in their designs in the last few years.
http://henrybuilt.com/page/wave-bench

Id you click on their instagram link there is a photo of them sanding out the piece before finishing. It looks like you can see the passes from the router that go across the bench depth wise.
 
Gents,

You are incredible.  Yes this is a Henrybuilt piece that is my (wife's) inspiration.  We neither have the budget for their work, nor is that fun.  I'm just the guy that gets to build it, which is the enjoyment and the challenge.

The domino approach was very interesting and something I had not considered for this.  That said, going the router approach linked gives me the opportunity to make this out of a single piece which I feel would be a very handsome solution.  I'm going to put together a test rig this weekend and see how doable this is.

Many thanks for your help

Vin
 
rvieceli said:
That's a Henrybuilt piece. They have most certainly matured in their designs in the last few years.
http://henrybuilt.com/page/wave-bench
Click to expand...

Ron, I was unaware of who designed it or who owns the design/patent rights. I'm just blown away by how powerful and simple the design is, and the statement it makes. It's not for everyone and I get that, but It makes me want to put the Bultaco project off for another year along with the garage project and the bathroom project. Will this never end?
 
Agreed on how simple and elegant this design is.

I don't feel it is right to copy it outright, so I'll add my own take on it and use it as nothing more than a point of inspiration.  That said, getting the concave section correct is what I was struggling with.  Thanks to some good ideas here, I think I've got that sorted.

Vin
 
@viocci
Who's to say that by adding your own design elements and twists to the bench won't make the bench better? We'll never know until you make it happen.
The world has been littered with "perfect design" concepts & ideas only to have them bashed into the dustbin from hell because a better idea came along. That's how a society progresses...one step at a time.
 
Svar said:
All proposed pattern bit approaches involve cutting the board on strips. Something I would like to avoid doing on a piece like this. The bench calls for a solid or a book matched piece.
Click to expand...

At the traffic light I considered that if the arcs were on a template then they just go higher and the template does not need to be accurate for teh flats.
Just two arcs (or 3).
 
Lovely looking benches ...

I'd be tempted to experiment with a custom made routing setup (join the timber first).

I haven't thought too hard on the guide setup and I could just be a little crazy [smile]
 
That's a beautiful bench.  Will be a fun and rewarding project for you.  The desire to create similar curves was the main reason I added a CNC router to my shop.  The henrybuilt website mentions the importance of CNC use to their furniture building.  They're not cutting all those curves by hand.  Sanding, yes.  Cutting, no.

Fwiw- prior to the CNC I was using either the bandsaw or an angle grinder with mixed results for creating dished seats.  I never tried the router sled.  Will be interested to see what method you choose.  Good luck!
 
Holmz said:
Svar said:
All proposed pattern bit approaches involve cutting the board on strips. Something I would like to avoid doing on a piece like this. The bench calls for a solid or a book matched piece.
Click to expand...

At the traffic light I considered that if the arcs were on a template then they just go higher and the template does not need to be accurate for teh flats.
Just two arcs (or 3).
Click to expand...

Very good point. Another approach could be to register the strips in a jig, perhaps on a piece of plywood and use a large circle jig to cut the arcs. The key to the flats is to not touch them with the router,IMO. No pattern needed.
 
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