Some book once told me that to bend or round a moulding, i.e. something non-structural, you can cut slots about 2/3 of the way through the material from the back, in parallel with the direction in which you want to bend the wood. The material will then act as if it were only 1/3 as thick as the original, making it that much more flexible. The more slots you cut, the more even your bend will be.
I made 7 cuts along the back of the boards on my tablesaw. At that point I could bent the boards straight, but they wanted to bend into a "W", so I think for future reference there will be more closely spaced cuts nearer the edges. I am sure there would be a way to calculate the ideal spacing, but I won't even go there.
1 comment:
Very nice. I don't kow if you know but cutting slots for the purpose of bending is also called kerfing.
p.s. Nice use of pictures as well ;P
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