When I was contemplating my curves and complaining about my coping saw, Marco suggested that I could easily make a curve by first making a series of cuts, and then cutting the waste away with a chisel.
I had learned that technique at Homestead Heritage (Waco, TX) but hadn’t yet had enough confidence to try it. It seemed too easy. But doing the curves for the supporting piece, I decided to give it a go. So here is the piece after I’ve made my cuts:
And here it is after my chiseling:
I pretty much just chiseled until the kerfs were barely noticeable any more, and then I took out my trusty spokeshave and smoothed it out. Outside of really needing to watch the grain flow, this was a pretty simple technique!
-- Eric at http://adventuresinwoodworking.com
7 comments so far
thetimberkid
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1520 posts in 190 days
posted 81 days ago
Very intresting!
Thanks for the post
Callum
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PurpLev
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353 posts in 135 days
posted 81 days ago
Thanx for the Post Eric, very interesting indeed!
which way did you chisel away the waste? standing up your chisel aligned with a kerf and down? or perpendicular to it? was it a long process? there seems to be quite a bit of kerfs to work on with a chisel and I was never aware of this technique before…curious.
got a picture of the finished planed curve?
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Betsy
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1785 posts in 383 days
posted 81 days ago
Eric that looks good, just some filing and away you go.
Did you scribe a line to get the curve? I see your pencil line but was curious if you used a marking knife to give you a knife wall to stop filing/sanding/scraping at.
You’ve almost got this project whipped!
-- Betsy - GO BUCKS!
Eric
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667 posts in 270 days
posted 81 days ago
PurpLev: Good question, I should have mentioned that! I started the chisel at one end of my pencil line, bevel down, and pointed the bevel at the bottom of the next kerf. Hit with mallet, move on. Sometimes I killed a couple kerfs with one blow. Had to be sure to go with the grain. At one point the grain pattern changed and I started burrowing into the piece. Whoops.
And no, it wasn’t really a long process at all. My ryoba made pretty quick work of the kerfs, and chiseling took no time at all, and was fun as well. I could have maybe gotten away with fewer kerfs, since I was going with the grain, but I didn’t mind it.
Pictures to follow!
Betsy: Hey, that’s a good idea. No, I did not scribe, just used a pencil line. Since the curve didn’t need to be very precise, I didn’t worry about an exact line. But hey, thanks for that little tip! I’m sure it’ll come in handy on a future project.
-- Eric at http://adventuresinwoodworking.com
Beginningwoodworker
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478 posts in 160 days
posted 81 days ago
Nice work on the curve.
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GaryK
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8489 posts in 475 days
posted 81 days ago
Fred Flintstone would be proud! :-)
That’s using the old noggin!
-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.
teenagewoodworker
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2034 posts in 255 days
posted 78 days ago
very cool technique! i have heard of making the little relief cuts mostly on the bandsaw but this is a very, very cool technique too! thanks for the post.