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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posted 494 days ago
Very intresting!
Thanks for the post
Callum
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PurpLev
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posted 494 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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posted 494 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!
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Eric
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posted 494 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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posted 494 days ago
Nice work on the curve.
-- CJIII Future cabinetmaker
GaryK
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posted 494 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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posted 491 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.