Tambour for Roll top desk

One option is to buy it. Here’s an example, look around and you will find many more.

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=4968&filter=tambour

-- I'm a lumberjock and I'm ok, I sleep all night and I work all day!

Another option is to forgo the canvas completely:

Tambour Router bit set

While not traditional, a darn nifty idea and huge time saver. Not sure where I saw this, probably that darn Norm Abram or one of the monthly wood mags. One of the November/December wood mags, now that I think of it.

-- Cranc

I spent a summer working for a fellow who specializes in tambours on a variety of pieces. He glued dark brown denim fabric cut on the bias to the backs of the slats. Seemed to work quite well. I can go into more detail if you want.

-- Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can walk.

Please Dave keep on going with all the detail you want. I’d like to know how the experts do it.

-- Jojo, shopless in Kyoto · http://twitter.com/kagushokunin

Years ago I rebuilt several roll top desks, and had to make new roll tops. I used canvas and it worked well. I’m not sure if the type matters too much, except it should be flexible and not too stiff. I used contact cement to glue the slats on the canvas.

That said, if I were going to do it now, I would get the router bits that interlock the slats. I believe that would hold up better long term and have a better look. Just my opinion.

Good luck, I’m anxious to hear how you chose and how it turns out.

-- Kent Shepherd * The goal is-----More Tools!

The fellow I worked for that summer did everything from some tiny little jewelry boxes up to desks nearly every piece had a tambour on it. Here’s a picture of one of the desks which he still makes.

Anyway, we were making piles and piles of tambour slats so everything was set up to streamline the process. The process for making the tambours was this:

Blanks were made up slightly longer than needed. They were thickness planed to the width of the slats. The grain was read to determine feed direction for the shaper and marked with chalk to indicate that. Both long edges were run through the shaper to create the top profile of the slats. Then those surfaces were sanded on a couple of hand-held type belt sanders. These sanders were mounted belt up on a bench and had different grit belts on them. Probably 120 and 220 but I don’t recall. they also had some custom platens made of wood under the belts so that you wouldn’t sand a flat on them. Maybe two or three passes per edge was all it took to sand them.

Then the pile of blanks were taken to the bandsaw and the slats sawn free along a fence. The slats went back to the shaper to repeat the process.

After the slats were cut, they were sorted out to make a nice grain pattern and to match colors. They were laid face down in a jig that clamped them at their edges as well as clamping them together. Longer ones had a caul in the middle to hold them down flat. Then the brown denim cloth (cut on the bias) was glued to the backs of the slats. We had a big rack in the finishing room where these clamping jigs would be stacked overnight for the glue to dry.

In the morning the tambours would be removed from the clamping jig and rolled up to make them flexible again. The ends were trimmed flush and square and to length. Then, if I remember correctly, he nipped a little off the backs of the slats with a dado set in the tablesaw (as opposed to using a router bit and router table) to make sure the thickness was consistent where the slats run in the grooves.

And that, as they say, is that.

Bruce had a lot of cool methods for improving efficiency in the shop. I think the most useful thing I learned from him that summer was to think through the process to make it efficient. Even if you are only building one of a thing, it still makes sense to think through the whole thing before you start.

-- Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can walk.

Thanks Dave that was very interesting an informative a well tuned production.

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon

Thank you Dave, that was very interesting.

It’s always good to compare your own methods and ideas with those of the pros.

Funny thing, when designing in SketchUp, one of my priorities is always trying to integrate the desired look with the ease of fabrication once in the shop. When you think things thoroughly at the design stage you discover that you can easily achieve the very same look in many different ways. And not all are as easy to make as the rest.

-- Jojo, shopless in Kyoto · http://twitter.com/kagushokunin