Popular Woodworking 2008-11 № 172, страница 30

Scrolls and Mouldings

I sawed out my parts from two walnut 3x 12s I'd been air drying for the last four years. Because this piece is assembled from thin stock, which sometimes exhibitsa tendency to bow and twist after it's cut from thicker stock. I cut everything heavy, then I gave each piece a preliminary straightening on my jointer before stickeringthe material in my shop for two weeks in order to stabilize the stresses in the material. I then gave each piece a final straightening on my jointer and planed it to the final thickness.

1 chose to begin by cutting out the plate rack's seven scrolls usinga 'A" band saw blade, though this blade required relief cuts in order to negotiate some of the lighter circles. I chose this blade because it is more stable on the long sweeping forms of the main scroll than an

Vtt" blade would be. In fact, by exerting slight lateral pressure on the work with my right hand (which forces the work against the side of the blade), it's possible to make those long cuts with little wandering of the blade in the cut. This combination of a stabilizing lateral pressure and relief cuts makes the 'A" blade a good compromise when cuuinga scroll like this, which features a mixture of tight and long curves.

This plate rack has more than 40 feet of moulded edges. Fortunately, most of those can be cut with a V32" Roman ogee router bit, which is a near-perfect match for the profile 011 the mouldingsapplied to the front edges of the ends, partitionsand shelves. The partition and shelf mouldingsare made from '/i" x 1 'A" stock profiled on both edges, while the bottom and end mouldings are made from V2" x ''A"

END PARTITION

(OUTSIDE) (INSIDE)

stock profiled 011 one edge only.

The two elements of the crown moulding were more difficult to fabricate. A shop equipped with a powerful router or a shaper m ight have cutters that could be used for these

Relief for a wide blade. The use

of a band saw blade requires a number of relief cuts so that the back edge of the blade can negotiate these tight circles.

Cleaning c urves. I used a block plane to clean up band saw marks on some of the long downhill curves, then cleaned up the tighter circles with rasps and sandpaper.

Kerf out the waste. I cleared most of the waste from the outer component of the crown moulding with repeated passes over the table saw. I left one 'A "-wide section intact to support the blank as I fed it over the blade for the other passes. I then carefully cut away this section with a final pass over the saw, keeping the stock pressed tightly against the fence for stability.

The planes for the attack. I used this selection of planes to fair the moulding. Notice the second plane from the right. This plane - sometimes called a full round - looks like a conventional round, but it isn't because it cuts a half circle, unlike traditional rounds that cut only '/6 of a circle. This was the most important plane in this group because it was the only one that could reach into the concave area of both components of the crown moulding.

54 ■ Popul ar Woodworking November 2008