How can I cut this with tools at hand?

Brad_bb · July 21, 2010, 03:26:40 PM

I'd have found someone with a proper upright bandsaw. If you had to do it by hand, you could have kerf'd it with the chainsaw or circ saw, and chipped it out with an ax. then clean up with draw knife, or beltsander, or spoke shave, etc. This is the hard way to do it. Bandsaw much easier, faster, and cleaner. Beltsander still needed to clean off the saw marks after.

terrifictimbersllc · July 24, 2010, 11:43:43 AM

my choices, in order....
0. (necessary for all of these) Cut both faces with the profile, parallel on the wood-mizer if they're not already. Square to the other faces on the WM or table saw. Mark the accurate profile on each side of the piece. I would make a full size template with the exact profile from masonite or other thin material. use a home made compass with the exact radius to mark the arc if you have to. Using the template and a square, mark the profile on both sides of the beams.

1. take the marked beams to a friend with a 14" bandsaw with a sharp blade. Buy him a new blade if you have to. should be easy to cut the profile with a helper or alone if you go at it halfway from each end.

2. get yourself a bow saw and saw to the line by hand. Do it in front of a mirror you can see both sides.

3 .No one would do this except a jig building, or some other kind of inventive extreme person, or someone who wants to go into production with such pieces. If you want to do it on the WM safely, the piece has to be held firmly by a jig and also sawn against a stop. There is no such thing holding a timber completely by hand and sawing it on any power tool not to mention the WM. (well a major caveat, Sam Maloof was famous for freehanding profiles on the bandsaw. But that worked because he had an uncanny intuition to always be holding the work at an angle where it couldn't get away from him. I'll bet persons more familiar could correct me on the "always. If he freehanded on a WM I never heard about it. Also he always had the bandsaw table). One idea for the stop would be a panel maybe 2 x 3' maybe made from two such pieces of 3/4 plywood glued together, then mounted vertically on the bed and arranged with backing to be held firmly against the stops of the WM. This imitates the table of a bandsaw but of course on the WM such a table is vertical. The saw head will not be moving. Instead your piece will be mounted to a jig which will pivot at a point X inches from the blade, where X is the radius of your curve. Half of the profile is sawn at one time and the piece is remounted to saw the other half. During sawing the piece is forced flat against the above table. Note I didn't explain the "jig" because I don't have that part figured out. Other parts of the profile are sawn by some other method. The piece is still marked accurately first unless you have a lot of material to waste getting it figured out.

Jeff · July 24, 2010, 03:07:41 PM

Quote from: Jeff on July 09, 2010, 01:09:44 PM
The deed is done. I used the chainsaw. I have to clean it up a bit with the belt sander, but its good enough for its intended purpose.

I can't say what that is yet. ;D

HELLO! :D