I have tried cutting curved back rails with my band saw. I can get the
curve about right, but there are a lot of marks in it that need to be sanded
out, and I can't maintain the curve when I sand the marks out. Are there
any tricks here? (I mean other than sawing more smoothly so there is
nothing to sand out...) I suppose the outside is easy enough with a ROS,
but the inside needs a drum and that is rather more difficult.

I also tried laminating by clamping to an existing chair rail. It is a bit
of work, but comes out nicely. The chair rail I used was a bit too shallow,
so I took a large block of wood and cut the curve I want into it. At this
point I have two choices. Clamp the laminations to the female form with
clamps, or clamp the laminations between the male and female forms. I
suppose a third option would be to make the male and female forms a half
inch thick, and then put the laminations between them. That might combine
the best of 1 & 2. Whatcha think?

On Oct 12, 12:12 pm, "Toller" wrote:
I have tried cutting curved back rails with my band saw. I can get the
curve about right, but there are a lot of marks in it that need to be sanded
out, and I can't maintain the curve when I sand the marks out. Are there
any tricks here? (I mean other than sawing more smoothly so there is
nothing to sand out...) I suppose the outside is easy enough with a ROS,
but the inside needs a drum and that is rather more difficult.

I used a stationary belt sander to smooth out my bandsawn chair back
rails. I think I used about a 100 grit belt. The convex side was
easy to do on the platten, and the concave side was done carefully on
the wheel at the end of the belt. Worked quickly, looks good. Still
needs minor hand sanding (or possibly a finer belt) but overall the
process is pretty quick. This was with cherry; red oak might take a
little longer.
Do you have enough scrap and/or time to try one rail each way? If you
discover that one way is significantly quicker or better, it seems that
could save you a lot of time over a 4- or 6-chair run.
Good luck,
Andy

Toller wrote:
I have tried cutting curved back rails with my band saw. I can get the
curve about right, but there are a lot of marks in it that need to be sanded
out, and I can't maintain the curve when I sand the marks out. Are there
any tricks here? (I mean other than sawing more smoothly so there is
nothing to sand out...) I suppose the outside is easy enough with a ROS,
but the inside needs a drum and that is rather more difficult.


I've been using a set of "Micro-plane" drums. If you haven't seen them,
they are similar to a sanding drum that you'd use with your drill
press, but instead of using sandpaper, they have a metal surface with
small perforations or cutting surfaces.

I really like them because they leave a pretty smooth surface (a quick
hand sanding with 220 grit is all that's needed afterwards) and they
don't clog up like sanding drums can.

If you have a template of the shape you are going for, they have an
attachement that works just like a guide bearing on a router bit.

The set of two (1" and 2") costs something like $20 at rockler, and the
template guide is $10 or so.

Mike

"Mike" wrote in message
oups.com...

Toller wrote:
I have tried cutting curved back rails with my band saw. I can get the
curve about right, but there are a lot of marks in it that need to be
sanded
out, and I can't maintain the curve when I sand the marks out. Are there
any tricks here? (I mean other than sawing more smoothly so there is
nothing to sand out...) I suppose the outside is easy enough with a
ROS,
but the inside needs a drum and that is rather more difficult.


I've been using a set of "Micro-plane" drums. If you haven't seen them,
they are similar to a sanding drum that you'd use with your drill
press, but instead of using sandpaper, they have a metal surface with
small perforations or cutting surfaces.

I really like them because they leave a pretty smooth surface (a quick
hand sanding with 220 grit is all that's needed afterwards) and they
don't clog up like sanding drums can.

If you have a template of the shape you are going for, they have an
attachement that works just like a guide bearing on a router bit.

The set of two (1" and 2") costs something like $20 at rockler, and the
template guide is $10 or so.

$30 is cheap enough. Is the 1" the width or length? My rails are rather
more 2".
thanks.

$30 is cheap enough. Is the 1" the width or length? My rails are rather
more 2".
thanks.

I think that they are about 2" tall, and come in 1" and 2" widths.

I've never tried it, but I'd think for a workpiece taller than the
cutting surface, you could make a first pass to get the bottom, then
using the guide bearing, make another pass to get the top.

$30 is cheap enough. Is the 1" the width or length? My rails are rather
more 2".
thanks.

I think that they are about 2" tall, and come in 1" and 2" widths.

I've never tried it, but I'd think for a workpiece taller than the
cutting surface, you could make a first pass to get the bottom, then
using the guide bearing, make another pass to get the top.

Sorry about the double post - why does it seem that Google Groups does
that sometimes? I'm sure that it's some form of user error, but damned
if I can see what I'm doing wrong.

Toller wrote:
I have tried cutting curved back rails with my band saw. I can get
the curve about right, but there are a lot of marks in it that need
to be sanded out, and I can't maintain the curve when I sand the
marks out. Are there any tricks here? (I mean other than sawing
more smoothly so there is nothing to sand out...) I suppose the
outside is easy enough with a ROS, but the inside needs a drum and
that is rather more difficult.

I also tried laminating by clamping to an existing chair rail. It
is a bit of work, but comes out nicely. The chair rail I used was
a bit too shallow, so I took a large block of wood and cut the
curve I want into it. At this point I have two choices. Clamp the
laminations to the female form with clamps, or clamp the
laminations between the male and female forms. I suppose a third
option would be to make the male and female forms a half inch
thick, and then put the laminations between them. That might
combine the best of 1 & 2. Whatcha think?

1. Sanding drum. Fixed on drill press or other

2. Gauge block...same idea as a resaw block on a bandsaw.

--

dadiOH
____________________________

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....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

Toller wrote:
I have tried cutting curved back rails with my band saw. I can get
the
curve about right, but there are a lot of marks in it that need to
be sanded
out, and I can't maintain the curve when I sand the marks out. Are
there
any tricks here?
snip

Inside curves can be sanded out using a flap wheel.

I use a low cost air drill from H/F and mount a F/W in it.

Start with 40 grit.

Lew