Australian Wood Review - June 2018

52 Australian Wood Review

TECHNIQUE

I

n issues 95 and 97 we looked

at methods for joining curved

elements and for making curved

drawer fronts and rails. In this article

we are looking at methods for making

a curved door.

Two way s

The two most commonly used

methods for making a curved door are

coopering and lamination techniques.

Coopering is a process where narrow

battens are edge joined together. If

the edge is less than 90°, the result

will be a staggered curve which can

be faired after glue-up.

If you intend to use this technique

it is a good idea to make the door

before making any of the carcase

components of the cabinet as it can

be quite difficult to accurately fit a

coopered door to an existing curve.

Much better to fit the curve of the

carcase to the door.

On the other hand, the laminating

technique is very versatile. It can

be used to make doors, or other

components to existing curves, even

when these curves have variable radii,

for example a door with a sigmoid

curve. However, the technique does

require an investment in time to make

the necessary bending form which may

not be justified for a one-off project.

Making a bending form

As with all work involving curves,

the critical first step is making an

accurate full size plan view drawing.

The next step is to make a bending

form which can be used in a vacuum

bag to form the door.

A bending form is essentially a torsion

box with the ribs spaced about 50mm

apart and covered with 3mm MDF or

bending ply. The convex curve of the

Working With Curves,

Part 3

The final in a series by Peter Young looks at techniques for making curved doors.