I’m looking for suggestions on how to transfer the profile of a curved deck fascia to the topside of the deck boards. I marked and cut the ‘S’ curve on the joists using a garden hose and laminated some treated plywood to the ends which worked quite well. BUT….
I would like the deck boards (which are now running wild) to overhang the fascia by 1 1/2″ and I don’t trust myself to just free hand the curve with a jigsaw. I can’t cut from underneath either as this deck is sitting on a concrete pad. I thought about running the jigsaw base along the fascia from underneath but that got scrapped due to lack of clearance.
I tried scribing the curve to the underside of the wild deck boards with a pencil and spacer then unscrewing and flipping each board but very time consuming and not always accurate as the 1 X stock I’m using as a spacer doesn’t always bend to the profile.
Any tips would be appreciated!
MIKE
Replies
Well since you have unknown radii then I would make me up some sort of "horizontal scribes"
Make a three legged (more stable. more consistant) two on the bottom and one on the top, jig that you can follow the bottom skirt board with and mark the top of your deck boards with.
Then cut this out with your jig saw, going slowly so you dont get a lot of blade deflection, clean up with a belt sander to finalize.
Doug
I was thinking about a router, but you'd know more about their capabilities than I would. I believe the largest bearing I've ever seen is about 2" though. Would it be possible for him to make some sort of jig and use a large flush trimmer with a large router?View Image
Your up late!
I guess you could use the router if you could somehow provide something for the router to follow. He'd have to bend something that would give him the consistant 1 1/2" that he wants for an over hang. Maybe tack something from the underside for the router to follow, all depends on how tight his radius is whether or not he can bend something that will follow nicely. (boy, I dont repeat myself to much in that paragraph do I!)
I guess he could laminate up some scrap wood that would make a good enough template to follow.
A flush trim bit would make for a nicer cut, rough cut with the jigsaw first so that you dont have to hog off only the diff between your rough cut and the desired cut, and less clean up with the belt sander is always good. I'd prefer this over the jigsaw cut because I'm not a fan of cleaning up a rough line, never seams to come out quite as nice as one would like it to!
I'm liking your idea better, just need to find a way for the router to follow the 1 1/2" overhang that he needs.
Doug
I like the ideas so far...as I laid in bed last night I thought about it some more. I have a pencil scribe, why not set it to 1 1/2" and run it underneath marking the boards - flip the boards, then cut with a jig saw? The scribe would follow the curves perfectly unlike using a rigid 1X cut off. Alot of screwing and unscrewing however.The flush trim bit & router is a great idea also. I have 3/4" MDF I could rip into narrow lenghts, then tack it in place to the fascia. 2 layers would give me the 1 1/2" I need and would bend to fit the curve no problem (I think - still sipping on my morning coffee). I just don't know if my 2 1/4 HP Makita router would go through 2x6 deck boards, about 30 of them. Carpentry isn't about jigs...it's about figuring out how to make the bloody thing!Mike
With a good hole saw and spade bits I have made over collars from Lexan that press fit on the guide bearings of Flush cutters and some other bits.
Take 3/8th Lex and hole saw on the DP what ever size collar you want, caliper the bearing OD, and grind a spade bit just smidge under that OD and use the HS pilot hole to keep you concentric. This DOES require a goodly clamped situation..LOL
Press the collar on the bearing add a few drops of CA glue and make a few test runs. I have also spun some down on the lathe, but I realize not everyone has a lathe.
Lexan, NOT Plexiglass, Plexi will shatter. I have used delrin, and nylon, and phenolic resin sheet as well..all available from McMaster-Carr.
I have a 1 1/8 x3'' long spiral flush trim bit, so the same would work well without the collar being too excessive, I mean a 1/2'' shank HEAVY bit is what ya want. With a large bearing to start with.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
" If ya plan to face tomorrow, do it soon"
I'm going to store that in the memory banks.
sounds like a good tip to hang on to.
Doug
Thats what ya come up with when ya don't have a shaper handy.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
" If ya plan to face tomorrow, do it soon"
I did a curved deck a while ago. I set up a center point for my radius that I used when I cut the joists, and then later when I cut the decking to follow the curve. Since you didn't do that, maybe you can scrap together a scribing tool with two legs that follow the rim below while scribing a pencil line on top of the decking. Shouldn't be hard to do.
Two ways That I can think of.
I havve a 3HP router with guide attachment that will follow a pattern with adjustable offset that could do this.
Another way would be to sketch it out so you have a good 2" overhang and cut there first. Then make up a guide for your pencil. It would basiccly have a J shape, with the long leg going iunder the deck boards to follow the curved fascia and the short leg on top of the decking to guide your pencil like a sccribe would. then cut with jigsaw and clean up with sander
three ways - I bet that with ten minutes and the right piecce of metal from out in the shop, I could rig a guide for the jigsaw that would under-reach that 2" overhang
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I'd consider making a scribe out of something like a U-shaped piece of plywood.
Mike,
If it were me I'd build out the fascia with somthing like your mdf or lauan and 1x spacers.
Then I'd cut it in three steps, jig saw to remove most of the material, flush cut guided router, and a small round over in the top.
Garett
That's kind of what I'm thinking....I definately wanted to round over all the edges anyway so I was going to have to dust off the router anyway. Mike
This is a Pressure Treated deck right? Not a fine peice of furniture.
What kind of spacing do you have between the deck boards?
Take a peice of material with a width of your desired overhand 1 1/2"? slip it between the deck boards and mark the outside edge on the deck boards.
Connect all the points together, cut them a little long with your jig saw and clean it up with a belt sander.
As others have mentioned.....router.
Rip some 1/2" ply strips....they'll bend and follow your curves much more easily than the 3/4" MDF.
I'd rough cut it with the jigsaw....than clean it up with the router using a flush trim bit. You mentioned a 2HP (?) router. If you've got a 1/2" collet, you should be fine....but go slow. If you've got a 1/4" collet it might be worth renting a larger router so that you can use a beefier bit. My 3 1/2 HP Bosch would work nicely.
And definetly round over the top edges.
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
You read my mind...and my wife wonders why I keep 'scraps' of plywood. Now I get to say to her - "see!!!"
Lee Valley Tools has a great selection of timber-framing tools, and I'm thinking you might find the answer to your problem on their site. They have several different types of scribes with a large throat which are used in timber framing. Since you have left your deckboards wild, consider trimming off the excess so you have 3 or so inches extra, then run one of these scribes along the fascia board. The curve will translate onto the top of the deckboards. From there it's a fairly simple thing to retrace the line using a scrap of 2x stock to establish your uniform 1 1/2" overhang...cut away with your best jigsaw and sand back 'til you're happy. Hope this helps. Darrell.
Make a scribe in the shape of a "J" or a "U". Distance between the two verticals of the "J" being a bit more than the thickness of your decking.
Long leg of the "J" rides along the fascia; the short leg has a hole in it the fits your standard pencil. The hole is drilled 1-1/2" from the leg that rides along the fascia.
Really no problem with a jigsaw. So what if your off by as much as 1/8"? Your eye will know because you did it - anyone else would have to be told where to look and then they would say, "Uhmm, I think I see the difference."