I’m pricing a partial baseboard replacement in a 70-ish yr old house. They want stain grade 1×6 fir. The walls are plaster with bullnosed returns directly into the door jambs – no casing. I can handle the double-mtired returns into the jambs OK, but one small area has me looking for advice.
There is a section of wall about 4 ft long with a moderate radius to it. I checked with my mouldings supplier and they don’t make flex moulding for a 1×6 profile in stain grade, so I’ll be fabricating this one myself. I know the process, rip into thin strips, make a jig and laminate the strips together, but I’m wondering what fir’s minimum bending radius will be for 6 inch wide 1/8″ strips along the grain. Google searching at my limited level didn’t turn up anything I could understand.
Can anyone help?
Replies
but I'm wondering what fir's minimum bending radius will be for 6 inch wide 1/8" strips along the grain
Do you have any idea what the radius is on the wall?
You should be able to bend 1/8" strips fairly tight, I think I've bent 1/8" down to somewhere in the 30" range, give or take some.
If the radius is to tight for the 1/8" go down to 3/32" or whatever it takes. You'll probably get some spring back but as long as you can bend it by hand to your desired radius then you can apply it to the wall.
Doug
There are two ways that come to mind.First ,you could try bending one piece to the radiuss.If that works ,your set. If it almost gets there but starts to flatten or crack, then try this,
Fill a trougth or tub with hot water and downy fabric softner.Weight the piece down for 15 minutes, remove and clamp to the form.Say this does the job,which it probably will,soak the rest of the pieces and clamp to the form.
The stock should be longer and wider than finished dimensions. You need the extra width because the pieces when glued up will be uneven no matter how hard you try.
Scribe one side to a straight line and plane or sand it down. You can rip the width on a table saw if you are careful.Use a slow setting glue,after the pieces are dry.I have used white glue and a urethane in the past. The urethane glue is easiest to use but harder to clean up.
Whatever radius you come up with, make the form a little smaller, you will get some spring back after the base is removed from the forms.
The other way is to rip thinner stock,1/16" maybe, more pieces easier bend.
mike
I think ripping 1/16" strips will be beyond my abilities with the band saw.
Thanks for the tips.Lignum est bonum.
I was in an old house where they simply kerfed the back of the base molding to bend it on a fairly tight curve--only problem is that it made more "facets" than a smooth curve, and you could see the kerfs, which they had filled with putty.
That won't work unfortunately. I will be bullnosing all the base with a 1/2" roundover bit on the top edge. Those kerfs will be really visible there.Lignum est bonum.
I've had it done twice.
The first was the inside of a spiral stair well, radius of 2.5'. Took a completely finished 16' piece of 3/4 oak base and threw it into the swimming pool for about a week. During that time, I kept wedging it into a rounded corner of the spa portion, so it got a form to bend on. After the sufficient bend occured, tied a rope from one end to the other to keep it's shape and let it dry. Fit perfect, finish did just fine.
The second time was with a piece of 6" 3/4 pine on a 54" radius wall. Kerfed the hell out of the backside. One doesn't cut thru the top edge during the kerfing - just the hidden portions. And then wet her down as it's nailed up. We had to use some tiny headed finish screws to pull it all the way in, however.
The pool was the easier and better method.
my local lumber yard has "bending birch" you can wrap it around a 1/2 " dowel. I hope the attachment works
it comes in 4x8 sheets and needs to be finish sanded
only @ 1/8 - 3/16 thick
Interesting product. I'm amazed that you can bend it as tightly as you describe!
What sort of fasteners did you use in the photo?
I used 1/4" narrow crown staples
the finished product is done by the "foo" painters to look like leather
so I didn't have to fill.
I have done the same for paint and used bondo.
if yuo zoom in on the pic you can see all the staples.
I have also used tis stuff on raised pannel barrel vaults with only a 30" rad. cool stuff but it does have its limitations.
When I was still on the east coast we could get "wackey wood" not sure of the real name but you had to specify which way you wanted it to bend (4' or the 8' way)
Who says it needs to be a solid 1x6. Rip multiple thin 1" wide strips to build up the back top and bottom (miter them for the exposed sides, if any.) Use thin plywood for the exposed face.
"I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." Invictus, by Henley.
With a backing strip or a two-part form you could probably get a radius of 12" to 15". With a one-part form and clamps, you could probably get an 18" to 24" radius.
I've never done a tight radius with fir, but I have done lots of radius work and worked with plenty of fir so I think those are reasonable guestimates.
Mike do you mean just bending the board and fastening in place, or soaking first?Lignum est bonum.
I would glue-laminate the boards on a form, like you said in your first post. You could soak or steam them to get more flexibility. It depends on the radius you're trying to bend to.
When you glue-laminate on a form you have very little springback. If you soak the boards first, I don't know of any glues that would hold the laminations. If the radius is slight you could soak or steam the boards and put them right on the wall in one piece. If you're going to be gluing and laminating, I would do it with dry boards.