Making fluted arched door & window casings?
In the process of remodeling my home, I decided to make arches & flutes a theme. Making & framing an arch in an opening or routing straight flutes is not too hard, but making arched fluted casing seems to me a completely different kettle of fish. I trashed my original idea of changing out the rectangular current doors & windows to go with arched units once I found out the expense involved.
So what I’m intending is to create “faux” arches above most if not all the rectagular doors & windows in order to carry the arch theme to it’s conclusion. It seems the most likely thing to do is measure all that will receive the arch treatment and make router templates for each of those configurations. The templates would serve to both cut the edges of the arch & flute it as well. It is probable that all the casings will recieve paint in order to keep cost down.
And that makes me wonder if should go with: MDF, solid wood (pine or poplar), or even plywood that gets edged? What do you guys think? Obviously working with sheet goods would be easier than solid wood unless I could find wide enough stock. Good solid hardwood however always has the the traditional appeal and it gives the choice of going clear finish if it’s nice looking. It would probably mean at least edge jointing though if not finger jointing adjoining butts also.
The straight casings will also be fluted and corner & plinth blocks would be used for termination.
I know many have made their own straight fluted casings, but I could not find any mention of doing arched flutes in my searches to date. Does anyone out there know If it has been done or may have done it themselves?
Thanks for any thoughts you can share with me.
Ken
Replies
If I had a thought of who might have a tip.......
it would be Gary Katz.
He's receptive to questions and never left a chance at tips and instruction. Not sure if he's done it, but sure if someone has they probably let him know.
You can find him at his website- http://www.garymkatz.com/
I have a few pictures I took while making arched trim. I didn't flute them but that would be easy enough to do. I started with a sheet of MDF to serve as both a layout board and later as a sandwich clamp. You don't want to use wide boards or you'll end up with short, delicate grain at the ends. Arch top windows are not a half circle, the ends straighten out a little and give a different look than a half circle would. That's why my segment boards are a little wider on the ends.
1. Layout the arch you want.
2. Figure how many segments you need for the size and determine the angle of the joint. Cut these angles while the segment boards are still square.
3. Set up a circle cutting jig for your bandsaw and add a carriage for the segments. Cut the outer edge first
4. Use a router on a trammel to cut the MDF layout sheet
5. I used splines where the segments joined and the MDF sheet as a sandwhich clamp.
6. Once the segments are glued up and still in the sandwich, use a plunge router on a trammel to cut the flutes.
7. I steamed some bead moldings to wrap around the inside and outside of the arches. There were several different size arches on this job. On the large ones, I used the segment cut offs as cauls for clamping the beads. On smaller ones, I cut the MDF sandwich back to make it the right size when the beads were added. I used a rabbetting bit and then a flush trim bit to cut back the MDF to the size of the beads.
Not sure about fluted arches...might be too much.
I'd have to see photos of what you are doing regarding design--however I think that fluted curved arches might just be a bit of overkill. Not an easy thing to do either. Here are a couple of inspirational photos though....you might gain ideas.
http://www.winterburngroup.on.ca/renovations_woodwork/trim_carpentry-38.jpg
http://www.winterburngroup.on.ca/renovations_woodwork/trim_carpentry-40.jpg
and just for kicks...an entrance where flutes play a very small part ...
http://www.winterburngroup.on.ca/renovations_woodwork/entrance_zoom.jpg
L
ps, sorry if these are links and not photos...I hard coded them in HTML but they wouldn't display even though they did in the form. This is one silly system Taunton!
Hammer,
Thanks for the tips.
If I understood what you wrote, you used biscuits to hold the MDF segments together. I'm wondering why you didn't just cut the entire arch shape out of the MDF sheet & be done with it? Why make the segments if you can cut the entire arch at one shot?
Ken
Ken, the segments are joined with splines, not biscuits, there is a big difference. The continuous, attached bead moldings also adds to the integretry of the assembly. The interior trim work is all red oak, stained, and the trim around the windows integrates with oak raised panel wainscotting. You said you might go with solid wood, that's why I posted the pics. I also had to trim the exterior of the windows, I used white pine on those. Even if this had been an interior paint job only, personally, I prefer not to use MDF as trim in a customers house. Hopefully, my work is built to last generations, not a decade or two. I don't have a high opinion of MDF trim work over the longterm. It makes no sense to pay the labor costs involved with custom work and use low quality materials. Sort of like having a custom suit made out of paper. Materials costs are only a small portion of most jobs, more so on this one since the oak was cut off the property.
If the arches will be painted, you could put straight flutes in a straight piece of Azek then heat bend it around a form. I've bent Azek for an arched window trim but not with flutes in it. I can't see why it wouldn't work. If you have lots of the same radius arch to make it might be faster that cutting all the individual curved flutes.
If the arches will be painted, you could put straight flutes in a straight piece of Azek then heat bend it around a form. I've bent Azek for an arched window trim but not with flutes in it. I can't see why it wouldn't work. If you have lots of the same radius arch to make it might be faster that cutting all the individual curved flutes.
If the arches will be painted, you could put straight flutes in a straight piece of Azek then heat bend it around a form. I've bent Azek for an arched window trim but not with flutes in it. I can't see why it wouldn't work. If you have lots of the same radius arch to make it might be faster that cutting all the individual curved flutes.