What’s a reasonable radius to bend 1 x 2
Well, there is no putting off the garden shed project as this winter’s snow has seen to the removal of the previous decrepit storage option.
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I’ve got the excellent Joseph Truini book in hand and have sketched out what I’ll be building; except for the roof. The temptation of overhead storage has clashed with my aversion to gambrel roofs. (And why isn’t it rooves?)
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The solution (I think) is in using a bow roof. Now, I’ve seen sufficient dimensional two-by at the local yard that seems to be volunteering for the role but those don’t have the consistency with which to proceed. The use of extra wide stock cut to a curve: 1) seems too wasteful; and, 2) probably doesn’t exist wide enough.
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So I’ve hit on the idea of laminating 1 x 2 on a jig. Laminations, we are taught, are plenty strong and stable. It appears that the radius used on bow-roofed capes is 40 foot so the scale for the shed would be about an 18 foot radius.
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Has anyone bent pine? I’ve only been exposed to steamed oak but would rather avoid that much bother. I would also like to avoid a pile of snapped and splintered wood (again, seems too wasteful). So, has anyone bent 1 x 2 and how tight a radius were you able to achieve?
Replies
I used 1x4 spruce firring to laminate these rafters at a 17' radius, probably could have made it even tighter if needed, but 17 was the plan.
Very cool! Any pic of the finished result?
Sure- well almost finished results, got to get back there for final photos when things green up a bit.
These may be a little dark.
Very nice stuff! Where is it , and BTW where are you located ( profile helps!)
They can't get your Goat if you don't tell them where it is hidden.
Waccabuc, NY- about 40 miles north of NYC.
I filled out my profile back in the web-x days, been flyin under the radar since the change over.
Knew I'd get nailed by the profile cops one of these days.
ok - I 'll fill it out officer
No biggie. For me it helps to know what area of the planet a builder is building in when viewing the pics of projects. All the regional differences stuff. Your work is really great .
They can't get your Goat if you don't tell them where it is hidden.
Man, that poolhouse is gorgeous. I'm building a poolhouse now; I will NOT show the client yours.
Forrest
Thanks for the compliment !
I have been lurking on your poolhouse thread , looks like a fun project also.
That is some super nice work, man.
Would it be dumb for me to build a pool house in my yard ?
I don't have a pool, but I run through the sprinkler a lot.
Bing
Jayzog, That's some cool stuff and nice work. The only problem is that whenever I see something as neat as this, I obsess about finding a project to try it on and I can tell this could consume some time.
One question on the followup pictures... How are the cedar shingles fastened to the sheathing? I see what looks like T&G 1x6 sheathing but no nails are protruded. Do you use some 1x nailers on top of the sheathing?
Thanks for posting.
That is 2x6 spruce t&g decking, 1" of high R sheathing, 5/4 strapping then cedar shingles.
Projects like this are fun, makes ya scratch your noodle a bit,and you need to have a client ( I did) who understands that coming up with a firm quote for the work is pretty darn hard.
jayzog-
Thanks, I’m getting a lot of inspiration from that. I now have NO excuses. What adhesive did you use in laminating? Also, did you “humidify” the wood or did dry stock remain happy?
West system epoxy, about 25 gallons for the 2 roofs worth of rafters. The material is furring spruce that the lumberyard stocks outside, so it was damp enough and no extra humidity was needed.
I laid out the curves and built the rafters and hips on the deck before building the walls. first I marked the inside radius on the deck and screwed down full height blocking every 8" or so. The first ply was then was then scewed from the blocking side. then each ply was glued, clamped then screwed to the previous ply. My rafters were 7 plys wide, using the slow hardener I was able to build 1 rafter fast enough that it could be moved from the deck before the oozing epoxy permantly attached it to the floor.
Once all the rafters and hips were dry I cleaned up all the edges with a 6" power planer. Then I cut all the hips and rafters and dry fit them on the deck before building the walls. Once I was happy with the way every thing fit I disassembled, buit the walls and reassembled.
2 18' x18' poolhouses - 18 days 3 guys to build rafters and frame.
Thanks, I get nervous moving anything after glue-up until double set-up time so I place wax paper underneath. The wax paper doesn't soak through like other construction papers and will sand or plane off without gumming things up.
That would be the prefered way of doing it, but with # of rafters needed and the epoxy takes 24 hrs to set, that would have streched the project out for months.
You can "bend" any wood. Its just a case of how thin it has to be. I cut the wood till there is little spring back from the thickness. This reduces creep and changing radius from what I wanted. I spread the glue with a noched trowel. I made my own with a 3/16" pointed trowel and cut of the points till a groove of just under 1/16 remained. This gives just enought glue without flooding or starving the joint.
Lots of clamps and a solid jig and go for it. Don't forget pictures!!
Well you probably already know...
Avoid kiln dried if you can, green wood bends much better.
When in doubt use thinner plys.
I know that was probably not helpful but hay maybe.
One thing that will help is-
You need many clamps!
I have had great luck with, cutting four inch PVC pipe into
one and a quarter inch wide clamps.
The wider the clamp the tighter they grip.
But With the number you can produce pressure doesn't seam to be an issue.