Rounding over a wood block

[Joe Hollis]

Hello everyone,

After tripping over my headphone cable yet again, I've decided to make a headphone stand to keep the cable and headset off the floor. I want to make a laminated hardwood block and round over its top surface, so it approximates the curvature of the band of the headphones. I would estimate that the radius would be about 4" or so. Can anyone think of a safe and fairly accurate way I could do this? I have a table saw, jointer, planer, etc., but no bandsaw or router table.

Thanks a lot,

Joe.

[Max Neu]

Do you have a coping saw? It would be safe but slow.

[Matt Day]

Or clamp a belt sander to a table. It'll be dusty though.

[Tom Stenzel]

I'm lucky enough to have a bandsaw, but if I didn't it would be:

Saber saw, then rasp, then sand.

How thick do you expect it to be?

-Tom

[Myk Rian]

Get a foam head.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=foam+head

[Gordon Eyre]

Go Bluetooth and eliminate the cord.

[Joe Hollis]

I'm lucky enough to have a bandsaw, but if I didn't it would be:

Saber saw, then rasp, then sand.

How thick do you expect it to be?

-Tom


To get the curvature I need, the final thickness will be a about 2-1/4" (It won't be a full 1/2 circle - just enough to properly support the headphones).

[glenn bradley]

Disc sander? Do you have a good jig saw? Bosch makes a blade that would cut 2-1/4" without issue. If you have another jig saw with a little less oomph you could rough out two thinner blanks then laminate them, then disc sand them to final curve.

[Matt Day]

Joe,
I think you need to tell us what other tools you have. A few have been mentioned here that would get the job done but we don't know if you have it or not.
Do you have a friend with a bandsaw?

[Joe Hollis]

Joe,
I think you need to tell us what other tools you have. A few have been mentioned here that would get the job done but we don't know if you have it or not.
Do you have a friend with a bandsaw?

I've got a random-orbit sander - no shaper or belt sander. I've got several old hand planes to use.


I thought I might try to take various angled cuts on it from either side of the centerline, and then hand plane/sand to try to smooth it out. There's no way I can use a router by hand to do it- I don't have a round-over bit that big anyway, let alone be able to use it freehand if I did, so I thought I'd have a go with the table saw/hand plane/hand sand approach....

[Keith Weber]

Small, used bandsaws go for about $100 on Craigslist. Or... type "headphone stand" into eBay and get one delivered to your door for about $12 to $45.

[Rick Potter]

+1 on Tom's post. A jig saw should do it fine.

[Tom Stenzel]

I doubt that my saber saw would be able to cut something over 2" thick without the blade skewing out of perpendicular.

I would mix Max's and Glenn's advice and try to shape things up as much as possible with a coping saw before the glue-up. I know my coping saw skills would fail on something over 2" thick, I tend to wander out of perpendicular.

The idea of shaping something that thick by hand sanding gives me hives! That's what got me started in hand planes, to reduce the need for sanding.

-Tom

[Bill McDermott]

A course rasp followed by the ROS. It can be a great project to explore sculpting with a rasp. Work from the edges toward the center to avoid splitting off chunks you meant to keep. Wear a glove on your front hand (holding the un-handled tip of the rasp). Solid clamping will be a key to success. Get creative making your hand sculpted piece of art while listening to something inspirational on those very headphones.

[Yonak Hawkins]

Go Bluetooth and eliminate the cord.

Gordon do you know of a Bluetooth headset that can receive two Bluetooth signals simultaneously so I can listen to my stereo and hear if my phone rings ?