Help please: How would you create this?

[Dewey Schramm]

Hi folks,

I hope everyone had a healthy and happy holiday.

I've been banging my head on this for a little while and haven't come up with a solution I like. How would you recommend that I create the image I've attached? I need to turn a 4x4x1/2" piece of wood into a shape like a domed sanding block. But if it works, and what I do to with it works, then I'd need to be able to repeatably do about 20 or more of them. Please don't get detailed on the dimensions - as they may vary from what I am initially envisioning. The shape is the key for me. If I get the right idea, I'm also able to be flexible about the radius of the round, as well as the LxW of the starting piece.

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Thanks for your help,
Dewey

[larry senen]

A band saw.BUT you,ll need to temporarily attach something on the flat side of the piece to hold it square and stay safe.a 2x4 at a right angle, held with a pocket screw ie.

[Steve Kinnaird]

Definitely on the band saw and then a belt sander.
Create a template for repeated accuracy.

[Jamie Buxton]

A molding supplier near me has that profile in their catalog. They call it belly band. Maybe you have a good molding house near you?

[Jerry Miner]

A molder can easily produce that profile by the mile. Bandsaw and sander would be tedious and difficult to get 20 to match perfectly, but one option. Hand planes could get you there, too. Molder would be easier, IMHO

[Dwight Rutherford]

Look up "therming on a lathe" should be able to get what you want.

[Frederick Skelly]

Definitely on the band saw and then a belt sander.
Create a template for repeated accuracy.

+1. I'd add the "holder" Larry suggests in post #2.

[Dave Richards]

Dwight's suggestion is a good one. You can make a simple jig to use on the lathe that holds perhaps 6 or 8 pieces. Make the pieces thicker than you need so there's room to use screws to secure the work. Cut them to final size after shaping.

At least for the dimensions you've given, the radius of the curve is about 5-1/2 in. so that wouldn't require a huge lathe.

[Dave Arnett]

I made a few of those awhile back, something like this...

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[Prashun Patel]

If you have a FWW online subscription, there are a couple jigs for the bandsaw.

Michael Fortune has a couple nifty ones. Search "Jigs for smooth curves on bandsaw".

He recently did a contemporary chair article in which he cut several curves from the same board that could be laminated into a chair seat. I made the jig and it worked perfectly.

[Dan Hahr]

That looks like a short piece of mounding to me. Get a wide profile router bit to match half the profile and run both sides on a longer piece. Then just cut them to 4" length. A shaper would probably be easier with that much of a profile. Of course a moulder as mentioned above would be best.
Dan

[Richard Shaefer]

or, you know, a hand plane.

[rudy de haas]

As usual: it depends on what tools you have. The canonical tool is, as people here have pointed out, the bandsaw with a custom jig to the size and curve you want.

However, other tools are easier and require less set-up.. if you have them and the sizes work. For example, my molder./planer (same as G0137) has a 4.25" moulding blade size limit. If you have a moulder, and the size works, this is the least hassle, most fool proof (very important to me) method despite the $80 or so the blade might cost you. . A shaper, with something like King's replaceable knives kit ($200+), can do this in one pass to a size limit of about 3.5", and just about twice that if you want to make two passes and, probably, some sanding.

And then, of course, there's a guy I know who has an industrial size moulder he uses to make baseboards and crowns...

[Dewey Schramm]

Hi folks,

I want to thank you all for the helpful suggestions and the mini education. I did a fair amount of googling in response to the ideas presented and learned quite a bit.

Given my current setup I'm going to have to plane the first one or two (or maybe nibble away with the table saw first - then plane). If I get where I need to be, I'm going to invest in a band saw and make a custom jig as with the Fortune jigs referenced above.

Again I thank you for your willingness to share your knowledge with a complete stranger.

Dewey