Suggestion on how to cut this molding

[Joe Jensen]

I would like to design and build some furniture with this style base. Custom knifes the way to go? Would you have a single knife and take many passes? I am thinking it would be about 2" high. 3/4" quarter round, 3/4" cove, and a bead on top.

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[Jamie Buxton]

What tools do you have? Do you have a shaper?

[Joe Jensen]

I have a 5HP tilting spindle shaper and a large collection of routers. I started assuming I would need to split it into two profiles but I can't find anything like the top have. It's not a pure cove but it has two different curves. I may be forced to buy a corrugated cutterhead and a custom set of knives.

[Jerry Miner]

For a one-off, you could make a profile like that with three standard cutters and three set-ups, but if you want to do very much of it, a custom cutter would be the way to go, IMHO.

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[Joe Calhoon]

With a tilting shaft it is possible to do that with existing cutters depending on what you have. But it is usually more economical to have a corrugated cutter made. I end up doing this sometimes if I need to get a job done without waiting for a custom grind.

The fact it is curved will complicate things more for using several cutters. A while back I had to match a existing chair rail in a historic house. They only needed 6 lineal feet. A custom cutter for this would have been less than $100. It would have been a little less expensive to order a cutter but she had a carpenter working and we were able to get it done quickly.
here is how it went.
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[Dave Gagnon]

I dont mean or want to hijack, but how are curved mouldings made like the OP's photo? The side is curved I have never been able to figure out how this is done.. If there are previous threads on this, Id love to know about them..

[Jerry Miner]

You start with a curved blank and mill the profile into it.

The curved blank can be sawn from solid, or steam bent, or built up in a bent lamination.

The milling can be done on a shaper, a molder, a router, or by hand.

If you go to Youtube and search "curved molding" you will find various methods demonstrated.

[johnny means]

I would build that in stacked layers, each with a smaller, probably already owned profile.

[Dave Gagnon]

Thanks for the replies. Sounds like i have some Youtube watching to do :)

[John T Barker]

You start with a curved blank and mill the profile into it.

The curved blank can be sawn from solid, or steam bent, or built up in a bent lamination.

The milling can be done on a shaper, a molder, a router, or by hand.

If you go to Youtube and search "curved molding" you will find various methods demonstrated.


I'm not sure why you would suggest steam bending or lamination for this, that's way too much work and neither method serves any benefit fpr this. I would create templates for the molding and case and then make the molding with an overarm router, a pin router or shaper using bearing bits/cutters. I remember Lonnie Bird (I think) doing a clock pediment moulding with a series of cutters in a shop made overarm router.

[Jerry Miner]

I'm not sure why you would suggest steam bending or lamination for this.

Right. I probably would not use either of those techniques for that particular project. I was trying to answer more broadly "how to create curved moldings" and offer multiple options.