How to machine radius on long surface of board

[Steve Schwab]

I need to make 6 boards which are 6"x60"x1.25" thick. I need to radius the face along the long edge as per the attached profile. I know I could have a shop make a profile tool and shape them that way but don't want the expense. Any suggestions for doing this myself. I have most machines, table saw, routers, jointer, etc.
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[Darcy Warner]

I need to make 6 boards which are 6"x60"x1.25" thick. I need to radius the face along the long edge as per the attached profile. I know I could have a shop make a profile tool and shape them that way but don't want the expense. Any suggestions for doing this myself. I have most machines, table saw, routers, jointer, etc.
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Bandsaw, template, shaper with a pattern/bearing to ride on template.

Or BS then edge sander.

Looks like router with bearing guided flush trim

[Lee Schierer]

Bandsaw, template, shaper with a pattern/bearing to ride on template.

Or BS then edge sander.

Looks like router with bearing guided flush trim

He is trying to make that curve the full 60 inch length of his board....He will either need to find someone with a surface moulder, do it with hand planes and a sander or find a company that makes log homes that would run his pieces through their profile cutter.

Menards and likely other lumber yards sell log siding (https://www.menards.com/main/building-materials/siding/log-siding/meadow-valley-3-x-8-loggers-choice-smooth-log-siding/3010033802-08/p-1444439361640-c-5831.htm) that is close to the profile he is looking for. Menards lists some 8" wide pieces that could be ripped to get the thicker edge profile.
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[Bruce Page]

I would run it by a wood molding/millwork house and see what they say. It might be a common profile.

What type of wood?

[Joey Naeger]

It'd be a project, but you can totally do this with hand planes. It'll help to make a "female" template of the radius so you can check your work across the length of the board.

[Jamie Buxton]

Like Joey said, but before the hand plane, stand the boards on edge to remove most of the waste on the tablesaw. It wouldn’t be that much of a project unless you need extreme precision.

[Wes Grass]

Try again ... editing my first post deleted it.

Kerf it on a tablesaw, and finish up by hand. Same could be done on a router table with a ball nose bit. It would require some calculating for offsets and depths. Or really good eyeballs and a template of some sort.

Build a sled for a planer, and either index the piece or shim it to a series of angles to cut a series of flats tangent to the curve. Calculations, eyeballs and template apply here as well.

Trouble with both of those is if you go a hair too deep on any pass, you have to recut the entire surface to fix it.

Other option is find someone local with a CNC router and have them profile it. Still requires hand work to finish, but less likely to have any unwanted divots.

BTW, if it's 3/4" thick at the edge, the radius is 9-1/4". Tangent angle off the edge is ~19°. 5/8" would be 7-33/64" (7.513) and ~23.5°.

[Bill Dufour]

Steam bending would be easiest as I read the problem. Your descripion and diagram are unclear. On the diagram is the measurement 6 in feet or inches? In other words is the radius 6 inches or 3 feet.
Bill D

[Darcy Warner]

He is trying to make that curve the full 60 inch length of his board....He will either need to find someone with a surface moulder, do it with hand planes and a sander or find a company that makes log homes that would run his pieces through their profile cutter.

Menards and likely other lumber yards sell log siding (https://www.menards.com/main/building-materials/siding/log-siding/meadow-valley-3-x-8-loggers-choice-smooth-log-siding/3010033802-08/p-1444439361640-c-5831.htm) that is close to the profile he is looking for. Menards lists some 8" wide pieces that could be ripped to get the thicker edge profile.
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Oh, I see now. Well, use a moulder. ��

[Thomas McCurnin]

My read is that it is a 6” wide board, about 1 1/4” thick and 60” long. If this is a serious piece, I’d have a molding supplier do this on a sticker machine. Probably $3-400 would be my guess.

if this is a casual piece, with your gear, I’d knock off the corners with two passes on a table saw and use a No. 4 or 5 plane to make the rest of the arc. Finish the process and cut down the edges with 100g sandpaper.

Then sand to 150g and call it done.

[Steve Jenkins]

Where are you located. I may have shaper cutter that could be really close

[Rod Sheridan]

Shaper or molder.........Rod

[johnny means]

Multiple passes on a table saw on edge. Then clean up with a sander.

[Steve Schwab]

Thanks for the replies. Yes, the profile is along the length which is 60" long. Since I have 6 of these to do and they need to be pretty accurate matches, I'm going to bite the bullet and find a local shop with a moulder or maybe a CNC machine. These pieces will be highly visible out of walnut, so they must be smooth and the contour must be a good match on all pieces.

[Steve Schwab]

Where are you located. I may have shaper cutter that could be really close


Unfortunately, I'm in Michigan. A long way from Texas.

[Christopher Giles]

Do you know anyone with a W & H planer? This is right up their alley. A set of profile knives used to be $100.00, not sure if that is still the case. With this set-up, you could run these six parts in short order. Maybe someone on this site can help out?

[Prashun Patel]

Does this need to be an accurate radius (like a circle) or is it ok if it's just a matched crown somewhere in between a caternary curve and a true arc?

If the latter, it's surprisingly easy to do this on the table saw. You'd make a starting bevel cut, flipping edge-for-edge on each piece. Then you make the angle slightly less acute, move the fence in a tad, and make another 12 passes on your stock. You can calculate the bevel angles, eyeball them with a protractor, or just do like i do: guess.

You would only need to do this about two or three times.

The sanding will remove all evidence of the facets. I've made more drastic radiused curves like this and am always amazed how accurate and easy it is - especially since you only have 6 six-foot pieces to do, they're tall enough but not too tall to be done safely on the tsaw, and it's walnut which sands easily.

My eyes say the important (and easy) thing is getting the symmetry right, not the actual accuracy of the curve.

If you're comfortable with a hand plane, you could even easily hit the bevel corner transitions with a hand plane before sanding.

[mreza Salav]

Build a box to resemble a long lathe, attach the boards to using a support behind (cross-section will be a T) and use a router to form the curve.
I've used the method to create posts or half circles successfully. You don't need to build the box big enough to accommodate a full 360 degree turn. Just turn the board left and right enough until the full width of it passes the router cutter. It can be a shallow box. The T support idea is to prevent the board from flexing. I used a small length of 3/4" pipe and flange screwed to the ends to make the "shaft". You can screw two small round sections to the two ends of the board and attach the shaft.

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[Chris Fournier]

Once upon a time I made two sleigh beds, a queen and a king. The foot and head rolls presented similar challenges to yours in cherry and soft figured maple. I had a profile template for the two rolls and I cut bevels on my TS very close to the profile scribed on the roll ends. I then used a hand plane to facet the pieces even closer to the profile. Once I was on the pencil line with the hand plane I took 6" wide sandpaper from my edge sander and cut 24" strips and fixed wooden handles on each end of the paper strips. I put the rolls on saw horses at each end and then use the sandpaper across the profile to fair it to perfection - think of a sawing motion perpendicular to the grain. After the profile was sweet, I sanded from end to end to finish using shorter strips with handles. Easy to do, no additional expense, and the process stayed in my shop where I could make sure that I got exactly what I was after. All in all it was not a monumental task but it was very gratifying!

[Mel Fulks]

Torus mould. You can do this . I think the question is can you enjoy or endure all that whittling. A drawknife might help.

[Mike Wilkins]

Remove as much as safely possible on the tables with the blade tilted, then go at it with some hand planes and sanders. First make a template of the desired shape to check your progress as you go.