Arbor construction questions... PIC

[David Rose]

This arbor is going to be for my daughter's wedding. It will either be solid cedar or redwood. Cedar is probably easier to get locally, so that will probably be the wood. The arbor will then go into the wife's flower bed (as a surprise gift) so I want to stay with solid wood and longlasting construction.

How would YOU construct the arch? Would it be better to cut each side of the arch into say three sections glued up as three resawed pieces, or should I laminate pieces into an arch? I have not done any laminations so would have to build a fixture and find good glue if I go that way. Which is more likely to be durable?

I was thinking laminations but wonder about how it would weather.

Thanks

David

[Jim Becker]

I think you're going to have to do it in sections...probably six mitered pieces for each arch joined by splines and then formed to the needed radius with a router and trammel setup. That should provide you with a strong arch with almost all the grain staying within the curve. Our friend Norm Abram used this method on a project or three over the years with great success.

I would do the keystone feature at the top as an overlay after the arch was fully formed, although you could build it as part of the arch with careful work.

[David Rose]

Jim, is the "keystone feature" the top center piece with the ball shaped piece crowning it?

Thanks

David



I would do the keystone feature at the top as an overlay after the arch was fully formed, although you could build it as part of the arch with careful work.

[Bobby Hatfield]

This arbor is going to be for my daughter's wedding. It will either be solid cedar or redwood. Cedar is probably easier to get locally, so that will probably be the wood. The arbor will then go into the wife's flower bed (as a surprise gift) so I want to stay with solid wood and longlasting construction.

How would YOU construct the arch? Would it be better to cut each side of the arch into say three sections glued up as three resawed pieces, or should I laminate pieces into an arch? I have not done any laminations so would have to build a fixture and find good glue if I go that way. Which is more likely to be durable?

I was thinking laminations but wonder about how it would weather.

Thanks

David

David, think loose tenons with dowels to hold them in, plus your favorite glue.

[Todd Burch]

I think I would glue up some cedar into wider widths and radius cut each half (quarter circle) of the semi-circle with a band saw. Call me lazy. You'll have to do that anyway if you section straight lengths together.

Todd. Like this:

[Mac McAtee]

Norm Abrams built one of these. If you can get a tape of the show, you can see how he delt with the arch. You also could order his drawing from his web site and get the information.

[Jamie Buxton]

If you do it with short straight sections, you'll have joints looking up at the sky. The wood will expand and contract, and eventually water will be able to work its way into the joint. When that happens, you'll have water sitting in long-term exposure to the the end-grain, which is bad news. To fix this problem, make the top surface of the arch a continuous strip that you bend over the arch and glue on.

[Todd Burch]

Another thought about outdoors, or, perhaps sealing wood in general. I'm making a trestle table right now, and for the base I'm using some pretty rough quality pine (I had it). I am sealing all the pine with epoxy prior to painting it. It is soaking into the wood (I'm using West System) and toughening it up, not to mention providing a good base for a smooth painted finish. With cedar, epoxy might be overkill, but it would eliminate the possibility of water creaping into a joint. (And, if you use glued up sections, epoxy would be a good choice anyway.)

Todd.

[Dave Richards]

Coating with epoxy before painting is a good idea however, instead of regular epoxy I would use CPES, Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer from Smith and Co. (http://www.star-distributing.com/smith/cpeswhy.html) This is thinner than regular epoxy and will soak in better. I would even consider encapsulation in which individual pieces are coated prior to assemblyThat way all the end grain will be sealed even if it isn't actually exposed.

By the way, David, the keystone feature is indeed the detail at the top of the arch with the ball on it.

[David Rose]

All: great ideas to consider. I think Jamie is right. I would like for this to be somewhat durable outdoors with little future care. Todd's idea with Jamie's edge band should protect the end grain.

I know nothing about bending wood. The band would be around 3/4" thick according to the pic. If the edge band is not laminated, this will require steam bending I assume. Other than a cheap/easy heat source, it would be simple to set up... I think. If they are still available, would an electric hotplate be sufficient for that?

Is this the "Norm project"? 25 smackeroos! Mac and others, do you think he use good techniques on this? I've only seen Norm once, and that wasn't enough to gain confidence. Please don't ban me from the Crick! :D If it fits the project, I'll order the plans though they do differ quite a bit from mine.

Thanks

David

[Jim Becker]

Jim, is the "keystone feature" the top center piece with the ball shaped piece crowning it?

Yes. That's what I was refering to.

Regarding the construction technique, the concern about moisture is valid, but you need to balance that with strength. The horizontal method may be an issue with that, depending on the size of the arch...but you'll have to look at it carefully and decide what is best for your project. Either way will get you there!

[David Rose]

Epoxy coating... good idea, but I'm not sure I want (or have the time really) to spend the time right now on putting something like this together and learning to use it. If time works out I may do that.

Jim, the arbor will only support the weight of some roses. However, if the wild ones I just pulled out of the back chain link fence mean anything, that could be "enough". There *were* leanins on the top of the fence before the roses took over for a couple of years. All I can say is that it is a good thing that the dogs got too big and fat to jump that high. :D

Thanks everyone.

David

[Sam Chambers]

David:

Just an idea, and not an original one at that.

I forget if it was Norm or David Marks, but one of them did a similar project and had an interesting way of making the arch. He didn't bend the wood, he rough-cut cut several segments, mitered the ends carefully, and joined them together with splines. The interesting part was what he did with the segments to make them "clampable".

When he rough cut the segments, he left some large "ears" near each end of each segment. During the glue-up, the "ears" allowed him to use garden-variety clamps to pull the splined joints tight and keep them there. Once the glue had set up, he trimmed off the ears and cut the arch to its final shape.

What he ended up with was an arch with the grain running mostly along the path of the arch, and therefore no short grain weak spots.

[Edited to correct typing dyslexia...]