How to smooth a curved door?

[Jeffrey Makiel]

What is the best way to smooth the concave curve of a staved constructed door made from mahogany.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y84/Beff2/Door.jpg

I was thinking about using Veritas Pull Shave, but it's a bit pricey ($130) for a one time thing. Would hand scapers work?

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y84/Beff2/05p5001s1.jpg

-Jeff :)

[Jim Becker]

Well...both the pull-shave and a flexible curved hand plane are going to cost you. Do you really, really need to remove the flats from the coopering on the inside? You could try power sanding with 60 grit...but do it on a sample first and pay attention to the top/bottom edges to see how that works out.

[Al Killian]

Mybe a spindle sander would work.

[Jeff Patrick]

I have used a curved sole spokeshave for doing precisily this. You would attack the wood at a cross grain angle. It's not the most elaborate of tools or process, but gets the job done. Actually, a flat sole spokeshave may work if the radius isn't too small. Final smoothing can be accomplished by making a curved sanding block.

[Per Swenson]

I know you don't wanna spend any money,

But this sure looks like a oppurtunity to get one of these.

Add in, a make your own sanding pad... short work.

http://festool.ndic.com/ProductDetails.aspx?id=7&prodid=567777

Per

[Jamie Buxton]

You can make a Krenov-style plane with a curved blade. Hock sells plane blades in several radii specifically for this purpose. However, I've found that power sanders do a pretty good job. A sanding disc on a 4" right-angle grinder does most of the shaping, and a ROS cleans it up.

[Gary Herrmann]

Resaw a piece of wood so its 1/8" thick. Glue or contact cement sandpaper to it - repeat as needed for the various grits. It should conform to the shape. You didn't provide the radius, but I assume it will work.

You may have to play with the width, so you don't spend a week hand sanding.

Its cheap.

[Brian Brown]

Jeff,

I would do what Gary Herrmann said with the 1/8 inch piece of hard wood. In fact that is what I did with the cabinet doors I made in the post titled Finished Display cabinet (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=54897). My construction was not staved, but due to lack of skill and experience, my bandsaw cuts were really rough. I used a spindle sander to smooth them out somewhat. (Be careful, the spindle method can get aggressive and leave uneven low spots.) Then I used the sandpaper glued to a thin piece of wood. The wood kept the sandpaper in a nice smooth arc, and worked only the high spots. Change sandpaper often. Also you should fashon some sort of handle, or you will get the worst hand cramps a few minutes in. Good Luck!

Brian

[Joe Unni]

...A sanding disc on a 4" right-angle grinder does most of the shaping, and a ROS cleans it up...

I just discovered the joys of a right angle grinder for this very purpose. It worked fantastic!

Good luck,
-joe

[Alan Turner]

In a thread long ago, Mark Singer had a great idea. He took an inexpensive transitional plane (wood sole), and reshaped the sole and iron to the curve he needed. I have put that into my memory bank for when I need it.

[Mark Singer]

Here is the thread Alan refered to..

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=14202&highlight=bath+cabinet

With the boards joined and glued you may have a bit of grain orientation issues to deal with as I stated in this article

http://www.wkfinetools.com/contrib/mSinger/marcouR/marcou1.asp

You can fair the concave side with a ROS after planning(watch the tearout)....start at around 60 grit working towards 220 in stages.

[Tom Jones III]

This is mahogany, I would use a curved card scraper. I've got a pembroke table made out of mahogany that sandpaper never touched, just handplaned to thickness then hand scraped smooth and it looks beautiful.

[Charley Preston]

Check out this link I just stumbled across - homemade plane for this very job!

http://www.lyndisbrowwoodworker.com/ldw_1_008.htm