One of the last projects I need to do to complete the interior trim on our house is to build a frame for and trim out a round (interior) window. The window came from an 1830 building at Harvard and was rescued from a dumpster by our architect 30 years ago. I've rebuilt and re-glazed the window itself, which will end up painted.
Now I need to make a frame for it. All of our interior woodwork is cherry. I've thought basically that I need to make a round piece that fits into the octagonal hole in the wall, coming out to the wall surface on each side then set the window inside of that with appropriate curved moldings. The frame on top of that can be simply applied to the wall. I've attached a picture of my current design concept, as well as a picture that puts the window more in context and shows what the other woodwork looks like.
I'm not sure of the best way to build the round frame. My first thought was bent lamination, and I've already cut and prepped thin cherry plies that will bend into that size circle. How to keep everything lined up and then pulled tight then? Again my first thought was a full size interior circular form made out of particle board or such where I could wrap the plies around and secure them with a band clamp. Past experience with this method is less than encouraging i terms of not having any gaps and getting perfect contact all the way around for 4-5 plies. Would a vacuum bag be easier? Should I try to do it all at once, or just add one play at a time, independent of holding method. The edges will be visible at the reveal so have to be both cherry and decent looking.
Is there an easier/better way to go about this that I've overlooked?
I thought about doing an enormous segmented turning, but I'm not sure all the joints would look good. It would be fun to try turning something 3 ft in diameter.
Bending ply might be easier to form into the right shape, but then it would need to be veneered on the inside of the circle and edges, which also seems challenging.
Thoughts or directions to a reference on how it's done by folks who know what they're doing would be appreciated.
TaviQHtYSUS01exsLWtlRA.jpg IMG_0790.jpg IMG_0791.jpg window.jpeg
First picture is the window, second the hole, third the hole from a distance, and fourth, the intended window design. The triangular areas will be birdseye maple like on the other windows, with the rest of elemts cherry, differentiated by using different thickness of wood to create reveal line.