I am building a very nice wall unit entertainment center for a customer. It is large at 14' long. Near the ends there are pillars. I basically built two boxes that stand 65" tall and 12" wide and 24" deep. The front of these boxes the customer wanted 1/2 rounds out of maple to give the look of a 'pillar'. I built a form at the front of the box, then I laminated maple vaneer over it. The vaneer did not come out great. This is my first attempt at anything like this. My first attempt at applying vaneer also. I cannot let the job go like this and discussed it with the customer. He wants me to purchase an actual pillar 12" in diameter and cut it in 1/2 giving me two 1/2 rounds, then put those 1/2 rounds on the front of the box. This would then give 6" thick at the thickest point. I am unable to find any place to provide one pillar made of maple to fit these dimensions. I had one quote of around $1000.00 which would kill the budget on this job.
I have considered cutting several 3/4" by 1" styles and cutting some angle such as maybe 22.5 degree and glueing them up thus forming the radious of a circle. Then I would just need to use a belt sander to sand down the points to form a constant curve. Since I have never done this it would be mostly trial and error and probably a lot of headache.
I am posting a pic of the wall unit. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Jerry