Home Improvement/DIY Projects

I don’t hate the Jews, I just want to make that clear. You know, in case any of you happen to be Jewish.

I’m quite fond of them outside of this particular demon.
 
@Sheik @mcnuttz @Cotton @anyonelse

Thinking of doing a little project where I need a curved but flat wood surface, if that makes sense. Only a couple feet wide by about a foot long. Not a super sharp curve either, just a gentle one.

I was going to take a couple of pieces of old 2x10 or 2x12 that I have, cut a curve into it with a band saw, then attach some 1x2 (or 2x2) pieces across both of them. But I'm reading it might be easier done by bending a piece of plywood, either putting it in water for a while or by cutting slits almost all the way through.

Have any of you guys done this?
 
Chocolate Lab said:
@Sheik @mcnuttz @Cotton @anyonelse

Thinking of doing a little project where I need a curved but flat wood surface, if that makes sense. Only a couple feet wide by about a foot long. Not a super sharp curve either, just a gentle one.

I was going to take a couple of pieces of old 2x10 or 2x12 that I have, cut a curve into it with a band saw, then attach some 1x2 (or 2x2) pieces across both of them. But I'm reading it might be easier done by bending a piece of plywood, either putting it in water for a while or by cutting slits almost all the way through.

Have any of you guys done this?
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I have not done this before. The water thing sounds most feasible to maintain the integrity of the wood.
 
Chocolate Lab said:
@Sheik @mcnuttz @Cotton @anyonelse

Thinking of doing a little project where I need a curved but flat wood surface, if that makes sense. Only a couple feet wide by about a foot long. Not a super sharp curve either, just a gentle one.

I was going to take a couple of pieces of old 2x10 or 2x12 that I have, cut a curve into it with a band saw, then attach some 1x2 (or 2x2) pieces across both of them. But I'm reading it might be easier done by bending a piece of plywood, either putting it in water for a while or by cutting slits almost all the way through.

Have any of you guys done this?
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If you had an example of what the piece will look like I could make a suggestion.

When I’m doing radius work, the method I use depends on if it’s stain or paint grade.
 
Sheik said:
If you had an example of what the piece will look like I could make a suggestion.

When I’m doing radius work, the method I use depends on if it’s stain or paint grade.
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Appearance doesn't matter at all, it will be covered up.
 
If it’s paint grade I’d do what’s called lamination. For instance, if you were going to use a 2x material, I’d use two pieces and rip them to make strips that could be easily bent to the radius and glue all the layers. You use more material to get the desired thickness because of the blade hogging out material. If that makes sense.

If it’s stain grade, kerf is really the only way to go. Unless you have access to a steam box.

I haven’t ever used water, so I can’t give you any first hand info on that. I haven’t ever used heard of people doing that.
 
I’m not really picturing what you’re trying to achieve. If its plywood sheet material that you’re trying to radius, I would definitely use kerf relief cuts.
 
Sheik said:
If it’s paint grade I’d do what’s called lamination. For instance, if you were going to use a 2x material, I’d use two pieces and rip them to make strips that could be easily bent to the radius and glue all the layers. You use more material to get the desired thickness because of the blade hogging out material. If that makes sense.
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Thanks, I read about that too. My dad has some material left over from a cabinet shop and I'll see if he has some thin stuff I can glue together and do that.

Sheik said:
I’m not really picturing what you’re trying to achieve. If its plywood sheet material that you’re trying to radius, I would definitely use kerf relief cuts.
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Think of like a 45* angle but with just a slight radius to it. It doesn't have to be a drastic curve, just a little less than flat.
 
If you need to bend the wood, i'd recommed 1/4" luan.

Obvioualy have no idea what you're doing, but luan cut into strips is easy to work with.
 
Probably very old news to anyone who does this, but I recently got one of those portable bandsaws for my metal/welding tinkering, and I can't believe how well it works. Before I just had an old abrasive chop saw, and even with a new wheel it was slow, crude, and obviously super noisy. (In fact I never want to see one of those again because I think it messed up my hearing a little bit.) I knew the bandsaw would be quieter, but I didn't expect it to cut so easily and quickly.
 
Chocolate Lab said:
Probably very old news to anyone who does this, but I recently got one of those portable bandsaws for my metal/welding tinkering, and I can't believe how well it works. Before I just had an old abrasive chop saw, and even with a new wheel it was slow, crude, and obviously super noisy. (In fact I never want to see one of those again because I think it messed up my hearing a little bit.) I knew the bandsaw would be quieter, but I didn't expect it to cut so easily and quickly.
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Just don't forget to keep the blade cool. Water is your friend if you're cutting metal that is over probably 1/4" depending on the bandsaw size. It will snap a blade if it gets too hot.
 
Just curious, Chapo, but what kind of metal working are you doing? Like metal art or more practical metal working like welding a horseshoe to a piece of sheet metal to make a crude hat hanger?
 
Cotton said:
Just curious, Chapo, but what kind of metal working are you doing? Like metal art or more practical metal working like welding a horseshoe to a piece of sheet metal to make a crude hat hanger?
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So far, just using some old angle plus square and round tubing to make tables, workout equipment, stuff like that. The thickest I've used so far is 11 gauge, though I might use some c-channel that's almost 1/4" thick. Plus I'll use some solid round 1" bar.

TLDR, practical. I'm definitely no artist. :lol Plus I'm using an old A/C only buzzbox, so it's hard to weld anything too delicate or pretty.
 
Cotton said:
Just don't forget to keep the blade cool. Water is your friend if you're cutting metal that is over probably 1/4" depending on the bandsaw size. It will snap a blade if it gets too hot.
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Use a cutting oil, not water. Water will find it's way inside the tool body and cause rust/corrosion. Better for the blade, too.
 
Chocolate Lab said:
So far, just using some old angle plus square and round tubing to make tables, workout equipment, stuff like that. The thickest I've used so far is 11 gauge, though I might use some c-channel that's almost 1/4" thick. Plus I'll use some solid round 1" bar.

TLDR, practical. I'm definitely no artist. :lol Plus I'm using an old A/C only buzzbox, so it's hard to weld anything too delicate or pretty.
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Dude, I'm all about practical. To me it makes more sense to spend time on something you will use versus something you just look at. I do the same thing but with wood. I really really want to get better with my lathe so I can start building furniture. Lot of money in that business if you can get good at it. Same with metal. I just always sucked at metal, so I chose wood (insert joke here).
 
NoDak said:
Use a cutting oil, not water. Water will find it's way inside the tool body and cause rust/corrosion. Better for the blade, too.
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We didn't have that fancy cutting oil shit when I was younger. We had to spray it with water.
 
Speaking of cutting oil, and since I'm here and you guys might have done this, I was thinking about making a power rack out of that thick c-channel that I just happen to have. Would be easy to weld, but the problem -- and the reason I haven't done it yet -- is I'd need to drill probably 80 or so 1" holes in it for the pins.

How hard is that to do? Or not that it's hard, but would it take forever and would I need to go through several bits? I have a suitable old drill press but I've never drilled metal like that so I don't have a good idea of how long each one would take.

@NoDak @Cotton @mcnuttz @anyoneelse
 
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