How to make a curved front dawer

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Hi there.
I have decided to start a couple of projects at the same time while I'm waiting for the different finishes of my chair to dry, and one of them is a chest of drawers, as the front of the drawers will be curved (see drawing) I wonder if is there any trick or special technique to make them.

If I had a big lathe I could have glued the boards on a square wooden box and turn four of them at a time, but I haven't any and the only way I can imagine is by using section templates and hand planning.

Making some chamfers on the jointer and finishing them is a possibility but I'm not so sure in how to make them in a repetitive way and all equal.

Any help will be great ly appreciated.

Thanks in advance
 

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toni, there`s a couple of ways to make single plane curves....cutting them out of solid stock as you mention is one. if you go that route then make a female template that you can slide up-n-down the length to check continuity.
a better use of wood that will allow grain matching is to resaw thin plys and glue them back together using a form.
 
Hi Tod.

Thanks for your hint. If I used your suggestion of laminating thin plys that would give a concave curved interior of the front of the drawer as well. Wouldn't it?

Then, how would you treat the end sides of it?
 
Yeah! :thumb: That can either be fun or "funstrating":D Would you place them parallel or radially following the curve?

ya` lost me toni? the drawer sides would pretty much have to be cut at a larger radius than the inside of the face in order to have the tails follow the curve. here`s a hillbilly sketch-up:eek:
MVC-624S.JPG
 
ya` lost me toni? the drawer sides would pretty much have to be cut at a larger radius than the inside of the face in order to have the tails follow the curve. here`s a hillbilly sketch-up:eek:
View attachment 14213

Excuse me Tod, I apologise I had a lapsus, what I tried to mean was that being the end of the side rail a curve, the dovetails could be radial from the center point of the front curve. Those would be almost parallel (sides) dovetails, but dovetails after all wouldn't they? and it is my suposition that they would be easier to do and their tips would be less fragile than the others (left side) due to the grain orientation.

I left the construction lines to clarify my point.

BTW a "hillbilly sketch" is the same as a quick or rough sketch? Thanks for it and your help
 

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I have seen magazine articles for making things like a "sea chest". The lids were made from thick straight boards joined on edge with tongue-and-groove (or other) joinery. (You would skip this step, of course, if you use solid wood.) The curved surface was shaped with a router sitting on a specially-designed support that followed the curve.

I wonder if I could find such an article again? I'll do some searching....


EDIT: Darn - this drawer front (http://www.woodcraft.com/articles.aspx?articleid=422) curves in the wrong direction. But it's not what I was looking for.
 
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To quote U2, "I still haven't found what I'm looking for...." But here is something with a similar idea, from the "MAKING SPHERICAL SURFACES ON PARTS" section of [THIS PAGE]:

vitrine15.JPG


The router support in your case would be straight rather than curved.
 
I would simply glue up each drawer front from a number of strips chamfered on the jointer on the front face so that they make the approximate curve. Then plane or sand them to the curve. This has the advantage that the back face is flat making assembly of the drawer box more straightforward.
 
Alfredo, Kerry, Hubert, thanks a lot to you all. With all this information my brain is getting full of different ideas where all this techniques, could be applied.

Kerry thanks a lot for the stills, as I haven't been able to download the video they have been very helpful.

Wait to see the results of your input in a few months time!:wave:
 
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