Woodworks by.John

Inspiration and trial piece Lay out and starting technique

Those of you who follow my work know that I’m often inspired to create a frame when I go into Diane’s studio and see a work in progress. Well, recently I saw a dancer that she was painting and immediately thought Flamenco and visualized the fans I’ve seen Flamenco dancers use. Next thing you know I’m searching the net for pictures!! Once I found a picture of the fan to use the next hurdle was figuring out how to make a pattern and transfer that to each corner of the frame. Adding to the challenge is that the frame has a 15° slant to it so using a compass wasn’t an option. The frames size allowed for a circle with a 2″ radius so the first step was to use the Pages program and print off a couple of circles of that size, that’s the gray piece in the right photo. I’m a big fan of using plastic from lettuce containers to make my templates. The paper is attached to it with spray adhesive then cut to shape. For the circular piece in the center I used a 7/14mm gouge to not only cut the template but also the wood. The outside was carefully cut out with scissors and the location of the frame miter was marked on it as well.

Line the template up with the sight edge and the miter to draw the circle (3/4 of one actually). you need a way to divide the circumference into an even number of parts. The only way I know to do this is to use dividers , if you’re not familiar with these they’re the black tool in the right picture. Set up the dividers on paper, not your wood — you’ll be doing a lot of trial and error work to do this so paper is easier to erase! As a furniture maker I use them a lot to divide a given space into equal sized parts and layout dovetails. To use them you “guesstimate” a size you think would work, adjust the dividers to that size and then “step it off” from end to the other end. The goal is for the last step off to end exactly at the end of the piece. Until it does you’ll need to make very small adjustments spreading the legs more or less until you get equal sized fan blades. Keep the dividers at that setting, you’ll need them for each corner. Note: I’ve tried to explain this the best I could but it is confusing, here is a LINK for a short article I found on the net.

Use dividers to find center of fan blade Draw arrows to show direction of slope

Once your corner looks like the left hand picture it’s time to divide the fans — I strongly suggest only doing two blades at a time to save confusion. Measure and make a mark at the center on one blade. Use the dividers to mark the centers of all of them, you may need to eyeball and adjust if it doesn’t look quite right to your eye. The right hand picture shows the arrows drawn to remind me which way the slope goes. Here’s the order that worked for me and the tools I used for this project:

• Use 1F/8mm skew to cut angled line from outside to middle line at the bottom of 2 blades, draw your arrows to indicate slope direction
• Use 3F/6 to cut to desired depth at end of the blade. I also used a 2/10mm and 2/14mm to blend the carving into the rest of the frame
• I used what I call my golf ball skew, it’s an old Marples skew fitted with a golf ball which lets me make curved or straight free hand cuts. Make a straight cut down the middle line from the inner circle to the end of the fan blade
• The goal is to have a tapered cut that slopes to the middle line and down to the end. For me, the best tool was a 3/4″ very sharp bench chisel. Take very light cuts and work from both sides trying to stop your cut before hitting the other side. Definitely practice these, you can’t put the wood back!
• You will probably need to deepen the cut at the end of the fan blade to maintain a sharp edge.
• The grain direction changes on every cut due to the miter and to add to the challenge my profile has a 15° angle too.

What you need My cove cutting jig

Cutting coves seems like a job more suited to a shaper or perhaps a very large router. However; did you know your table saw is a great tool for this purpose? When building a piece of furniture you won’t find moldings to match the wood species you’re using so need to make your own. I use the same technique to create larger coved picture frame moldings — let me share it with you. As it happens all too often, an internet search will yield many methods, many of which contradict each other. My method simplifies the process, making it much easier to create coves whether it’s for a picture frame or molding for furniture.

All my jig requires is a straight, sturdy piece of material. Mine is Basswood 1″ thick x 2″ wide and 52″ long — cut-offs from frame making material. About 9″ from one end I centered a hole for a 1/4″ bolt. This is to attach a 3″x 6″ piece of wood; install a threaded insert for that. The purpose of the 3×6 piece is to let the cove cutting jig lay flat on the table; size yours to your saw, mine was a little over an inch thick. To keep it from slipping around while you clamp it down use double stick tape and apply a piece of sandpaper to it. This is the key part to simplify setting the angle for your cove. You will also need a block for the outfeed end of the jig to bridge the distance between the table top and the back rail.

Step 1:

Mark tooth where blade enters and exits Setting angle with parallelogram

Your first step is to determine how deep your cove will be and set your blade at that height. I use a Tenryu Gold Medal 40 tooth combo blade. I’ve experimented using 8″ dado blades as well but the Tenryu works fine. For reference, these pictures are from the infeed side of the saw. Make a mark where the tooth of the blade enters and exits (I put down a piece of tape). After lowering the blade use a shop made parallelogram set for the width of your cove. Angle the parallelogram until it aligns with the marks you made on the throat plate. Draw a line on the inside as shown by the arrow. Note: a parallelogram is relatively simple to make. Make it from straight material, mine is 3/4″ square material and the pieces are 16″ and 6″ long. Set the measurement between the two long pieces and tighten the screws.

Step 2:

Adjust fence to angle and tighten down Add the width of shoulder and move fence as required

What really simplifies this process is to using the jig I described above. Most methods have you try to place a clamp at either end of this long piece while keeping it aligned with the line you drew — no way; you’ll need another pair of hands. Align the fence to the line you drew on the inside of the parallelogram and tighten securely while putting pressure against the block to keep it tight against the table — this is where that piece of sandpaper comes in handy! My cove has a 3/8″ shoulder on one side so the fence needs to be shifted away from the blade. If you have set up blocks use them to draw that line then slide the fence to it and securely clamp it in place. You can also just make a mark.

Step 3:

Step: 4:

Creating detail at sight edge Final profile

The final steps to create this profile was to first use a Veritas skew rabbet plane to add a detail to the sight edge. This was followed by cutting the rabbet for the canvas to eventually fit into.

This is the method I use all of the time and certainly not the only way to go about it. For me, it’s relatively easy and quick for creating the occasional coves I need in my work. To do production runs of this process you may want to consider a more complex set-up. Appreciate any comments if you use this and it works out for you too.