latestpets: [New post] panel decoration

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panel decoration

by pfollansbee

Today was a long day doing one thing - gluing stuff onto the cupboard. Last week sometime I turned the blanks for the arches. I fumbled around a bit but got some I liked after some practice.

I turned them from thicker stock than the finished arches, but that was to fit the mandrel I was using. Afterwards I cut them into quarters and dressed them to 3/8" thick.

Also last week I mocked-up a frame that is the same size as the panel opening. That way I could do all the scribing and fitting of the arches on the bench where it's easier to look directly over the work.

scribing the arches to fit the keystones

Today it was time to glue one set of these and the supporting moldings on one panel. Below is why I waited to attach the cornice and install the soffit (They're all cut & ready to go). I'm using hide glue so don't really need to clamp this stuff - I can hold it in place long enough for it to grab, but it doesn't hurt to use the clamps when they can reach.

So the next thing is to just cut and fit all the moldings and junk that goes under those arches. There's two triangular blocks of maple that fit down along the bottom rail. Their points aim at the space between the arches. So to line them up I used a square - my try square was too short. This one from Chris Schwarz was too long - so I boosted it up with a scrap piece sitting on the top rail. In the end, I never measured that spacing to see how even it is. It's more important to me for them to line up above and below than to be even left to right.

Then a couple of easy pieces before the fun begins. These two moldings are scribed to meet that horizontal piece under the arch. Technically I guess it's an impost - but for some stupid reason it tapers the same way as the keystones. Which means the bottom of the arch and the top of this molding are both angled. The bottom of these moldings is plain ol' 45 degrees.

I keep thinking "I'm a carver, not a ______" (whatever the joiner who cuts all this molding is...) I don't do this enough to be fast at it, I'm barely good at it. Here's how I find that angle between the two pieces that run along this bottom edge. Connect those dots, cut that out with a knife, then set an adjustable bevel to that angle. Probably a lot of ways to do this, but this one got me there.

Jumping ahead. It's pretty redundant work - scribe the angle, cut it, check it - make any adjustments, then glue it on - after getting the bottom rail done there's two more maple bits glued on under the junction between the arches. Then 3 moldings around each of these. Then two applied turnings - one oval, one sort of squashed oval.

I felt like I was done - I certainly wasn't going any further today (it was getting dark). But there's nine more pieces to go on this panel. Those small spaces above the arches get filled, then three long turned drops under each arch. And below them three round applied bits. The bare strips on the left & right get painted black. So those disappear.