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Kerf Cutting of Timber

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derekwarner:
 :o....question for Neil......

Kerf Cuts in timber Hull top Railing Support

Have you used Kerf cut timber hull top rail supports?...[adding strength without necessarily any or minimal distortion?]

I have asked Mr Google, however the information is rather limited 

From the depiction I see in Violin manufacture, we could us Kerf cut timber supports in either direction of bends, convex or concave 

Do you have any wise words or tips on this subject?

[The image below is just an extreme example  <*< of Kerf cutting.......not really what I had considered]

Derek

tigertiger:
I have seen it used in some cabinet making, although I haven't done any bent work yet.
However, the kerf cut method is noted for NOT being strong. It works well with plywoods and in your example above pine. However, it may be a different matter with many hardwoods as they are brittle. When I have seen kerf cutting used for bending wood, it was used in conjunction with a former to hold the shape of the curve as you glue it to something else.
Personally, I would not use it with the cut edge on the outside of the curve. The risk would be getting all of the bending stress along a single line (cut groove), and snapping.



There is additional information in this link http://www.rockler.com/how-to/bending-wood-part-i/
Doing a search on 'bending timber' might throw up a few more results for you.

tigertiger:
Addendum.
I am not sure what you mean by top rail supports. If I was going to use this for a cap rail, I would still use a thin layer of ply flat on top, and then trim the ply to fit after the glue has dried. You would need something flat to glue the cut piece too, to hold the shape of the curve. I would still use a former.
If I wanted a very strong bent piece, and did not want to glue it to a flat piece, I might use this method, then flood the kerf cuts with epoxy resin, bend around a former, and then sand back the surplus resin when everything was dry. However the epoxied piece would still be visible, unless painted.

derekwarner:
Yes TT.....

The Top Rail supports the Cap Rail......the former is a construction piece, whereas the latter name is a more definitive and commonly used term

I would not consider offering upwards a Kerf cut wooden board as a top piece {-)

Lets see what Neil thinks.....after all he was a teacher of Chippies :-))

Derek

Neil:

not to such a high degree in teaching and projects with kids, as to  form a right angled bend,nor in model boat building but as a teacher I did once as was helping a lad construct a telephone seat for his grade 11 exam whilst in Canberra and he got excellent results from the oak he was using, using a pad saw across the width  to round the external frame, and then we set a jig to hold each section at right angles.the outer frame was akin to a modern IKEA  chair, but without steaming the timber and laminating.


however I use it all the time when laying out the inner longitudinal stretchers at deck height to take the cross beams. I put my cuts to the inside usually so that the 2 part epoxy bends both into the cuts and the grp hull, with excellent results..........never had a beam break off.


if you have a look at any of my lifeboat builds you'll see it used constantly.

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