Cutting Corners

basswood

PL Premium and 1-1/8" narrow crown staples:

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basswood

Looks like the tightest diameter they make is 13.5" and they are circular and I needed about 6" diameter and elliptical (I was matching the shape of an original arch in the home).

Regards,

Bass

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basswood

Here is another tip. If you cut the arch corners in one direction... the point tears off on the last saw stroke. The trick is to cut from both ends to the middle.

Also to get a smoother bend, I bent sets together (bending individual pieces makes a more segmented looking bend). I left the pre-bent sets in about the shape I needed while I got the openings ready.

The last photo is the snapping set up.

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stp57

Looks great, but I thought that if it didn't grow on trees that it would be beneath King Bass to use it?
Steve

basswood

Whatever pays the bills.

Here is an update on the arches from last week.

First pic is of "washboard chatter" (subtle waves that are hard to sand out or float in).

Second pic: filling across the chatter with a bat knife.

3rd pic: done.

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WarnerConstInc.

Looks like it was always there!!

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basswood

Thanks, these arches were mostly added into old plaster walls that are all over the place in thickness, etc... so it was a challenge to blend them in. Owner likes the results, so all is good.

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Frankawitz

Bass, Nice work but that's a lot of extra work you could have used metal lath and saved you some time and materials. I'll see if I can find some pictures of some Big arches I have done.

basswood

See, I knew the real plaster guys would have a different way to do it.

Sometimes I do things the hard way... or at least it looks harder, but then again, I'm set up for carpentry--rather than plaster work--so to me your method might look hard, while mine looks easy to me.

This job has arches all over, but I've been doing a room at a time to get the family back into some of the rooms (did office, then mudroom, then utility room, then laundry, now bathroom and next is a hallway). Now that is more work than doing it all at once, but they are glad to be back in the office and be back doing laundry, etc. while I finish the rest. Pros and cons to every approach I guess.

Anyway, another reason for the way I framed the arches is that the last pair of arches are flanking a pocket door. My solid framing should hold up well for the pocket. I'll add pics of that next week.

I sometimes have a difficult time getting real plaster supplies here, so drywall and joint compound are used when something else might be better or more authentic.

Thanks for checking in on this.

Cheers,

Brian

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IHI

I took the "woodbutcher" approach too and made wood framing we hung and then rocked over/blended in after the template was in place....I even did it old school for the jig with a piece of string tied taunt and then trraced the elliptical with a pencil. Have used this method on doing elliptical edges on deck fronts as well. Works good once you get used to it...following the string it takes a natural elliptical pattern.

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texastutt

Yea, I've done the wood butcher way, seems that's what I am... I can plaster pretty darn good but that stuff is hard to come by up here and I'd be lost with all that lath.

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Warren

IHI:

When you say you used the string approach to create the elliptical, I am not seeing that in those pics. Those are not ellipse's. Right??
I have so far, never had to create an ellipse. They are just not that common around here. Occasionally we may see a single door or a window with one but it is rare. We do a lot of other rounded items, steps, ceilings, archways, barrels, domes, etc and I know how to do those with the string, just waiting for the opportunity. It can also be done with a straight edge and some nails too if I recall.

IHI

Yeah, i like radiuses since those are a no brainer, The few times we've made the elliptical look, I just place a nail at both ends of where i want the transition to stop- where the ends of the elliptical will terminate on the walls per say. Then i just place a string between these two nails and make it as taunt as necessary to get the elliptical look I'm need to fit the height needed...measurements and finagling. Then you just start your pencil at the one nail and push it outward on the string while you drag your pencil left/right (whatever direction you prefer to work from)

Since the string is anchored at two point, the string will bow out in an elliptical pattern as you push the pencil out on the string. Cant remember where i read it yrs ago, and to be honest i've only done it a handful of times, but it works pretty good for basic set up's. If a guy was going to do a ceiling/canopy with elliptical rafters, then it'd be worth taking the time to make a true elliptical jig, but for a ceiling break like above, it works juse fine doing the "simpleton way"

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billy d

HIH not trying to bust your chops or be pedantic but I think Warren is right what you have drawn is a cord if it was a true ellipse it would round at the ends and run fair into the walls.
Just take a look at what bass made JMO. billy

IHI

Ellipticals are oval. All bass did was do "rounded corners" for lack of better terms since the top of the opening is flat...that's not elliptical by any defination....the "rounded over corners" are elliptical in nature, but the opening itself is not a true elliptical- see pic below for what an elliptical opening looks like and/or google elliptical and you'll see to be a TRUE elliptical it's oval all the way, not just the apex of the inside corners of a square opening:

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billy d

I agree with your definition on what is an ellipse.If your client is happy with what you did in the pics you show thats all that counts.
I only know of one method of forming an ellipse with two nails and a piece of string,this does not involve putting the nails in the wall.
To form the ellipse you must find two focal points,off the top of my head I think the correct term is foci.I only know one way of finding the foci,but just for arguments sake if this is 12"from each wall you place a nail at these two points.
Then tie the string to the nail on the right pull the sting to the wall on the left place a pencil against the wall and loop the string on the pencil and back to the nail on the left and tie it.

This will give you a true ellipse,some people use this as a sort of party trick but the real trick is finding where the foci should be in a ellipse of a given size.I'm sorry but I still think what you formed is a cord. billy

jlhaslip

During the summer, I have pretty good luck cutting strips of drywall to the required width, placing them over a large diameter pipe on sawhorses or a cable spool and 'wetting' the backs lightly. Leave them long as the extra weight helps to shape them.
Leave them in the sun and they will form into curved pieces which makes all the scoring un-neccesary. That looks like a lot of trouble.
Wet as required for a few hours.
Never tried it indoors in the winter, but it might work.

72chevy4x4

from the research I did on making an ellipse, one marked distinction is that the sides tend to vertical as does the picture in post #35 but not in the picture in post #30

basswood

I stated, early in this thread, that the work I was doing were not true elliptical arches (since they have a flat top). The shape of the curve in the corners is consistent with the shape of an ellipse though.

Similarly, a flat, shallow arch, over a wide opening could be a partial ellipse, but with out the portion to the ellipse where the sides quickly turn from mostly horizontal to vertical, it won't look like the curve is part of an ellipse.

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genecarp

Whatever you want to call them they came out sweet, i do them the same way, however instead of that long ang cut on the band saw, i just use 1x2 on the flat, run an angle using the table saw through the last two end pieces, and span the rock 2 or so " till it hits the flat, then i use double 1/4'', GMOD

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