I was rereading a couple of old Fine Woodworking magazines and came across an
article on making Spice Chests.  The
author had a very nice tombstone door on the chest and show the steps for makin
g
it with a router.  I've read the instructions online for making a normal raised
panel door the Galoot way, my question is how would someone go about making a
tombstone raised panel door in the proper Galoot manner?

Walter Anderson

Walt wrote:
> my question is how would someone go about making a
t>ombstone raised panel door in the proper Galoot manner?
I'll second that question.  SWMBO saw the corner cupboard in
the last AWW and I think that I have an addition to the ever
growing project list.  What old exotictools will I need for
this?   ;-)
                    George

A few days ago, Walter Anderson wrote:

>I was rereading a couple of old Fine Woodworking magazines and came across an
>article on making Spice Chests.  The
>author had a very nice tombstone door on the chest and show the steps for
>making
>it with a router.  I've read the instructions online for making a normal raise
d
>panel door the Galoot way, my question is how would someone go about making a
>tombstone raised panel door in the proper Galoot manner?

I asked this same question a few months ago, prompted by the same FWW
article on spice chests (which I plan to make).  Here are the responses
I received (since they were public the first time around, I'm sure the
authors won't mind my reposting them):

Andrew Rappaport wrote:
>you can cut almost any sort of groove or sloped section with a rabbet
>plane.  i havent raised a curved section of a panel that way, but i would
>bet that it would work.  i would start by rough things out with a bench
>plane to establish a begining taper then finish it with a rabbet plane like
>a #90 (stanley bullnose rebate plane, jeff) and scrappers.  if you are only
>doing 1 door under a foot wide, we are not talking a huge project either.
>
>alternately, you could carve it with just a few chisels.
>
>i think there was an american woodworker a couple of years ago showing just
>this techinque.  unfortunately, all my back issues are packed with 30 other
>boxes of books awaiting me to build some new bookcases.

And Bob Brode wrote:
>I've done a small pair of arched-top raised panels this way.  Worked fine,
>although it doesn't take much looking to see that they weren't done with a
>router or shaper.  (Maybe this qualifies as "not well".)
>
>I used a 78; first cut the lip, then the inner fillet, then the slanted
>raise.  (Sorry, I don't recall the right nomenclature.)  However, I sized
>the raise to be about the same width as the 78 cutter, and avoided planing
>quite all the way down to the lip, to avoid digging in the lower corner of
>the cutter.  I think I used the fence on the arch, but I can't remember.
>Probably freehanded it to some extent.   I was content to leave it less than
>perfectly smooth for this particular piece, but no doubt you could finish
>with scrapers or a shoulder plane, as Andrew suggests.
>
>(http://modigliani.brandx.net/user/bbrode/furniture/43p.htm for a picture --
>if you look closely you can see a little faceting on the arches.)

Finally, someone pointed me towards FWW issue No. 50, Jan/Feb '85 which
has an article by Roger Schroeder entitled "Fancy Raised Panels".  He
doesn't just do simple arches on his panels, but rather variations that
include ogee, half-moon, quarter-moon, serpentine, cyma, linenfold-fan,
etc. His techniques include using machines (e.g. table saw) to remove as
much waste as possible (of course we would use our planes for this),
followed by basic carving tools to shape the hollows and rounds.  Here he
uses a v-parting tool for inside corners, or rather the recessed
intersections of two meeting curves; flat or convex areas are done with
a skew or square-end chisel, and various gouges are used for the hollows,
depending on how deep or shallow they are.

In the article on spice chests that Walter mentioned, the author does most
of the work with a router, but it still comes down to finishing up with
chisels and carving tools.

Hope this helps!

Paul Fuss
What?  Skill and patience?  But isn't there an easier way?  ;-)

Wowser !    (US expression I believe,Jeff)

I sign on to get a fast fix of Oldtools, and the first msg from the bag
is
from Don Berry, saying....

..snips per FAQ..

> but has anyone mentioned making the curved profile and groove in the
> rail (by hand) yet?
>
>The groove for the panel might not be too bad;  start by marking a
> shallow groove with a scratch stock (mounted in a dowel?) or a beader,
> and carefully make it deeper with a chisel?  But what about the cove
>
..more snip. .

Now - I recently made something similar at the top of a door, and
found this the most tricky part.  I ended up using a mortice gauge
and then chiselling out the bulk of the waste.
For depth, I tried a wooden OWT (Router) which finished the groove,
and trimmed the sides with a Record 2156 side rabbet.  I had to
buy a Record 20 to finish up everything 

Luckily I didn't need to profile the cove, but having just been there,
I appreciate the difficulty, and would consider making a wooden plane
body to take an existing iron of the profile I needed.
This would need to be something similar to Don's suggestion of a
coachmakers plane, though it may be possible to bodge together
something for a one off which would hold the iron. even if it were a
built up 3 layer sandwich body, screwed together.  I happen to know
that Don McConnell is busy making some handrail planes, and
when I checked a reference he gave in George Ellis's 'Modern
Carpentry' of 1902 I find that handrail planes have convex curved
soles like a coachmakers to allow the blade to be presented to
the work inside a concave surface.

Of course, spin**le mould**s have been around a long time too,
powered without electrons..



ARW

Lots of good advice about making curved raised panels by hand snipped...

Yes....., but has anyone mentioned making the curved profile and groove in the
rail (by hand) yet?
The majority of your planes (with typical fences) will work o.k. on convex
curves, but aren't worth squat for concave edges (unless  you're trying to
joint away the curve ;)

The groove for the panel might not be too bad;  start by marking a shallow
groove with a scratch stock (mounted in a dowel?) or a beader, and carefully
make it deeper with a chisel?  But what about the cove (or more complicated
profile) on the rail?  Seems like you either use compass planes, or do it by
hand with gouges. Do all you guys own coach-maker's planes, or am I missing
something obvious.

How about some creative solutions from Galoots who've been there and done it?

Somehow I doubt that curved rails were made casually in the old days, unless
the shop had some specialized tools.

Cheers,
Don Berry

PS sorry if this was indeed already covered in this thread... I've been trying
to stay current with stuff on the list, but may have skipped /deleted some
posts prematurely.

There's a good article in FWW, believe this month's issue, about making
the curved pediments?? in Chippendale furniture.  The author makes them
mostly by hand (routes rough profile) using gouges and such.  My be a good
way to do these panels.