Making Templates

I made a little bit of progress on the bed tonight. Johannes and I scraped off the worst of the glue with a combination of putty knives and a cabinet scraper. There is still some sanding to do but all the drops of squeeze-out have been removed. We trimmed the board to length using the cross-cut sled on the table saw. The headboard is only 15" tall so it was well within the capabilities of the sled I built for my tablesaw.

With that complete I transferred the full-scale headboard pattern onto a piece of 1/4" plywood. Only half the headboard is drawn since the best way to get a perfect mirror image is to use the same template for both sides.  I added a small part of the arc that will form the other half of the headboard. I did this incase I use the router to finish the edge. This way instead of accidentally overshooting the guide bearing will start following the overshoot arc. The overshoot arc is a uses a bit steeper arc so that I'm moving away from the final shape so when I flip the template over I will still need to remove a small amount to match the other side.

I used 1/4" underlay from Lowes - the stuff with the x's on the one side. Its pretty much spot on 1/4" and is nicely sanded on both sides. Makes great template material. I used to use 1/4" hardboard, but the stuff I bought years ago in Minnesota was smooth on only one side with a rough grid like surface on the other which was a bit of a pain when you need to flip the template over as the doublestick tape pretty much gets ruined when the rough surface is pressed onto the tape. For some reason I haven't been able to find any 1/4" hardboard here in Virginia (nor could I find any in Puyallup, WA). There is lots of 1/8" hardboard available that is smooth on both sides but I prefer 1/4" for templates as it matches the height of the bearing on the router bits. I tried out this 1/4" plywood at Christmas for some of the templates  I made for the couch and I'm very happy with it.

I cut the pattern on the bandsaw using a 1/4" blade. I faired the curves with my 3M Sanding Tool Detail 2.25" x 4.5". The 3M detail sander is shaped like a mini clothes iron and has as soft sponge like sanding pad that cuts very rapidly. It took only about 10 minutes to fair the curves and have all the saw marks removed. I had to be careful to make sure that I didn't round over the edge of the template. I used the template to draw the full sized pattern onto the headboard, flipping the template to get both sides. The drawing looks well. I'll wait to cut the headboard though. I'll finish the posts and cut the mortise into the posts to receive the headboard first. That way if I have to fudge I have about 1/4" to 3/8" of extra height on the headboard blank right now, so I can make the headboard slightly taller if needed.

I finished off the night by making the template for the lamb's tongue that I will need to carve onto the end of each of the 45 degree sides where it meets the square stock in the lower portion of the posts. That's my job for tomorrow.