Pie Crust Type Carving ??

B

briyon

Well-known member
I have done a couple of pie crust type projects, a Pie crust tray class with George Slack and a reproduction Goddard Tea Table top.  Even with these projects and the practice that went along with them I still struggle with the best way to deal with the corners or the areas where the the molding carvings transition.  Does anyone have any tricks on how to deal with these areas to leave a nice clean, crisp line?  I am working on a new table of my own design that has some of these details.

Thanks,

Brian
 
Brian- I'm assuming you mean the inside mitred corners where the molding comes together in a one-board top. The following method might be for an ogee-molded tray top like the Goddard tables. You might check out my article in FWW on the process for photos.

I have a method that works well to get these right. Take a v-tool and try to estimate the inside curve at the mitre. Make a cut on the 45 degree line from the outside corner to the inside corner. Then work the moldings from each side up to your v-tool cut. The best way to do this is with a big skew chisel, because you can slide it down the molding with the tip of the skew at the mitre line and the edge parallel to the molding, getting a clean looking molding. You'll probably take another v-tool cut at the "mitre" at the corner, and then grind a scraper to your molding profile and get as close as you can to the corner.The last clean-up cuts, however, will probably be with the big skew to get a nice neat line at the inside corner.

If you do this carefully it will appear to actually be mitred Good luck-Al
 
There is a good index to old issues of Fine Woodworking <a href="http://www.xs4all.nl/~stremen/fww.html">here</a> (that's  http://www.xs4all.nl/~stremen/fww.html if that linky thing doesn't work). It starts with Issue #1 and goes through Issue #209. It lists article titles and authors and can be searched (with Control-F).

Preston Earle
 
Al,

Thanks for the information on the inside miters.  I have a few questions as it pertains specifically to the Goddard table.

From the article I couldn't really tell but...

1) Did you cut the rabbet on the bottom of the top before or after you cut the outside shape, hogged out the material in the middle, carved the edges?
2) How thick is the thinnest part of your top(s)?  I think mine was 7/16 and maybe even thinner where the inner top overlapped the rabbet.
3) I did use a scratch stock like you do (in the article) to shape the outer edge bead.  Did you also scribe the edge of the small flat just below the bead and just above the cove?  It looks like from the picture there might be a scribe line there.  I found it pretty difficult to keep that line true.
4) Was there any trick or anything special that you used on the two points at each end of the table.  This is an outside corner and I thought maybe you had some hints for making this easier.

The article is a big help and your suggestions above.

Thanks,

Brian
 
Brian-
I usually trace the inside of the frame on the underside of the bottom at the same time I project the base perimeter to get my top profile. It's a little easier to cut the rabbet before you scallop the top because you can do it on the saw, or if you did it by hand you'd have a nice edge for the plane fence to run on.
I start with full inch stock for the top and take away 9/16 ths, I think. So that would leave 7/16ths left except at the very edge, as you said.
I do scribe the flat inside the bead, usually with a small pair of dividers, so it leaves a mark.
The points at the end are tricky. I'll use a v-tool on its side to clean up at the juncture where it hits the flat of the top and then finish it with a scraper. The point is also slightly elongated, more so than if you just swung those arcs and created the point.-Al
 
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