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Bend in 2x4 Redwood

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Gordon Furbush

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Sep 10, 1996, 3:00:00 AM9/10/96
to

To everyone familiar with curving wood:

I'm building a deck that will be curved at each corner. The deck will
be a simple 14' x 28' rectangle, and the curves will be 90 degrees
with a radius of 3'.

The railing will be constructed with a 2x6 top, two 2x4s (with the 4"
face attached to the posts), and 2x2 pickets:

_________________
_________________ 2x6 edge view (cut from stock)
| |
_| |_____________ 2x4 (curved on face)
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |2x2 picket
| |
| |
| |
| |
_| |_____________
| |
_|_|_____________ 2x4 (curved on face)


I'm planning to cut the curved portion of the 2x6 railing from a 2x12
or less. So the question is, how do I curve the 2x4s? I've considered
the following:

o Cutting several sections from a 4x6 (expensive?)
o Cutting two sections from a 2x12 and gluing them together
o Creating a curve by laminating 1/8" strips

Which approach would yeild the best results? Is there another
approach I haven't considered? I'm a little concerned about
laminating, as the railing will be constructed of a fiberous wood
(redwood) and be exposed to the elements.

Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated.

Paul Micheletti

unread,
Sep 16, 1996, 3:00:00 AM9/16/96
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Gordon Furbush wrote:

>
> I'm planning to cut the curved portion of the 2x6 railing from a 2x12
> or less. So the question is, how do I curve the 2x4s? I've considered
> the following:
>
> o Cutting several sections from a 4x6 (expensive?)
> o Cutting two sections from a 2x12 and gluing them together
> o Creating a curve by laminating 1/8" strips
>
> Which approach would yeild the best results? Is there another
> approach I haven't considered? I'm a little concerned about
> laminating, as the railing will be constructed of a fiberous wood
> (redwood) and be exposed to the elements.
>
> Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated.

I haven't actually done this, but I remember an article in Sunset
magazine several years back where the writer created a trellis
with bent redwood. What he used was redwood bender-board which
comes in about 1/8" widths. He made a vertical post which bent
in to become a horizontal beam which supported heavy vines.
I think that this should be plenty strong enough to support your
railing.

I have bent 2x10 redwood to make garden/lawn borders, but I did this
by cutting kerfs into 3/4 of the thickness of the board and bending
the remainder. Unfortunately, this would look rather ugly as a
deck railing.

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