skip to content
Rocking Chairs and Dining Furniture Designed for Comfort and Built to Last Since 1992.
Gary Weeks & Co. - Furnituremakers

Making an Elliptical Laminating Form for a Table Apron

By Gary Weeks
Posted Apr 10, 2012
Categories: Dining Tables, Custom, Jigs and Fixtures

finding points on a ellipse with rule and square
Cutting out the ellipse form wp
points on an ellipse drawn on plywood

I drew the ellipse by connecting the points with a smooth curve.

Completing the ellipse wp

We cut outside this drawn line and edge-sanded down to it.  Then I cut an equidistant curve with a router and fence to make a pattern for the laminating form.

I fit scraps of plywood in random butt joints, sawed them oversize, and glued and nailed them into four layers, making sure the rough construction was larger than the pattern.

a stack lamination to make the form

Using the pattern as a guide and flush trim bit  (bearing on top) in the router, I cut half the stack down to the pattern.  Then I flipped the stack over and routed the other half true with another flush trim bit  (bearing on bottom).  We had the form.

Navigation