How to make this cut?

[mxracer]

One of the reasons I recently got into woodworking is to make some of my own beekeeping equipment. The hive bodies and supers are one of the things I'd like to make , the one thing that I'm not sure about are the handles. The image below depicts what I need to do. This type of cut is what I need, any cut that has a ledge on the bottom will hold water and promote rot, so it needs to be this type of cut.

Would this be a shaper ONLY or some other options????

Thanks,
Dan

View image in gallery

[CarvedTones]

Following up on Mike's idea of a MicroPlane or drum sander (different order of preference as I so hate the dust a sander would make) in a drill. If you use the drillpress, you could clamp a simple jig on the table - an angled fence with a stop at one end for alignment.

[Dutchman]

Originally Posted by froglips

Another option could be a tablesaw cove cut.

A ramp jig would be needed to create the depth. Probably not the best of ideas to come in perpendicular to the blade. So maybe come in at an angle for the bulk of the stock, then do just the last bit perpendicular.

Maybe use a dado stack.

Jim

Your table saw is good suggestion. Get one of those molding head sets and put an auxillary top on your table saw on an angle with a couple stops set for the distance of the hand pull cut. Drop you panel down onto the form and slide it accross to the other stop and lift off. Those molding head sets use to be pretty common before table routers. This will allow you to make the cut fairly easily and safely and keep the original hand pull look on your boxes.

[Ozzie-x]

Originally Posted by Dutchman

Your table saw is good suggestion. Get one of those molding head sets and put an auxillary top on your table saw on an angle with a couple stops set for the distance of the hand pull cut. Drop you panel down onto the form and slide it accross to the other stop and lift off. Those molding head sets use to be pretty common before table routers. This will allow you to make the cut fairly easily and safely and keep the original hand pull look on your boxes.

My Dad kept bees for 30 years. On the bee gums that I've dealt with, the top of the hand cut is square to the face of the wood. Dutchman has a good idea with the tablesaw and molding head. The ogee bits (shown below) would be close to cutting the correct shape. You could always get one of the single cutter molding heads and use a blade blank to grind your own cutter to the exact shape. The single cutter head is a better way to go with custom cutters, or at least for me with freehand grinding and shaping. I've ground and modified these type cutters many times with good success.

[Mike Davis]

You could just cut that with your band saw. Then glue up the panel. That is probably the easiest way of all.

[Outa Square]

My grandfather raised bees and made his own boxes. Some of his had drawer pulls for handles, which was explained by the fact that he was a finish carpenter. Others had something similar to what show. I asked my dad as my grandfather has been dead for 10 plus years and i remembered bits and pieces he said that he used the following:

He had stop blocks on the tablesaw and a spacer against the fence that was the width of his dado blade. He would place the side center on the table and crank the blade up doing a plunge cut into the wood. The then would remove the dado blade and the spacer against the fence which would position the board over to where the curved cut was.

He then place several smaller sawblades each smaller in size separated by a washer starting at a 9" and going down to some the size of a biscuit cutter. Then he did a second plunge cut, this is what my dad says.

I don't think he did the several blades as i don't think he changed blades, i tend to think that he then tilted the dado saw blade and did at least to more cuts moving the board and doing two more plunge cuts the last shallower then the first.


I hope this helps, I did see something on a bee keeping forum that validated either method. The beekeepers seemed to be not as friendly as the folks here though.