I really appreciate the opportunity to bounce tough questions off other professionals.
Got a job lined up for an L-shaped bar, 21 feet on one leg, 7 feet on the other. Corner is radiused. Quartered sapele. Starting with 8/4, which I'll skip plane and then rip (joint and plane) into 4 (maybe 6) inch blanks before laying out for design, glue-up and final milling.
This will be shop-built, and transported 200 miles to the location. Finishing will be done on site.
2 Questions:
1. At 21 feet, I'll need at least 1 joint. For ease of transport, I might like 2. I think a butt joint would be nasty looking, but I've not seen any to make any comparisons. But I'm not sure an interlacing joint would look any better - unless I made the weave-lengths random/staggered. A random pattern is absolutely doable, but at considerable expense in time and materials.
2. The curve. Several ways to make the corner, but the only one that works with my "staved" design is to make successive 4 inch wide arcs (cold form or brick-lay on the outside 2 or three, haven't decided) and glue them together. It gets tricky at the two joints where the curve meets the straight. A butt joint is simple, but not pretty; an interlacing design is better, but trickier by an order of magnitude. (I can get time on a CNC to make patterns for the arcs). I'm pretty I don't want to do a mitre, but I'd listen to someone who has done it successfully. (That would be the easiest of all, but might be problematic in the long run).
Does anyone have any experience with these decisions? Pics would be nice, if you have suggestions.
Thanks very much in advance.