Joints for curved laminate pieces
2/15/18
I working with a design for loudspeaker stands which involve curved vertical members made by laminating bandsaw cut rosewood veneers over a former in a vacuum press. This part is straightforward.
These vertical members join at right angles to a horizontal top and base. If they were not curved I would simply use wedged mortise and tenon joints. Cutting curved mortises is possible but slow manual work and I am looking for alternative ideas or even a pointer to a publication about joints in laminated timber furniture. For example since these are bandsaw cut veneers the grain in each layer is parallel which makes me uncomfortable about using biscuits.
2/15/18 #2: Joints for curved laminate pieces ...
I would not be concerned about each layer being parallel. I would not use biscuits at all. Never have. I would either try and mortise and tenon it, not curved, or use a domino. If your top and bottom pieces are square, you have a reference flat to work off of. Mortise that piece. I would try and make a jig of some sort to hold the twist and cut your tenon off a shaper with stacked rabbeting bits and a sled. With the domino- I may make my bending form and then set a jig off of that to cut the mortise. Without a picture of what your doing it is difficult to answer.