THIS IS THE WAY TO HOG OUT the unwanted material when making a concave back. Put a forstner bit in your drill press. Build a little peg stand to clamp to the drill press with a 1 inch dwell set in it just below where the drill bit would hit. Then adjust the drill press to stop the bit at the depth which you want the back to be.
With that set up you can merrily dig out most of the wood you need to get rid of. Sure beats carving it out with a gouge.
With that set up you can merrily dig out most of the wood you need to get rid of. Sure beats carving it out with a gouge.
This is what you have got when you are done. Now get an 80 grit rubber mounted sanding disc and grind this wood down to just when the center indent of the forstner bit disappears. Now you will be at the exact thickness that you set your drill press to achieve. You will probably want to put finer sand paper grits on your sanding disk as you get to the finishlYou might want to clean up around the edges and in the tight corners with a small grinding wheel in a tool like a Dremel. A good sharp curved scraper can also be a big help finishing this.
