This is a life-saver! Three of us were trying to figure out how to cut a curve from 4 feet high to 6 feet wide on a sheet of plywood for a theatre set (building a rounded platform). For a curve from 4 feet to 4 feet we would have used string, a screw, and a pencil. But that method didn't work for our 4 feet to 6 feet curve. We puzzled over it and tried different methods for a good 30-45 minutes before I tried searching for a solution on RUclips. This was the first video I found and it solved our problem perfectly. It was so easy! We used this multiple times for a couple different angled cuts and it worked perfectly every time. You just have to be careful to keep the jig tight against the screws, because it likes to wander otherwise. Also, keep the pencil straight up and down, even when the plywood messes with it. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SAVING OUR PROJECT!!!
I hope you realize how amazing this is. I just spent some time examining this geometry in CAD and it's totally incredible. For those curious about the need for one leg to be parallel to the base of the stock... make it above parallel and you get a pointed arch. Make it below parallel and you get a double arch. Cheers
Awesome! I saw this tip in the Rules Of Thumb section of Fine Woodworking probably 25 years ago. (Way before You Tube) Been doing it ever since, but it always blows people's minds when they see it done. Thanks for sharing with the masses!!
I'm impressed! Easy, repeatable, predictable. Who could ask for more? Thanks for all you do and for sharing your talents, experience and passion for excellence. Paul M
😊 I just done this today and worked a treat on site. The stone mason wanted an arch made. I traced the arch (lintel) with plywood against it as I was taught. This was wrong. Followed this procedure and instantly worked. Thanks for the video... saved the day 😊
I think the best tip I have ever seen, its about time that we see some useful tips on youtube. Its hard to find someone that will teach these types of techniques because I think people are not wanting to do this type of work anymore, instead they just buy it premade from some factory that a cnc made. Thanks buddy
Absolutely love it! I've done the math, sticks, long metal rulers, pencil on a string, you name it. I like this way the best. It is amazing how many little 'tricks' like this and the quality that has been generally lost to mass production and a quick penny over the years.
This is the best tip you have ever put out. I wish I had know about it last month when I was bending thin strips and trying to trace a line off of them.
Awesome, I just applied this to duplicate the arched window in our bedroom. It worked wonders. I had been thinking on how to do that for quite some time, but this really helped me.
I do the same thing with the screws but instead of making a jig I just bend a thin strip of wood around the three screws and then just follow the edge of the bent strip with a pencil. Great idea either way.
+Kevin Horn wood tends to bend at all of the weak points first, not making a even arc. I still do it anyway because I have never seen this idea before.
Thanks! Couldn't have come across this tip at a better time. Doing an arch for a bed footboard that has to be perfect. Much easier then the math genius way I have been struggling with. Craig Vancouver Island
love all your videos. your techniques and skills are pretty dam amazing. I'm just getting into building my own little projects at home but I've been building decks and fences for over 3 years now. customers prefer curved top gates and arches above the gates also. the method i came up with to make these arches is to use the end bar for chain link fence. its 3/4" wide x 1/4" thick and comes in various lengths. i place a screw on either end of the arch beginning and end points then place the bar on edge under the screws then bend the bar up to my desired arch height. (i hang my gate frame on the posts and then nail my fence boards on after to make sure that the bottom contours the ground and the side gaps are equal) the only issue i found with this method is that you can't push too hard with your pencil while tracing the arch as the bar bends easily. so i use a fine tip sharpie so i do not need to push too hard against the bar while tracing the arch. sorry for the long comment.
perfect. I like that I didn't have to wade though 30 mins of video to get what you produced in under 5... Win. Now I can get that project done I've been putting off
+The Samurai Carpenter This reminds me that I haven't told you this: I bitch and moan on your vids a lot, but I really do enjoy your work. Keep it coming, bro.
Excellent tip. I used a thin piece of plastic to bend around the points, but we don't always have long enough pieces to reach both ends of the arch, and measuring at several points along the arch doesn't always give the perfect shape.
Hey Samurai, I just started watching you and I love it. Without reading all of the comments below, I wanted to add a little something I saw from The Wood Whisperer. The same arches can be made by drilling the same three screws you applied, but then use a this piece of veneer or plastic or something pliable and place it inside the two lower screws but around the outside of the single top screw. I've done this a few times and it works perfectly. You'll get the same perfect arches, but no jigs and no moving your template as you trace. You have probably already heard this, but I just wanted to throw it out there. LOVE your videos...keep 'em coming! I'll need a sticker for my cabinet too. I'll check out your website for goodies.
+mspain77 you will get a symmetrical arch but it won't be a perfect arch. It will always be a little flat where the arch terminates on either side. Try doing the same arch using both methods and you will see what i'm talking about. The thin strip method also doesn't work for large arches unless you plot the arch using math and add more screws which is way too time consuming.
ive known about this method for years,boatbuilders use it to get the camber for deck beams on a boat ,it is a pretty cool idea,especialy if you have multipul beams to make .you use the deck bea with the highest camber,and make your beams with that one template,for all your beams ,the diference being the length,paul
I like it! and I know a dozen ways to do the same but SAM's 'jig' is easy, fast, repeatable, and infinitely adjustable. So toss the calculator, the string, and the lath, and have at it! Good laddie!
Obviously, over 700 likes so far say it all, very nice tutorial and for us who need the "it doesn't get any easier" approach truly appreciate your sharing. I might suggest that since you took on an apprentice that you allow some unskilled labor solutions to be first shown, then your Samurai "how to" instructional to us and the apprentice. It could be interesting here and there. There is always the man way and the ape way, you seem to man up every time. Thanks,
I just took a yardstick and drilled a small hole every 1/2 inch put a screw in at one end to attach to scrap block roughly the same thickness of piece needing the arch, position the block however far I need to on the center line of the arch, stick my pencil through whatever Hole I need to and swing the stick drawing my arch. If you find yourself needing arches often just make a bunch of arch templates out of 1/8 inch plywood, 20 templates from 12" to 48" should be enough for most projects and only take up about a few inches in your shop. Don't forget to mark your templates on all sides starting from centerline so you can use each as a protractor.
i used this trick several years ago to make window plugs for parabolic windows on a housing tract. the framers framed the windows rectangular and had no idea how to install the window so there would be backing for the siding and drywall. so i yanked the window made up the plug to match the window and hole, stuck it in the hole shimmed it up and screw it in place viola in and outside backing. ended up making something like 400 of these for a large tract for six or seven different windows shapes.
Man, this is sooooo cool. I always thought there would be a better way to cut custom trim on windows where it is impossible to trace the arc! Wish I could be your apprentice but I live in Saskatchewan. You are missing out on some strong backs looking outside of Victoria.....
the same can be done with a frame square and some gr7 geometry, regardless that is a nice easy simple jig that will certainly speed the process,esp if more than one arch arch of same dimensions is to be built
yeppers, ya'all can establish a actual needed radius with some maf-a-matics on screw locations. learnt dis while starting my built on ma round house a fur peace back! or just mount a pivot to your caster-ed band-saw at a given radius. Peace out! Nice Vid!.
Very slick. I'm definitely sticking this trick in my quiver. I get such a kick out of all the "but my half assed way of bending some flexible piece of whatever around 3 pivot points is so much better" commenters...
+BrickBike Not better, but sometimes faster. I use a 10' length of 1/2" pvc electrical conduit. I could have bent it around the screws, drawn my lines and had the arch cut out before his glue dried. Just sayin... whatever works, works. His method is cool and foolproof. But I don't think mine is any worse.
+julie r I have used your method a hundred times and I can assure you that your arches are not symmetrical. The laymen might not see the difference but a woodworker would. The last 6-8" of the arch are always flattened out using the bendy method.....#notsexy.
+The Samurai Carpenter Well, I couldn't sleep thinking about it so I went out to the shop and played with a sheet of plywood. My end pins were at 6'6", a typical length I'd use for French doors. For the sake of experimenting, I used a height of 7" (a typical one for those doors) and then one of 16". Trying your method and then my 1/2" pvc, I found that with the 7" height there was barely a difference. The lines diverged about 1/4" at the most, but both arches were symmetrical. I then went to the 16" pin. Here I found that your method produced a more rounded arc, with a divergence of up to 1 1/4", but again, both methods produced a symmetrical arc. I've never had anyone say that my arches don't look symmetrical, and the method I use was taught to me by a master builder from Maine. So, a woodworker might see that my arches are overall slightly flatter than a circle segment arc but I think they would be hard pressed to notice an issue with the symmetry.
+The Samurai Carpenter ~ I think they're pretty close to symmetrical IF you run the ends of the guide piece well past the end points. It might be more important, at this point, just to make sure the line is held accurate to the end process (cutting it). Some of the most beautiful boats in the world have shearlines that were done with wooden battens and are fine enough to make one weep. (Note: Shearlines are practically never symmetrical.)
+landlockedviking I totally agree! Re Samurai Carpenter's comment that at least one RUclips video has already "escaped" into the public domain, can't we send a Seal team in to destroy it or something?
GOT IT! BTW, you can set this same jig up with only the two end screws by putting the pencil lead at the arch center and then setting your angle to the 2 end screws.
When you are training to become a carpenter/joiner you will not be shown this method in the workshop. You will be given measurements and told to workout the radius and sometimes you have nails sticking out on everybody else's work benches trying to work out how long your string needs to be before you can answer the sum! Other trainees giving you a hard time "hey get that nail to fk off my bench" oh sorry! "hey who's fkn string is this?" Umm it's mines... next thing you know your out in the car park area stoppin cars an stuff! lol. This way is genius. Samurai hits the nail on the head everytime.
...and if you change the angle of the two sticks so that they both touch the screws, you get a different thing - to my surprise you showed my trick from my childhood diy
This is a life-saver! Three of us were trying to figure out how to cut a curve from 4 feet high to 6 feet wide on a sheet of plywood for a theatre set (building a rounded platform). For a curve from 4 feet to 4 feet we would have used string, a screw, and a pencil. But that method didn't work for our 4 feet to 6 feet curve. We puzzled over it and tried different methods for a good 30-45 minutes before I tried searching for a solution on RUclips. This was the first video I found and it solved our problem perfectly. It was so easy! We used this multiple times for a couple different angled cuts and it worked perfectly every time. You just have to be careful to keep the jig tight against the screws, because it likes to wander otherwise. Also, keep the pencil straight up and down, even when the plywood messes with it. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SAVING OUR PROJECT!!!
I hope you realize how amazing this is. I just spent some time examining this geometry in CAD and it's totally incredible. For those curious about the need for one leg to be parallel to the base of the stock... make it above parallel and you get a pointed arch. Make it below parallel and you get a double arch. Cheers
+taiden Oh I do! I obviously didn't come up with the idea though. Just doing my part to keep the old world knowledge alive!
NERD!
Just kidding. I came to the same conclusion by drawing it out.
Can you make a video to show us this?
Awesome! I saw this tip in the Rules Of Thumb section of Fine Woodworking probably 25 years ago. (Way before You Tube) Been doing it ever since, but it always blows people's minds when they see it done. Thanks for sharing with the masses!!
I'm impressed! Easy, repeatable, predictable. Who could ask for more? Thanks for all you do and for sharing your talents, experience and passion for excellence. Paul M
😊 I just done this today and worked a treat on site. The stone mason wanted an arch made. I traced the arch (lintel) with plywood against it as I was taught. This was wrong. Followed this procedure and instantly worked. Thanks for the video... saved the day 😊
I think the best tip I have ever seen, its about time that we see some useful tips on youtube. Its hard to find someone that will teach these types of techniques because I think people are not wanting to do this type of work anymore, instead they just buy it premade from some factory that a cnc made. Thanks buddy
Some award winning thinking right there! this channel is just getting better and better!
Absolutely love it! I've done the math, sticks, long metal rulers, pencil on a string, you name it. I like this way the best. It is amazing how many little 'tricks' like this and the quality that has been generally lost to mass production and a quick penny over the years.
This is the best tip you have ever put out. I wish I had know about it last month when I was bending thin strips and trying to trace a line off of them.
I watched several videos explaining this method, this is by far the best.
Really clever !! I love old tricks of the trade like this one! Thanks for sharing..
Awesome, I just applied this to duplicate the arched window in our bedroom. It worked wonders. I had been thinking on how to do that for quite some time, but this really helped me.
HELL YA That's so easy. keep sending the great tips. I like how you give tips & such. Others act like they are talking to grade school kids.
Awesome tip, thought you were gonna use string, so cool thanks for sharing.
I do the same thing with the screws but instead of making a jig I just bend a thin strip of wood around the three screws and then just follow the edge of the bent strip with a pencil. Great idea either way.
I do the same. It's all about making the task easier.
+Kevin Horn wood tends to bend at all of the weak points first, not making a even arc. I still do it anyway because I have never seen this idea before.
+TheSoloAsylum but when you're making three or four different sized arcs a day good enough is good enough
Kevin Horn
for you and me, yes....but for a ninja maybe not.
+TheSoloAsylum haha very true. that's why he has 100k subs and I don't even have a video uploaded
Thanks!
Couldn't have come across this tip at a better time.
Doing an arch for a bed footboard that has to be perfect. Much easier then the math genius way I have been struggling with.
Craig
Vancouver Island
love all your videos. your techniques and skills are pretty dam amazing. I'm just getting into building my own little projects at home but I've been building decks and fences for over 3 years now. customers prefer curved top gates and arches above the gates also. the method i came up with to make these arches is to use the end bar for chain link fence. its 3/4" wide x 1/4" thick and comes in various lengths. i place a screw on either end of the arch beginning and end points then place the bar on edge under the screws then bend the bar up to my desired arch height. (i hang my gate frame on the posts and then nail my fence boards on after to make sure that the bottom contours the ground and the side gaps are equal) the only issue i found with this method is that you can't push too hard with your pencil while tracing the arch as the bar bends easily. so i use a fine tip sharpie so i do not need to push too hard against the bar while tracing the arch. sorry for the long comment.
perfect. I like that I didn't have to wade though 30 mins of video to get what you produced in under 5... Win. Now I can get that project done I've been putting off
congrats with 100k subscribers! I've learnt a lot from your videos
+knives&stuff Thanks. I'm glad you enjoy my content!
+The Samurai Carpenter This reminds me that I haven't told you this: I bitch and moan on your vids a lot, but I really do enjoy your work. Keep it coming, bro.
For 100k+ subs and woodworking tip of the week, you just won all the internets.
I always have to cut true arches and have spent hours messing with string lines, this trick is going to help me so much. Thank you Sensei 🙏🏻
Great tip! Much more accurate than bending and more versatile than string.
Excellent tip. I used a thin piece of plastic to bend around the points, but we don't always have long enough pieces to reach both ends of the arch, and measuring at several points along the arch doesn't always give the perfect shape.
Thanks for hitting me with that throwing star of knowledge. Very cool....
Hey Samurai, I just started watching you and I love it. Without reading all of the comments below, I wanted to add a little something I saw from The Wood Whisperer. The same arches can be made by drilling the same three screws you applied, but then use a this piece of veneer or plastic or something pliable and place it inside the two lower screws but around the outside of the single top screw. I've done this a few times and it works perfectly. You'll get the same perfect arches, but no jigs and no moving your template as you trace. You have probably already heard this, but I just wanted to throw it out there.
LOVE your videos...keep 'em coming! I'll need a sticker for my cabinet too. I'll check out your website for goodies.
+mspain77 you will get a symmetrical arch but it won't be a perfect arch. It will always be a little flat where the arch terminates on either side. Try doing the same arch using both methods and you will see what i'm talking about. The thin strip method also doesn't work for large arches unless you plot the arch using math and add more screws which is way too time consuming.
congrats on 100k it looks like the extra vids are really helping. awesome vid as always, enjoying the extra posts.
ive known about this method for years,boatbuilders use it to get the camber for deck beams on a boat ,it is a pretty cool idea,especialy if you have multipul beams to make .you use the deck bea with the highest camber,and make your beams with that one template,for all your beams ,the diference being the length,paul
Holy crap. That's fantastic. I will be using this for sure.
Thanks for that tip. I will use that for the arch on the girder of a set of very heavy duty saw horses I am putting together. Cheers.
sure beats the long string anchored far away and forever figuring out where to anchor it.
Amazing tip. Nothing beats experience, and apparently you have it.
I like it! and I know a dozen ways to do the same but SAM's 'jig' is easy, fast, repeatable, and infinitely adjustable.
So toss the calculator, the string, and the lath, and have at it!
Good laddie!
Very clever grasshopper. Thanks.
Now THIS is why I subscribe to your channel! So clever...but I would never have figured it out by myself. So thanks, man!
Obviously, over 700 likes so far say it all, very nice tutorial and for us who need the "it doesn't get any easier" approach truly appreciate your sharing. I might suggest that since you took on an apprentice that you allow some unskilled labor solutions to be first shown, then your Samurai "how to" instructional to us and the apprentice. It could be interesting here and there. There is always the man way and the ape way, you seem to man up every time. Thanks,
I just took a yardstick and drilled a small hole every 1/2 inch put a screw in at one end to attach to scrap block roughly the same thickness of piece needing the arch, position the block however far I need to on the center line of the arch, stick my pencil through whatever Hole I need to and swing the stick drawing my arch. If you find yourself needing arches often just make a bunch of arch templates out of 1/8 inch plywood, 20 templates from 12" to 48" should be enough for most projects and only take up about a few inches in your shop. Don't forget to mark your templates on all sides starting from centerline so you can use each as a protractor.
Wow - great method. I build arch frames for brick for years with string and a pencil - no Bueno.
I use a Lee Valley drawing bow for arches up to 4 feet long, but this is a great tip for any length material!
Fab tip that mate, will save me hours and hours of head scratching, love it 👍👍
Thanks for sharing this tip, great way to make an arch and your cross beam proves it! Congrats on the 100k
This is great, I have been using a bow curve to do this. I will make a jig for this tomorrow
Awesome tip and great channel . . . thanks!
Tip of the year!
love that tip!!! That is way easier than the way I know!!!
I will call it the "Samurai arch jig"!!!
i used this trick several years ago to make window plugs for parabolic windows on a housing tract. the framers framed the windows rectangular and had no idea how to install the window so there would be backing for the siding and drywall. so i yanked the window made up the plug to match the window and hole, stuck it in the hole shimmed it up and screw it in place viola in and outside backing. ended up making something like 400 of these for a large tract for six or seven different windows shapes.
That was awesome to see, so simple...
That's a great trick. I'm too lazy to do the math, but at first glance I would say that curve is a circle arc.
I don't even do much carpenting, but i really need an excuse to make an arch somewhere now! This is just genius!
Man, this is sooooo cool. I always thought there would be a better way to cut custom trim on windows where it is impossible to trace the arc! Wish I could be your apprentice but I live in Saskatchewan. You are missing out on some strong backs looking outside of Victoria.....
Oh my word!! If I'd only learned that about ten years ago!
Great tip. Eliminates the flex stick method and more accurate. I'll have to try it some day.
This is a new one for me. Looks like a sweet trick. I'll try it sometime. Thanks
Wow... that's just what i need to draw an arch on my arcade machine control panel. Thanks!
Great technique, now I have 3 techniques in my arsenal.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!
That is some amazingly complex math reduced to an EASY-PEASY jig!!
*Sensei 先生 !!!!*
Wow! Ancient knowledge. Thanks!
Great Trick, the old school way was to use a thin strip and just bow it using the screws or nails as reference, this is really better thanks
Love it saved me some time dude .
Hope your well all the best from the uk . Ps now subscribed
So simple, yet so effective. Thanks!
100k subs hype! Congratulations
Awesome tip, gonna try this soon! Thanks for sharing!
Holy Stitch'n'Glue Boat Readiness, Batman! Thanks, outstanding tip. - Mike
truly amazing process
the same can be done with a frame square and some gr7 geometry, regardless that is a nice easy simple jig that will certainly speed the process,esp if more than one arch arch of same dimensions is to be built
Now that is a handy trick. Thanks
Thanks for sharing this great idea !
Ingenious! Thank you for posting it!!!
Great Tip! and Congrats on 100k.
Congrats on 100K subs. Well deserved. - Douglas
Wow, amazed you answered with so many subscribers. Do you have a gate build video? Admire your work, super nice.
+Case 275 Yes, there is a 2 part gate build on my video page.
Great trick. Saved my day. Thanks.
Wow!! Thank you thank you thank you!! Going to save so much time now.. Did I say thank you? Thank you! thanks
yeppers, ya'all can establish a actual needed radius with some maf-a-matics on screw locations. learnt dis while starting my built on ma round house a fur peace back! or just mount a pivot to your caster-ed band-saw at a given radius. Peace out! Nice Vid!.
Very slick. I'm definitely sticking this trick in my quiver.
I get such a kick out of all the "but my half assed way of bending some flexible piece of whatever around 3 pivot points is so much better" commenters...
+BrickBike
Not better, but sometimes faster. I use a 10' length of 1/2" pvc electrical conduit. I could have bent it around the screws, drawn my lines and had the arch cut out before his glue dried. Just sayin... whatever works, works. His method is cool and foolproof. But I don't think mine is any worse.
+julie r I have used your method a hundred times and I can assure you that your arches are not symmetrical. The laymen might not see the difference but a woodworker would. The last 6-8" of the arch are always flattened out using the bendy method.....#notsexy.
+The Samurai Carpenter
Well, I couldn't sleep thinking about it so I went out to the shop and played with a sheet of plywood. My end pins were at 6'6", a typical length I'd use for French doors. For the sake of experimenting, I used a height of 7" (a typical one for those doors) and then one of 16".
Trying your method and then my 1/2" pvc, I found that with the 7" height there was barely a difference. The lines diverged about 1/4" at the most, but both arches were symmetrical. I then went to the 16" pin. Here I found that your method produced a more rounded arc, with a divergence of up to 1 1/4", but again, both methods produced a symmetrical arc.
I've never had anyone say that my arches don't look symmetrical, and the method I use was taught to me by a master builder from Maine.
So, a woodworker might see that my arches are overall slightly flatter than a circle segment arc but I think they would be hard pressed to notice an issue with the symmetry.
+The Samurai Carpenter ~ I think they're pretty close to symmetrical IF you run the ends of the guide piece well past the end points. It might be more important, at this point, just to make sure the line is held accurate to the end process (cutting it).
Some of the most beautiful boats in the world have shearlines that were done with wooden battens and are fine enough to make one weep. (Note: Shearlines are practically never symmetrical.)
Oh my god this is so awesome! Thanks for sharing!
Slicker than snot!!! We must bury this vid so the competition never sees it.
+landlockedviking I learned it from a you Tube video so I think we missed our chance ;) LOL!
+landlockedviking I totally agree! Re Samurai Carpenter's comment that at least one RUclips video has already "escaped" into the public domain, can't we send a Seal team in to destroy it or something?
+TitusLivy777 Delta if necessary, jtf2 might be quicker as they are already in Canada
Great tips. Thank you.
That's one hell of a trick. David Blain rollover now. Thanks.
very practical and slick!
my gears are grinding on 'permanent' jig that you can rotate to any angle. Great tip!
GOT IT! BTW, you can set this same jig up with only the two end screws by putting the pencil lead at the arch center and then setting your angle to the 2 end screws.
Bravo! Just what I needed.
A nail a string and a pencil always works for me ..... but not for all arches as this technique would . Thanks
+jknocal That works but if you need a shallow arch you need a giant radius
Sweet, you just taught an old dog a new trick.
Sweet tips, thanks man.
DUDE! Sweet Technique.
Great, found it, thanks Jesse!
you should make a center jig that the two lengths fit into fast and tight, getting rid of the glue.
Nice dude! Pretty slick!
Great tip! Thank you!
+Samurai Carpenter, Amazing videos man,they are inspiring to me being 20 Y.O and starting up.
When you are training to become a carpenter/joiner you will not be shown this method in the workshop. You will be given measurements and told to workout the radius and sometimes you have nails sticking out on everybody else's work benches trying to work out how long your string needs to be before you can answer the sum! Other trainees giving you a hard time "hey get that nail to fk off my bench" oh sorry! "hey who's fkn string is this?" Umm it's mines... next thing you know your out in the car park area stoppin cars an stuff! lol. This way is genius. Samurai hits the nail on the head everytime.
...and if you change the angle of the two sticks so that they both touch the screws, you get a different thing - to my surprise you showed my trick from my childhood diy
How do you make that wooden jointed piece? Just use a scrap piece of wood that's long enough to reach the middle and side screw?
Damn...... I'm going to go try this right now.
Nice. Normally I just use a long stick off of a pivot point.
Awesome tip, thank-you!!
We call that " Tapografické pravítko" - easiest thing :) Nice vid
Awesome tip.congrats on 100k subs.
Very nice Tip, cool.
Samurai that is a pretty bad ass technique, you bet i'll be using it... Congrats on 100K subscribers...