Kerfs are grooves in a piece of wood cut by a saw. The process of kerfing involves bending a piece of wood by making equally spaced cuts, then bending where the thickness is reduced. The process is best suited to wood that will seen from only one side. A power saw with a special kerfing jig may be used to create a bend in a strip of wood. Here's how: Materials:
Power saw
Piece of wood to be bent
Pencil
Wood glue
Scrap piece of wood with dimensions larger than the wood to be bent
Optional: veneer
Clamps
- Set the depth of the saw blade to the desired depth of the cuts. Don't cut all the way through the board: leave at least 1/16" at the bottom of the work piece.
- Mark evenly spaced lines for the cuts. Use a ruler, or eyeball the spacing, using a mark on the back of the fence to align the cuts (figure A). The deeper and more numerous the cuts, the more flexible the wood will be.
- Make the cuts with the power saw (figure B).
- Cut a U shape from the scrap piece of wood (figure C). This will act as a jig for bending the work piece, so the U must be as deep as you want the curve in the work piece to be. Save the piece you cut out.
- If you want to cover the cut side of the work piece, glue a piece of veneer over it.
- Position the cutout piece from the U-shaped jig on top of the cutout side of the work piece. Place the U-shaped jig underneath the work piece (figure D). Clamp all three pieces together so the work piece bends inside U-shape curve (figure E).
- Allow the wood to sit overnight.
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