I have to build a kitchen with curved faces in 3 sections of the cabinets. 2 of the curves are concave and have a radii of 14' and 10' 2". The other is convex with a radii 8' 2". The drawers fronts and doors are to be built of 1/4 sawn mahogany they are only 2 upper doors curved all of the rest are curved drawer fronts . The grain of the wood is to run horizontally. The doors are flush no panel or frame. The fridge has a curved panel for the doors. The main stipulation on the job is that it must be made of all local material and Barbados does not manufacture plywood. I could laminate my own ply once it is made from local material. How should I go about building these panels

Does Barbados have a veneer mill? If not I suggest resawing solid into veneers of a thickness that will bend easily to the radii desired. The amount of springback is determined by the number of plies (a lamination of three 6mm plies will spring back much more than six of 3mm)
This will take care of the drawer fronts but not the fridge panels or doors. If you are stuck using solid for the job, you can cooper together curved door cores from solid staves - beveled sticks. Then you would smooth the inside and outside faces and veneer across the grain. You have the advantage of a more consistent humidity in the Caribbean as opposed to Canada and mahogany is very stable so the chances of this approach working is much higher than if I were to attempt it.
A vacuum veneer set up is pretty much a necessity for these techniques. You will need to make forms for each radius that will account for springback.

Cooper the doors and use on a jig to clean up the radius inside and out taking very light passes. Use a good soft pad on a random orbit sander with no more that 120 to start and take your time.

Seal and finish both sides, fill end grain well and seal like the front and back

Thanks for the information so far.
It seems I should get full information on either
(1) making veneer and gluing up sheets of the veneer possibly using a vacuum process with molds offset to correct kickback or
(2)building a thick enough flat Panel out of solid wood staves And cutting the front and the back into the required curve with some kind of jig and a router.
After I am clear what is involved in both I can decide which route to take.
Is the second option at all possible and if so can someone describe to me how it is done.
For the drawer faces that are curved out in particular it may make sense to cut the front of the face into a curve and leave the back flat to affix to the drawer box.
Looking forward to your expertise
Michael from Barbados.

remember the grain is running horizontal and the face looking at a floor plan is curved.

Sorry to clarify I wrote in my second post that I could use thick enough wood staves that was in correct I meant thick enough square edged pieces of wood may be 1.5"x3" by the width of the drawer face.
Michael.

In my opinion, for the the doors and fridge panels, the coopered core will have to have the grain running vertically (quartered stock). After fairing the curve then you will have to veneer across the grain to get your horizontal oriented grain pattern.
Your fridge panels and the drawer fronts can have flat backs which makes life easier. The drawer fronts may be bandsawn from thick stock to the face radius sort of. I would recommend veneering the face and back to avoid the ugly transition to end grain.
The evil side of me is asking how would the client know that sliced veneer was not local. There is a ton of labour and waste involved in shop sawing your own veneers. Commercially available veneer is so good and convenient.

The curves can be made with a stroke sander or a planer, have the knives ground to the curve you need, or a William and Hussey

If you can veneer use plastic resin glue to avoid spring back

Tom
I don't understand
to avoid the transition to the ugly end grain.
I think I am misunderstanding the process you are describing.

If you were to use a solid block of 8/4 mahogany to make your drawer fronts by just band sawing the front curve you would end up with flat grain figure just in the centre of the front. As the curve moves towards the ends of the drawer front it will cut on an angle to the grain direction. This tends to suck up stain and finish in a blotchy unpleasant look.

Thank you Tom.
I am trying to have the face showing end grain.
I have veneered a kitchen but I have never made any veneer. I have to do some to scale sketches to see how thick a wood these varius curves and width doors would require.

If I build curved panels with staves how can I cut the edges to make a smooth curve. Ive seen it done with a cnc machine but I have no access to one.

You could sub the doors out

You will be glueing up
a segmented shape. Think octagon

Knock off the hi spot with a hand planer, belt sander or router on a trammel a lot like a lathe.

Then just fair it with a good strong random orbit sander

You lost me at
"use a router on a trammel a lot like a lathe."
I'm not sure what a trammel is. So getting a trammel and a router to work a lot like a lathe is even more confusing.
Would you give me a clearer explanation?

Michael

The Question in the previous post I made, is a question for cabinetmaker

see link below

this is a sled design and it would be pretty easy to do

https://hu.pinterest.com/pin/367958232027604899/