Gate Posts

[Fred Page]

I want to round-over the top ends of two 4 in. X 3 in. gate posts (rounding over the 3 in. edge). The pieces are far too big to manoeuvre on a bandsaw and my question is: would a powered jigsaw do the job? It has to cut and shape (a 2 in. radius) through 3 in. thickness of softwood. Is this expecting too much of a jigsaw? What are the alternatives to achieving this? I’ve no experience with jigsaws. Thanks.

 

[Mark A]

Cut roughly to shape with a long blade in a jigsaw (handsaw would work too) before carefully refining the curve with a belt sander was how I did it recently.

 

[Fred Page]

Hi Mark,
Are you telling me that a jigsaw would do the job?

 

[E-wan]

If you don't mind it looking a bit rustic a draw knife could be another option

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

[Lazurus]

Hi Mark,
Are you telling me that a jigsaw would do the job?

 

[topchippyles]

you can get 100 mm jigsaw blades and as stated belt sander to tidy up

 

[finish_that]

A decent jigsaw with proper blade will easily do that.
If its a one off you could borrow one ? And buy the long blades.
The definitely practice with some offcuts , jigsaws work best when you can get the feel for them cutting and not force the cut - force and the blade will wander .
Traditionally that cut may have been made with a wooden frame saw and a narrow blade - not much different from a jigsaw in practice.

 

[meathead]

how about a router and template?

 

[AndyT]

You could take the bulk off with a straight, angled cut with a handsaw. Then do the rounding over with a handplane.
Any reasonable saw. Whatever plane you have. It doesn't need a concave sole - rounding over is surprisingly easy. Finish off with sandpaper or a file if necessary.

 

[Beau]

You could take the bulk off with a straight, angled cut with a handsaw. Then do the rounding over with a handplane.
Any reasonable saw. Whatever plane you have. It doesn't need a concave sole - rounding over is surprisingly easy. Finish off with sandpaper or a file if necessary.

This.

No need to over complicate matters

 

[Fred Page]

Thanks to all replies above. A good jigsaw is now on the Christmas list although I now recognize that hand tools would give the same result. It was the 3 in. thickness that worried me - whether or not a jigsaw could deal with this. Again, thanks to all.