I've not been posting much as the last few weeks has seen me stripping armchairs back to bare wood, staining them mid oak, varnishing and shipping them off to a local upholsterer for completion. So no woodwork and lots of my least favoured activities, sanding and finishing. There are 8 of the blasted things to do counting a 2 seater sofa as two and it has been rather tedious
Like this
Note the curved front rail which is the reason for this query.
Management wants a footstool in the same design so I have an excuse for real woodwork. Here is the design I am copying.
The frame is easy M&T joinery with a bit of interest in the form of curved long rails (the short ones will be straight) The radius of the curve is about 1metre and I need to make a firm curved plywood base to give the upholsterer to do here work on. It needs to take staples from underneath so I'm thinking 1/2"- 12mm finished thickness but how best to form the curve so it keeps the radius when detached from the frame so she can form the cushion and get the top fabric wrinkle free when it becomes attached.
My thoughts so far are to use two pieces of 1/4" ply with numerous kerf cuts along the short axis, to make it more flexible, and glue those in a set of curved cauls with the kerf cuts facing each other.
My everyday goto glue is Everbuild D4 pva/eva stuff which I have heard will creep under continual stress. Is this correct? If so maybe I should use cascamite type glues.
I'd welcome all input especially from the pro's that we have here regarding methods. The upholstery is costing multiple arms and legs so I need to get this right first time if at all possible.
TIA
Bob