Haunted Lane - Projects

I have always drooled over DC Cemetary's Steel cemetary arch. Having neither the equipment or the money to have a 14ft arch bent out of steel (local shops wanted 600$). Tom Marker and myself came up with the idea to build one out of wood. Its lighter, stronger then a 2x4, and can be painted to look just like a rusted steel archway.

So how do you make an arch out of wood? You make what is essentially a Glue LAM arch. A glue lam beam or in this case.. arch, is made up of many many layers of wood, all sandwiched together and bonded with glue. This make for a VERY strong piece of wood that can be glued in any shape an individual piece will bend to. How to do it..

The arch is actually made up of a 16ft 2x4 that has been ripped with a thin kerf blade on a table saw into many 1/8" thick pieces, 16ft long.
Once you cut a nice piece, layout a bunch of scrap plywood on the floor. With a friends help, bend the piece of wood gently to form an arch and trace this arch on the playwood.
Then every 6 to 8 inches put a screw into the line drawn on the plywood. Leave the screws sticking up in the air a bit. You will use these to clamp to later.
Once all the screws are in place, get as many clamps as you can. I'm not kidding.. this project requires a lot of them. Beg, borrow, steal..
Now that your form is laid out on the plywood, take some saran wrap and roll it out over the area on the form where you arch will be. This is to keep the gorilla glue from bonding your arch permenantly to the playwood.
Layout all the 2x4 pieces you cut (4 or 5) and wet each piece down with a wet cloth. This will help the glue cure fully.
With a friends help spread a liberal amount of gorilla glue over each piece and stack the pieces up.
Turn the stack on its side and place the center of the stack at the highest point of your arch.
With a friends help, work in opposite directions from the center of the form gently bending and applying clamps as you go.
Wait 24 to 48 hours for the glue to cure. remove the clamps, and get building another one. Cemetary arches typically have an upper and lower arch.
Once all you arches are complete, use a planer to remove any excess glue that squeezed out of the arch while curing.

Tada! One sweet set of cemetary arches. Coming soon.. how to do the letters.