Roll top bread box

[EricD4]

Looking make a roll top bread box for a holiday gift. Can anyone point me in the direction of a good plan for this? I have looked around and not really found much that I've been excited about.

Thanks!

[Mike77]

Search for Tambour Bread Box. Tons of stuff. If you want to watch Tommy Mac build one check out http://www.shoppbs.org/product/index.jsp...d=10755499

[jteneyck]

Roll-Top Bread Box

Woodsmith No. 4 (July 1979), pages 6-8

An Easy-To-Make Version of the Classic Roll-Top

I built one from their plans around 25 years ago. It was a fun build. I still have it and it still works very well, not that I actually keep bread in it.

John

[EricD4]

Thanks for the information guys! So what is the preferred method of attaching the door slats, fabric or a cable. Info on what type of cable and where to find it would be great

Thanks!

-E

[DaveR1]

When I was in college, I spent the summer of 1980 working for a fellow who made tambour jewelry boxes as well as other cases with roll tops. I must have made 300 tambours that summer from cutting the slats to assembly to final finish. He used brown denim-like fabric cut on the bias (threads running diagonally) which was glued to the back of the slats while they were being held together in a jig. It worked very well. I have one of those jewelry boxes I made that summer and the tambour is still in perfect shape.

[jteneyck]

I've used canvas for the ones I made. The Woodsmith article, IIRC, shows exactly how to do it. I made two tambour doors for a long wall cabinet I made a few years ago. I used the same process. I looked at the cable approach, but drilling all those holes looked rather unappealing, and I'm not sure you can get the slats to be as tight together in all situations.



John

[John Mihich]

Dave = did the same thing with the few I have built. I found canvas is expensive in comparison. Also at a fabric store you can buy as little as you need.

[EricD4]

EricD4 said:

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Thanks for the information guys! So what is the preferred method of attaching the door slats, fabric or a cable. Info on what type of cable and where to find it would be great

Thanks!

Ended up getting me the Amana tambour router bit set for this and another possible future project. thanks for all of the info guys!

-E

-E

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[DaveR1]

I think canvas would be a bit heavy for a bread box, too.

The fellow I worked for had a nice production line-style setup for making the slats so the process went fairly quick and I actually kind of enjoyed making them.

John, I think i said this before but that's a nice cabinet.

[jteneyck]

Thanks Dave. You can tell me you like that cabinet as often as you like. It never grows old.

The WoodSmith breadbox uses canvas for the tambour, so that's how I built it and it slides smoothly. I did the same on the wall cabinet doors. They have a very tight radius in that tapered corner, but it still slides very easily. The key is to make sure the slats have clearance within the tightest radius. And you can file the "tenons" of the slats to a different profile where they slide in the grooves to make it easier for the tambour to go around the turns.

John

John