"Waterfall" shelf feature
#6
Hi all.  I saw this detail on a video about the Thorsen House.

[Image: G_2600_G_2D00_Details_5F00_131.jpg]

It gives the shelf a thin appearance, but much more stength as the shelf is thicker in the rear to prevent sagging.  

I'm trying to come up with a process to recreate this feature and struggling.  It looks to me as each "step" is rounded over.  Anyone done this or have an idea as to a way to make it.  Thanks in advance.
~ Chris
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#7
I did this on the tablesaw and that would be my choice for the shelf you show.

   
   
   
   

This is a much bolder visual element but, operationally similar to make. I have used a non-stepped method for a media cabinet as well.  The shelf was wider and deeper than would be wise with 5/8" material which looked good with the scale of the piece.  I undercut the bottom along the front edge of the shelf the way you would raise a panel on a door.  I then rounded the top and bottom front edges.  The result is that the shelf looks like a 5/8" board but, is really just over 1".

I don't have a good picture of it completed but, it is the unfinished upper shelf in this shop pic. It is a bit under twice as thick as it appears.

   
When I was young I sought the wisdom of the ages.  Now it seems I've found the wiz-dumb of the age-ed.


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#8
To me, it looks like the "end cap" on the shelf was made slightly oversize in relation to the shelf, and then hand sanded.  The edges around the joint are rounded as if the maker sanded it with a piece of abrasive wrapped around a sponge-type sanding block.
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#9
I think that feature is referred to as cloud lifts.  Darrell Peart has some books on Green and Green furniture details and how to do them. Not sure if this is covered specifically. I have one of his books and will dig it out and check.

https://furnituremaker.com

Edited after watching the video. Darrell does refer to it as a waterfall detail.
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#10
I saw a youtuber do this with a rabbet plane recently, Rex Krueger, here's the link. https://youtu.be/ETRHdMAXIho?t=399

Rex was showing how to make different moldings with a few hand tools, but the "stair step" effect he made is basically the same as those shelves, you'd just need to cut each rabbet a bit wider than Rex does.  Just take a pencil and mark the depth you are going to with the first (widest) step and use a board as a fence to control how wide you want it, when it's done you make a lower pencil line and move the fence.  If you wanted, you could round over one corner of your blade, this would give you that nice inside curve instead of a sharp right angle, and it's easy enough to round over the outer edge of each step with a sanding block.  You could do it on the table saw, personally I would use a dado blade if I were to go that route, but with a sharp blade on a rabbet plane you could do this fairly quickly and have better control over the result with less set up (it's just a lot easier to make a mistake that ruins a board with a table saw).  Just my two bits.
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