Bent Wood Lamination Basics

Some curves would require a piece of stock so thick that it would not only be incredibly wasteful but you aren t likely to find the wood in the first place.

Bent wood lamination basics.

You will be using a form or a pattern where the wood will be set in order to take up the form. If you ve ever glued two pieces of wood together face to face you ve essentially created a laminate. Layers laminates and lamination we re all familiar with laminates. But solid wood has significant limitations.

1 prepare the wood to be bent. Is your woodworking ready to break free of the box. Laminating wood when making small curves it is best to laminate several many layers using thin strips of wood called veneers no steaming is required for small bends. After using an oscillating sander to clean up the inner curves and a disc sander to clean the outer curves trace your shape to another mdf board using your sanded shape and then rough cut the same shape only this time leave at least 1 16 of an inch between your cut and your pencil line.

Another method for bending wood is to resaw several thin pieces of wood and laminate them clamped to a form. When the glue dries you re left with a single piece that holds the shape of the form. In this edition we look at forming wood parts using thin laminates. If your radii is tight you can use 1 16 wisa italian bending plywood.

These sheets come in 4 x 8. We started this wood bending series exploring simple and kerf bending. What you need to use for bent wood lamination is 1 8 bending poplar plywood that comes in either long or short grain. The process is surprisingly simple and once you ve made your first bent lamination you ll want to include curves in all your future projects.

Max thickness of laminates veneers is 3mm. Bent wood lamination basics 10 tips for making strong graceful curves that add a new dimension to your woodworking. You ll find a whole new world of possibilities to explore. Lamination is the process of bending many thin parts together and holding them in the desired shape until the glue between them.

Preparing the thin pieces for a lamination involves resawing a piece on the tablesaw or bandsaw. The lamination method uses a laminate or a special kind of glue to bend wood. The laminate will then be added in order to force the wood to take up the form. When it comes to cutting curves the easiest way to get the job done is to simply cut the curve from a piece of solid wood.

Check out bent laminations. The more seams you have the less chance for springback.