Bent Laminate Wood

There are several ways to tackle this tough chore but bending wood and laminating several thin strips to create.

Bent laminate wood.

Thin strips of wood typically no thicker than 1 16 inch are glued together to form circles waves or just about any shape for specialized designs. The thickness of the strips depends to a large extent on the radius of the curve. Before the glue sets clamp the laminated strip in the bending form. Locate individual layers of wood on curves to recognize laminated bent wood.

There is no formula. When used as a structural element such as a table leg they are actually stronger than if the piece were cut from a single block of wood. Glue lines often visible cut from solid wood no form or. Laminated from thin strips cold process no special equipment required strong bending form required lots of strips to cut and keep in order difficult to control final part thickness messy glue up strips want to slip sideways when bent dried glue squeeze out on part must be removed before further processing.

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. Make sure the edge is square. The tighter the radius the thinner the strips. Bent laminations do more than give your project a graceful look.

Let the glue set up for its full clamp time. 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. You may need to over bend your parts to account for this. To cold bend wood first resaw your stock into thin strips and plane it so the thickness is even.

But solid wood has significant limitations. 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. Woodworkers use bent wood laminations for everything from chair rockers to drawer handles. When you unclamp your dried part it is going to spring back a little bit from the stresses in the bent wood.

Laminated hardwood nosing that bends perfectly around round countertop corners. In order to stop any gaps bubbles or distorting of the laminate you need to make sure that the vertical edge around which the laminate will bend is perfectly square with the top surface of the counter. A few thick laminations will tend to spring more than many thin pieces. Bent wood is durable and typically regarded as stronger than solid wood which can crack or split along grain lines.

Check this by ensuring that the horizontal surface edge and vertical edge come together perfectly with a t square. Here s how to make a 3 4 in. If the edge is not perfectly square then you. A note on form design here.