Bent Lamination Thickness

It s messy but rewarding to see a gracefully bent piece of wood emerge from a glue encrusted form.

Bent lamination thickness.

Bent lamination is a process of bending thin strips of wood using lots of glue and lots of clamps. As to ply thickness. There s some info in the may issue of american woodworker on bent wood laminations. Shallow curves can be made up of fewer thicker laminations while tighter curves need more thin laminations.

Bending plywood is available in 5 16 and thicknesses and comes in several species including poplar birch and lauan in standard sized sheets 4 x 8 with the veneer layers running either lengthwise or widthwise. 1 8 1 4 is common but i usually end up somewhere around 3 16. Cutting laminates on the bandsaw cutting your own laminates is best done with a bandsaw. For a 6 radius bend using kiln dried walnut the best i could do was 13 laminations per inch.

The process starts with ripping some thin strips of wood and applying glue to each strip. How thin you cut the strips depends on a number of factors include the wood s natural bending properties the severity of the curve and your tolerance for springback. Start with a desired thickness thin until it survives the bend radius. The thickness of the parts is largely determined by your bend.

Lamination ply radius thickness 2 4 3 32 4 8 1 8 8 12 3 16 12 1 4. Anything thicker was prone to splitting.