Good video. Nice work. Couple of useful points: You spent quite a bit of time building the form. Protect your form by applying a thorough coating of wax to prevent any glue sticking to it. The wax paper was a great idea. Instead of clogging the disc sander or belt sander with glue, try using a scraper to get the bulk of the glue off before you sand. Another thing; If you are going to do more of this plywood bending, it might make sense to build a router jig to remove the excess glue from the edge. As you noted, the bandsaw gives a rough finish. Using a router to trim the glue leaves a very nice surface. Have fun, stay safe.
Thank you --- informative and straightforward! BTW, with excess glue in any project, I "shave" off most of the excess with a small cake spatula once clamped and the glue dries a bit. This way, I have much less cleanup once the glue dries and I am ready for the next step. BTW, the spatula is also great for spreading glue.
Thanks for the vid. I just want to say that I find it a lot easier applying the glue with a small paintroller. Especially if you're making more then one piece at a time. greetings
I thought the video was well presented and informative. The comments were also valuable. Even though I already knew the process, it was nice to go back to basic. I wipe away excess glue from any project which makes sanding easier. I sometimes work with an outdoor glue which expands. I use a chisel or a sharp tool to scrap the excess once it dries to a soft consistency (1/2-1 hour).
thumbs up from a german carpenter! but when you do clamp the layers together i would add another piece of plywood without glue. so you can be sure that your clamps do not press in your workpiece! keep up the good work !
Hi, nice video and very comprehensive explanation. But I still have a question concerning bent lamination: Would it also be possible to glue up "curved beams" from individual pieces / "boards" that are shorter than the final beam (for example make a 9 foot beam out of two 4.5 foot "boards", than three 3 foot "boards" than again two 4.5 foot "boards" and maybe only use 9 foot "boards" for the top and bottom layers)? I hope you understand what I mean. Thanks in advance
Thanks for the comments! A few responses: @bradfordashoemaker: The plywood I used is 1/8" baltic birch, and has 3 plys. Of course, you could glue up individual plys, but starting with 3 is less work. The drawback is that the minimum bend radius is larger than with individual plys. @franciscoferrario: The glue between the layers resists lateral slippage, so it's probably not necessary to "overbend" the mold, at least not by very much.
Three things i would do different. 1 Misting the wood with water before prebending. This helps soften the wood and helps keep the form after the prebending and aids with the glueing as I explain later. 2 using straps on the outside layer will help prevent wood from cracking or snapping. 3 roll on polyurethane glue, this glue uses the moisture from when spraying water on the wood earlier to cure and is much stronger then standard wood glue. And will not seperate when subject to high or low temperatures like standard wood glue does.
The Varier Balans chair back support add-on I want is a whopping $200 for a 2 bend ply and some hardware. Enlightening to see that 1/8 birch can bend without steaming. Or I'm thinking to just build it up without any bending and add aluminum edge supports for the lower weight bearing curve.
Hello and thanks for this well made video. I have been unsuccesful in recreating what is demonstrated. I am using three ply birch (don't know if it's Baltic birch) and it begins to crack well before reaching a 90 degree bend. The radius of my mdf mold looks comparable to yours. I live in central Minnesota and the air is very dry this time of year but even after wetting the strips they still crack. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Hey, nice and very clear video. I have a question though, Why did you cut the plywood strips allways from the same side? As the finished piece shows, you get 2 layers with grain one way and 1 layer with crossgrain, was that intentional?
Soaking the laminates in water and then placing them into clamps before they are glued make the transformation much easier. Just as a "warm up period" before any strenuous physical activity reduces the possibility of any injury.
I would assume that the plywood will only bend to that sort of radius when the face grain is going across the leg rather than along it. 1/8" ply would probably break if you tried to bend it to that radius the other way.
Hello! You're the answer to all my questions, great video, great help.. But a question, how long (hours/days) did you leave the plywood (Glue) to dry? (Excuse me for my English)..
How thick is the actual chair leg in mm? whats the minimum thickness needed. Sorry, I'm getting a bit confused with the ply terminology in the comments.
Not a Bad Video! but next time add the clamps from the middle out this will help to avoid gaps in the first place, or, make two formers and sandwich the ply between the two
Well, this reply comes a bit late I guess. If I got your question correct, you're asking to use about 12 mm thick ply; demonstrator here uses a 8-9 mm ply. 12 mm ply isn't that flexible, so it breaks quite much easier if bent too much.
Bad idea to try to sand away glue. The glue just heats up, melts, and clogs the sandpaper. It's best to use a scraper. Better than than waiting till the glue cures, wipe it off as soon as the work is clamped up, like others have said.
I would like to have a go at creating a falcon chair leg to replace a broken one. For an idea what I mean simply google falcon chair by Sigurd Resell. Would this technique work as the curves are pretty tight? I think it may crack before the desired angle is reached. Has anyone tried this before if so how?
Can I bend 18 or 20mm plywood with this method? I mean for thicker plywood will this work? Because I wanna make a curved baby hammock. Or If I use ratchet strap will that work too?
Are you not supposed to cross the grain to prevent it from shattering with the weight on it? Yeah. I believe you are. I'm confused, because the end result shows you've crossed the grain, but not in the demonstration with the band saw, best mention that with a title before somebody hits the floor with sharp bits of wood all around them. Because you know somebody is going to cut the parts all across the grain. :/
u seem u know what u are talking about I am starting to do a project like this and saw your comment, what do u mean with what u say. please answer I need help with my final project in year 12 thanks :) please respond
3/8ths plywood is constructed with two outer layers of wood running one direction, and the middle layer running crossed. Every third layer will be running the opposite direction, which is exactly what he showed and explained in the video. If you look closely at the video at 4:05, you will see that for every 2 layers running lengthwise, one is running wide. So in short, the plywood is already constructed with crossed grain, no need to do it yourself.
Because of the thickness of the outer layers of this type of plywood, all that is being done, is bonding them with glue (making this much stronger) to another "thin-ply" to make a thicker one like the one in the middle. If you were to be making this same setup of multi-plies-bonding out of just the veneers (all the same thickness) then yes, crossing the grains would be highly advisable, but the gains on this particular setup are to small to be measured. (Unless it was twice or 3 times that length, or exceeding the weight rating of that same thickness product 1-1.5" thick birch plywood, or lastly if you plan to only use 4 legs on a bench)
This is too long proces 6h to dry.I have to make 84pices to do and 6 radiator covers in 5 days so Do you thing Im lazy????Make faster proces.If you have 30clamps and 5 forms.
Jordan Ray well only 16 Jordan it's also possible they just don't like the video! I mean I wouldn't be pissing about with a sander when a plane will do it as quick, cleaner, cost nothing in abrasives and be cleaner for my lungs. Now if I put in that work and not just machine things, I'm probably not too lazy am I? But I didn't like the video either! Use some common sense smart arse and learn to spell, it's too lazy, not to lazy!
