How to bend a piece of 3/4-inch plywood 

When you use this link to visit our sponsor, you support us► Dura Grit Carbide Sanding Products: (Use Coupon Code: STUMPYNUBS): duragrit.com/home.php Online bending calculator: www.blocklayer.com/kerf-spacing.aspx

I can supply you all the bent plywood you need. That is all 90% of the stores in my area carry. It's trying to unbend it to make a cabinet I have trouble with. It's like unraveling a DNA helix. (LOL)

I will never be great but I am a lot better than I would have been after watching your woodworking lessons. Thank you James

And yet again, I walk away with knowledge I didn't have 5 minutes ago. Thanks for sharing!

Great tip about paying attention to the grain direction of the ply, not the top veneer! Now I know why I've never had much luck with kerf bending.

James, your videos are brilliant, I can’ watch them all day long! They are super informative and helpful to me as a DIY woodworker. I am currently renovating our family home, making all our furniture and kitchen. I’d just like to say thank you so much. Best regards, Mike (North-West Uk)

When I'm driving, and can't watch these videos, I listen to them in the car. One of my favorite channels for sure! I'm only starting to work with wood, and have learned many things here that I can't wait to apply when it's time. Great channel!

Thanks for another great video! Your tips and tricks have helped me make some great pieces of furniture! You’re one of my favorites!

Awesome timing for me! I've got to do a bent plywood project next week. Thanks for the link to the kerf calculator.

Lots of great information in this video James! Those cabinets really turned out great. Thanks for sharing with us, keep up the good work and videos. Fred 👍👍👍👍👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Thanks for adressing the facet problem. Been looking every where for this info.

That cabinet is gorgeous.

Pretty cool answer to a good challenge.... will definitely keep this one stored for future reference! Thanks!!

We used to use the bendable plywood every so often. It could be VERY unstable when you least expected it (hard to predict). You did a great job of explain the kerf cutting method. Thanks

I just finished a contract job where I built and installed two arches at the front of a church that will be painted with religious icons. I built the main part of the arches with standard framing and then covered the top with flex drywall. Super solid and fun to build. I learned a great deal on that job. Love your channel!!!

That is a great tip about bending the plywood! And very informative too. Many thanks for an educational video and keep up the good work.

I am so glad I stumbled across your channel!

Great video and tips Stumpy Nubs, thank you!

Yup always innovating with great ideas 👍💯 your content will always make it to my top woodworking channels

EXCELLENT vid! Thanks for this! I always wondered if there was a kerf calculator- I never thought to do a search though... Then this vid pops up.

Wow amazing info. I really appreciate all you do to help the woodworking community. Thank you so much because I have learned a lot from you sir! God bless you and I hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas!

We used to bend coffin sides using that method. Best wishes from Stockport UK.

Looks great, didn't realize you could bend plywood that way.

More great info, James. Thanks again.

Thanks, James.

Very honest presentation, love the body filler. Cheers.

That's the calculator I use! Great for segment turning calculations too.

Good stuff . Used this method on full sheets when sheathing a circular addition some years back. Ended up with two layers if I remember correctly 1/2” and 3/8 . Not nearly as deep of kerfs but same concept.

This is the kind of skill I really appreciate!

An interesting idea. Thanks! (Now to find a suitable project on which to use it ...)

Really interesting process! Thanks a lot, dude! 😃 Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

I have known that trick for years. You are correct on spacing the cuts. I messed up a lot of plywood trying to figure out the spacing. Of course that was preinternet. But this is a valuable thing to know if your just getting into woodworking.

Beautiful Piece!

How many wine corks stacked up in that unit! Man! That must have been a good weekend!

I used this approach for an opposite reason: I had a section of 1/2" standard plywood I had gotten for a different purpose and it sat around a bit before I had a chance to use it. It warped badly so that it was no longer viable for the intended purpose and it was too late to return it. A bit later I needed a bunch of drawer bottoms, ergo solution! I cut channels every 1/2" so that it was easy to flex the plywood to be flat and was still strong enough to be a drawer bottom. To make the cutting fast, after cutting the middle cut, and moving my fence 1/2", I'd cut in one direction and then the other. Moved the fence 1/2" in and cut one direction and then the other. It went fast. Worked great and no one would ever know that they are channeled on the bottom.

A good video James. Some great information and the piece looks awesome. Do you have any video of the how you put in the 45 degree shelf? Thanks for sharing. Ron

very informative......well presented ........

Absolute legends in the trade

I'm currently sitting here trying to figure out how I kerf plywood doors for a cabinet I've designed for my furniture degree course. I dunno, I just throw graphite at the paper. Thank you for actually giving me a direction to go in. 👍

Fascinating!

Great video, you never fail to provide great content. Thanks for all you do. Not kerf related but how does one flatten a relatively thin board with concave on one end. I tried wetting it down and clamping, letting it dry. Nearly flat after drying but the curve came back days later? Stock is too thin to plane flat.

This is why I love working with Baltic Birch. Its engineering grade wood and the ply you see is the ply you got, not vernier. Would a thin kerf blade work better with the bendable plywood?

Awesome upload thank you

Very good......Very smart

Really interesting

That's so cool!

Be prepared for bassheads to show up😂 great video as always!! Thanks for all the effort. A lot of people don’t realize what goes into making videos

Incredible

Awesome trick, I’ve used bendable plywood before and it SUCKS. Thanks for the great video.

Nice!

I seen that before. But they never used body filler that was good idea. Could you used that on the top to?

I have used the bending plywood many many times and while in a single layer it is flimsy but when you use multiple layers it is very strong. I used the bending plywood many years when living in Las Vegas and it made building crap table bowls and other redius projects simple and faster than other methods I have used. Your milage may vary.

No matter the issue I’m having I can almost always guarantee there’s a stumpy nubs video addressing it. I also failed to consider the thickness of the top veneer. It’s counterintuitive to cut across the grain of the veneer but that solves and issue I’m having for sure.

Would this trick work with solid wood? That way you could keep the grain running along the perimeter of the bend and you could just sand a smooth arc on the inside face.

Individual veneers laminated with a vacuum pump/bag would also be an option, perhaps?

I have nothing to say really, but I appreciate your content, and wish to help with the yt-algorithms.

Using a blade that's half the thickness and cutting double the amount of kerfs will greatly reduce the veneer distortion. Enough so that only some sandind is needed instead of having to use body filler. That's the technique I use for making curved starting steps.

Can this technique use to make couch made plywood considering the weight of the one who sets on it?

Here a little hint- try using a Sonotube as in concrete pillar Sonotube apply a thin coat of penetrating epoxy to stiffen it up and as many plays of what ever you want till you get what you want just make the last layer the vernier of your choice.

Perfection is the enemy of progress

Love your channel, I always seem to learn something every show. Do you have plans to post to Rumble? I'm leaving RU-vid do to its political policies.

The OCD engineer in me wants a tapered kerf that matches up perfectly all along the critical bend angle, instead of just at the ID. Time to experiment with grinding saw blades? 🤔

I looked up the Duragrit company and it seems they don't make 6" disks. Sometimes I use my 6" sanders more often than my 5", so that's a bummer. I had hoped these disks would be a better solution for my duel mode too.

I'm a drummer (and woodworker) and have been looking at methods for building my own drums. This could be an interesting technique for some thick shells. If I wanted the outer grain (veneer layer) to run horizontal would leaving one more layer intact work? Instead of sawing down to last one.

the part about the facets reminds me of 3D modeling

Random request, how about a video on selecting the best band saw blades. Sounds simple however, I know you have certain preferences. Thanks

smart

Have you done this with solid wood with an outside curve? I am planning to arched doorways.

Instead of epoxy, would insulating foam be a good solution for filling in the remaining spaces in the kerf?

On the duragrit block hand sander, what grit do you recommend if only buying one?

Have you ever thought about posting to Rumble?

Hmm, wondering if you could do something similar on a large scale (like on a full sheet) using a circular saw.

Stumpy, in bending the plywood you might find that the us of 1/8" Italian poplar bending plywood as a skin will give a more smooth finished product. It's a bit more complicated of a thought process because you have to noodle it all the way out for thickness issues. You would bond it to the plywood then make your kerfs. The other thing I use is a product called KERFKORE. NO,I don't work for them but they do make a very good product. Also we have found while contact cement is simple to use to apply veneer it can be a problem with certain stains and finishes. If your using solvent based finishes it will loosen the contact cement. We use a veneer glue with heat. Normally a clothes iron to reactivate the glue and make it stick. The result is a permanent bond that you will appreciate. Please keep up the good work, your videos are good for both the novice and pro! I love the cool tool ones.

To eliminate the facets, wouldnt multiple smaller strips cut on a specific angle then glued together on a your jig would have allowed you to sand and body fill it. I mean same effect, little more work, but completely worth it for a smooth interior.

How long did it take to accumulate all those wine corks? Can they be used for any other purpose?

Thoughts re high strength self/soft closing drawer slides. Looking for ~24 inches of travel and 150 lbs min load capacity

Huh. You be pretty smart.

0:16 !!, unfortunately the archs and the bend don't make a good match ! 4:29

While this is an interesting technique, I can't help but wonder if a bent lamination approach would have worked better. Thoughts?

Make kerfs closer, you'll eliminate all the flats🔨

Try using domestic plywood. As I'm sure you know, import plywood has more (usually 15 plys) than domestic plywood. I have started using domestic for just about everything now, for several reasons.

I guess steam bending planks would have been way too much (need a steaming fixture/chamber, etc) and wonder if there is a radius limit. I've seen steam bending for wagons and such... but this way makes sense.

Your method works, but bending ply is a way better, stronger, most stable option. That rippled finish on the top would never leave out of my shop doors

How can I make my own chest?

Why not put the cuts closer together?

Thickened epoxy isn't as messy as you make out.

Ive seen Half of a PVC pipe covered in veneer on some projects,, perfectly round...

Couldnt you just make more cuts to allow for a smoother bend

I liked it the first way. Think I'll just fill it in with blade sized strips of solid wood and glue. Maybe even make it a feature. The facets look ugly.

Get in dere

I apologise for my earlier comment. I came back to remove it because it was unkind, and had hoped it would be before you had seen it.

I gave a thumbs up. But, I know a better way. Not tellen. My secret.