Best Woods For Bent Lamination

The more seams you have the less chance for springback.

Best woods for bent lamination.

While resorcinol has a type i rating a good choice for outdoor applications its color is very dark making it unsuitable for lighter woods like maple. It also cleans up easily with water. Layers laminates and lamination we re all familiar with laminates. Hardwoods usually bend better than softwoods but redwood yellow pine and cedar can be used in bending projects.

These sheets come in 4 x 8. What is the best wood for lamination bending. If you ve ever glued two pieces of wood together face to face you ve essentially created a laminate. Epoxy and urea formaldehyde glue are much better for this application.

The gap filling properties of epoxy are of particular use when gluing bent lamination. Of these four glues urea resin and resorcinol achieve the most rigid glue line when cured. It s a urea formaldehyde glue with three shades of powdered catalyst to better match the wood you re using. Pva glues have a tendency to creep over time and wouldn t be my first choice for bent lamination.

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. What is the best wood for steam bending. Any wood will bend if it s cut thin enough. A couple of glues that seem to be good choices for bent lamination are pro glue unibond 800.

But some woods bend easier to tight curves without breaking. Are all good choices for bent laminations. David marks has a nice article on using urea formaldehyde glue. If your radii is tight you can use 1 16 wisa italian bending plywood.

Epoxy is also a good choice for bent laminations but it costs almost twice as much as urea formaldehyde. What you need to use for bent wood lamination is 1 8 bending poplar plywood that comes in either long or short grain. Ash oaks hickory and beech are the best for this method. Among the commonly available hardwoods oak walnut mahogany and ash bend the best.

Additionally a really green kiln dried softwood might also work to be steam bent. If gluing epoxy or other wise use 30 thinner stock if bending hardwoods compared to softwood counter parts with the exception of the really dense softwood such as syp. I recommend unibond 800. Steam bending usually works better with hardwoods as well.