Bending wood

burkhome · Post by **burkhome** » Mon Sep 03, 2012 9:24 am

charlese wrote:Rather than bending, you can make slats with pie shaped sides then sand the curve. I did this technique on the small chest pictured.

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This chest was made from 1/4" stock with box joints, but I'm pretty sure you can do a similar box from 3/4 stock. Glue up was no problem and you don't need box joints. Using solid stock rather than plywood should give a pretty substantial chest lid.

Sanding the wedges, with glued sides and top is a snap, because they are flat sanded. Rounding the curve is also pretty easy - just need to sand the mating edges after glued up.

That my friend is one beautiful piece.

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Mon Sep 03, 2012 3:39 pm

swampgator wrote:Charles, that looks like a great idea and it appears to be very complicated. I guess the sanding is what does the trick and solid wood makes the sanding more acceptable. May go with solid wood. Thanks.

Also, that is beautiful craftmanship and a beautiful chest. Any inside pics?

Thanks! but really quite simple.

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LOWER DRAWER FACE.
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wrmnfzy · Post by **wrmnfzy** » Mon Sep 03, 2012 3:47 pm

I love what you did!

elizabeth2 · Post by **elizabeth2** » Tue Sep 04, 2012 6:57 am

Hi dear am newbie here and i want to ask a question which is that is it possible to bend mdf or plywood? if so hows the best way to do it?
i need it to be bent to the curved length of a semi circle? which is 1metre in diameter.
any help wood be brilliant ??

saminmn · Post by **saminmn** » Tue Sep 04, 2012 10:57 am

elizabeth2 wrote:Hi dear am newbie here and i want to ask a question which is that is it possible to bend mdf or plywood? if so hows the best way to do it?
i need it to be bent to the curved length of a semi circle? which is 1metre in diameter.
any help wood be brilliant ??

Hi, I am a newbie to woodworking and someone will correct me if (where?;) ) I am misleading you. First, MDF does not bend well. Plywood can flex quite a bit. I have seen pictures where there were evenly spaced saw kerfs made on the inside of the curved surface. How close together (and what percent of thickness) is a function of plywood thickness/strength requirements and of course the radius of the curve.

Welcome to the group! You may want to start a thread to introduce yourself to the community, what your interests, background, WW tools you can access/use, and what you want to do in the WW area. It is a very friendly, supportive community. I have had a lot of help in my first half a year!

saminmn · Post by **saminmn** » Tue Sep 04, 2012 11:19 am

Hi, Me again. If i were doing this, I would take a piece of plywood 1 meter by about 8-10 cm. and make a bunch of cuts evenly spaced across the strip of plywood at about half the thickness of the material. Then check how much bow you could easily put on the strip holding the ends in your hands. If it is not enough, add cuts in between the original ones and check again. You should find out about how close together you will want the cuts this way. The full width of your plywood to be bent could then be cut and shaped.

I have been imagining that the plywood will be attached to some frame that will help hold the shape, correct?

Edit: Sorry I was thinking you were bending a 1 meter piece. So, multiplying radius by pi for semicircle, I should have said to use 1.57 m. long piece.

reible · Post by **reible** » Tue Sep 04, 2012 11:31 am

Actually Rockler sells bendy MDF. I have not tried it.

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page ... %20plywood

Ed

saminmn · Post by **saminmn** » Tue Sep 04, 2012 12:40 pm

reible wrote:Actually Rockler sells bendy MDF. I have not tried it.

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page ... %20plywood

Ed

That is good to know:D

Anyone used it?

brad_nalor · Post by **brad_nalor** » Thu Sep 06, 2012 3:48 pm

I bend thin MDF by kerfing the back and use steam. For applications where it must retain some rigidity, I prefer it over the bendable plywood. Easy, fairly quick to shape and form. Seems very stable even for changing environments like in a car. I needed to replicate the exact pattern of an original dash, (not my favorite but that was the intent to copy). Not sure if my technique is correct but it works for thin stock so prior to bending, veneer's are glued and vac bagged, then I proceed with making the pieces. The back side of the radius where kerfed gets a thin layer of glue as to reinforce and prevent a 'memory' or straightening out. Large, thicker pieces of MDF can be shaped, just don't rush as it will tear the particles. The cost of using MDF and veneer is a big saving too.

holsgo · Post by **holsgo** » Fri Sep 07, 2012 7:13 pm

If you are doing a big top like that I would suggest laminating. First create a form to bend around. Make the form slightly narrower, but as tall as, the final dimension. If the desired end piece is 3/4 thick for example, use 1/4 ply. I have wet the wood with boiling water, then bent around the form. Use polyurethane glue, and a lot of it. It actually cures with water and will be the only glue you can use in this application. After the piece is dried and glue cured you can remove it from the form. Use wax paper between the form and the product. This does take finesse as you have to clamp one side, bend around to the other and clamp again. But, the finish product is quite nice. That said, you will have to use thinner laminations if necessary to get the feel of it. Just a thought.

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Bending wood

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