Building a beautiful arched bridge over a pond or creek can be achieved by laminating curved beams. Bendy Meranti Plywood, made from tropical hardwood veneers, is a type of plywood that can bend in long-grain or cross-grain directions and is used for creating curves in furniture, cabinetry, boat interiors, and more. To create hollow 12-in. square plywood box beams, woodworkers discuss the best way to fabricate a curved beam and learn about an interesting historic example of curved laminated timber barn construction.
To cut the plywood spacers, cut them into squares or strips to be spaced evenly between the boards. The strips should be a few inches in width by one inch less than the width of the beam, so that the top and bottom are level. The idea of a deck builder fabricating curved beams out of plywood in his shop and installing them outside sets off alarm bells for some.
To ensure proper lamination, use an exterior waterproof wood glue and clamp properly while it dries. While sealing isn’t essential, it will help the wood stay strong and prevent bending. Watch videos on how to build curved stair railings to learn the basics for laminating a curved beam using thin boards bent and glued together.
📹 Making curved beams
A video of making curved beams. First I started by making a simple draft and transferring it to an old and used up formwork …
Can you have curved beams?
Curved beams are integral to the engineering of a multitude of structures, including railway bridges, turbines, aircraft fuselages, and high-rise buildings. Such structures are employed in the fields of text and data mining, AI training, and analogous technologies. ScienceDirect employs the use of cookies, which are utilized by the site in question. All rights are reserved, including those pertaining to text and data mining, as well as AI training.
How do you curve a wood frame?
To bend wood, soak it in warm water for at least 30 minutes, then transfer it to a template or use C-clamps to pin it in the desired shape. Let it dry and repeat the process until bent. Heat hot water in a bathtub and set the wood to soak for at least 30 minutes. The duration depends on the thickness of the wood and the temperature of the water. If the wood feels give, it’s ready for bending. Avoid boiling water or anything else, as it’s better to take your time and avoid burning. The thickness of the wood and the temperature of the water will determine the time needed for the wood to be ready for bending.
How to make a curve in wood?
To cut a circle, center the trammel on the workpiece and mount a plunge-cutting bit in your router. Set the bit to cut about 3/8 in. deep for the first pass, or use a plunge router if you don’t have one. Carefully plunge the router into the wood and move it counterclockwise around the circle. Readjust the depth and make another pass until you cut all the way through.
Build a Plastic Wood Template by bending a piece of wood and using it as a template. Plastic wood or plastic molding can yield near-perfect symmetrical curves, and brands like Azek, Fypon, Kleer, and Versatex are available at home centers. Choose a thickness that will bend to the curve you need, such as 3/4-in.-thick for gradual bends or 1/2-in. x 1-1/4-in. plastic stop molding for tighter bends. Support the ends of the plastic wood with blocks attached to a strip of wood and adjust the position to change the curve.
Does layering plywood make it stronger?
Plywood is a material made using a layering process, with the number of layers indicating its strength. The weakest plywood, often called “shop-grade”, has fewer than four layers and is the most affordable option. A moderate strength plywood has between four and seven layers and is suitable for various projects. The strongest plywood has more than seven layers and is used for special projects like router patterns.
Thickness is another factor in plywood strength. Commonly used thicknesses include ¾ inch plywood and 1-inch-thick fir plywood for heavy construction projects. Some plywoods have tongue and groove patterns for even more strength. A 12-by-36-inch piece of 3/4-inch fir plywood can support 50 pounds, while a 12-by-36-inch piece of 1/4-inch thick plywood can only support about 5 pounds before bending.
The type of wood species used in plywood also affects its strength. Conifers, the most common species, produce softwood plywood, which is less strong than hardwood plywood. However, some manufacturers use exterior glue to adhere the layers, which can make the plywood stronger over time. This helps prevent the plywood from absorbing moisture, preventing layers from separating.
Does adding plywood to a beam make it stronger?
Jim Thompson, a structural engineer with McCormac Engineering Associates, suggests that adding plywood to wood beams can increase their relative stiffness. By multiplying beam width by beam depth cubed and dividing by 12, a built-up beam of three 2x10s has a relative stiffness of 297. When adding plywood between the 2x10s, the relative stiffness increases to 341. The plywood assumes that only two of the three plies have grain oriented along the beam’s length, resulting in only two of the three plies contributing to the beam’s strength.
Using four 2x10s without plywood increases the relative stiffness to 18 more than three 2x10s with plywood spacers. Using a pair of 2x12s only results in 5 more stiffness than three 2x10s with plywood. Three 2x12s yields 65 more stiffness.
When specifying a beam, consider its bending resistance. A triple 2×10 beam has a bending-resistance factor of 64. 2, but adding plywood increases it to 73. 7. A beam of four 2x10s with no plywood has 18 more bending resistance than three 2x10s with plywood, but a beam of two 2x12s has 1. 5 less bending resistance than the triple 2×10 beam with no plywood.
How do you bend plywood into a curve?
Bending plywood can enhance the appearance of furniture and cabinetry. The easiest method is to use clamps and a medium density fiberboard form, or a ratchet strap. For a stronger bend, glue multiple pieces of plywood together. Draw the desired curve shape on MDF, cut it out with a bandsaw, trace it onto more MDF, and cut out more layers for the form. Ensure the height of the form is about the same as the width of the plywood. Glue the layers of MDF together to complete the form. Medium density fiberboard can be found at hardware stores, and protective eyewear is essential when using a bandsaw or a jigsaw.
How to draw an arc on plywood?
The speaker is capable of maintaining a precise grip on the arc and drawing a line around it with a high degree of accuracy.
What can I put on plywood to make it stronger?
The self-made solid wood edge banding provides an optimal bond and can be implemented in a multitude of ways.
How is curved plywood made?
Kerf bending is a popular method of bending wood without machinery, allowing for the creation of curves in plywood. This involves making series of cuts into one side of the ply board, compressing the sheet into the space created by the cuts, and applying pressure to create a curve while maintaining the plywood’s original thickness. The panel is typically covered by a plywood sheet for a seamless finish. Kerf bending is ideal for joinery plywood and can be applied on request for any curved timber required for a project.
However, it requires a minimum radius of 300mm and is not recommended for structural timber due to its impact on wood strength. Another method is layering and bonding multiple thin sheets of ply together, which can be completed on-site by bending the plywood layers around an existing wall structure. This method creates an even, durable, and moisture-resistant finish, and can be applied across large spans for a range of shapes.
How to design curved beams?
The design of a curved beam is a three-step process. The objective is to ensure two things: firstly, that the support sections experience the maximum negative bending moment and shear, and secondly, that the mid-span section experiences the maximum positive bending moment.
📹 Bending wood for furniture…tips, tricks and techniques.
Bent Wood Table // Bent Lamination // Dining Table… In this video, I decide to bend some wood. There are various ways to …
I’m an experienced woodworker and have made many laminated forms as well as steamed. I have nothing but praise for your methodology; it’s exactly how my processes have evolved. It was quite late on that you confirmed that your walnut was air dried – that’s quite important as kiln dried timber can/usually does take bends and steaming quite differently. Separately to the methodology is the design. That’s very personal but I, personally, think your base is very elegant. Sturdy but not chunky. To my eyes. I’d have that in my house. Good clear guidelines so that people can quite easily follow your process.
Having been a carpenter for 35 plus years building homes and some furniture for myself and family, I sure as hell know you can spend many hours per piece of furniture or project, especially when each one is your prototype. Nice job by the way 👍. I never worked with too much quality dimensional lumber . Couldn’t always afford it for personal pieces. So pine, cedar, fur, spruce and some hardwoods were my limit. .🤐. But, a little stain can do miracles.
That’s beautiful man, I regret that I didn’t follow my passion of woodworking as a career. I still build things like book shelves, wall units and picnic tables but I’ve never had the space to do it properly without creating an annoyance for my neighbors so I live my passion vicariously through craftsmen like you on YouTube.
As a young man around 40 years ago my father took me to a local lumber jack and horse show in the hills of Appalachia Kentucky. That was when I was introduced to wood turning. It was a treadle style wood lathe with a sapling as in your article. The craftsman was building tables and chairs all from hand tools starting with logs he used no nails, screws, or glue. We watched for hours! I was very impressed! Thank you for reminding me of a great day with my Dad.
That is certainly a beautiful table. So well built and explained. It also brings back memories for me because the bending process was similar to what I did about 20 years ago. A friend of mine taxied his homeuilt aircraft into the side of a hangar door. The rounded wingtip was crushed. He and I made a template from the opposite wing and flipped it over to make a pattern. We used Sitka Spruce cutting 1/8 strips. It turned out beautifully. Of course it was not as thick as yours and the curve was not as acute, but after planing, sanding and recovering, the tip was perfect. He was flying again in short order. Thanks for your article. I really enjoyed it.
Your opinions about router bit longevity: on a project like this, you used a flush trim bit a lot. How often do you replace a bit that you use frequently/extensively? Do you try to use a relatively new bit for each project? I know that would add cost, but the benefit might offset the cost. I’m just not sure. Excellent job on this table.
Just saw this and subscribed! Great work and wonderful commentary!! A thought for an easy way to locate the Dominos on the pedestal…. I recently built a table with narrow legs and had to locate dominos on the bottom surface of the top…. I used what I now call “Domino Centers”..basically I put a domino in the top of the leg, then drove a brad nail into the domino and snipped off the top…I could then lower the table top onto the Domino Center, and mark the location to drill for the Domino in the top…worked out well.
Hi. I am a wood-technician, that works in a firm which makes furniture, and I must say you are the first woodworker on YouTube that I would consider professional. Your work is great, detailed and precise. You don’t use hobby solutions for joints and details, you use something similar to what woodworking firms use. So great work and carry on making great projects.
Of all the physical activities known to mankind, woodworking is one of them. Attention and intention shape and coax the beauty that is already there to simply shine a bit more brilliantly and be noticed as the principled application of design dancing with beauty. A function is satisfied as elegantly as opposites attracting.
Beautiful work, brother… Would love a quiet maker’s forum where ” clients ” not capable of providing basic measurements and how to handle them fairly could be tackled. Hoping the strength of the piece guaranteed an easy sale. Would also be curious as to whether you use a contract as guarantor in exactly these kinds of wtf situations.
Can I ask you a question! You spent so long working on version1 and it was done to the customer’s specifications. But it was not correct and not through any fault of yourself, so you had to make version2. Are you able to recover any of the cost for the materials and time etc, or do you just have to right it off and try to smile! I’m hopefully starting up a business soon and it’s something that I have often thought about.
Thank you for these articles; you’re work is some of the best I see on YouTube. I noticed that you have all the best and fairly new equipment/tools. My question is if you made a major investment up front with confidence in your skills and sales ability? Or did you build up to that level of tooling? And I’m also curious what type of training or schooling you had prior to this? Thank you for any information you’re willing to share.
Keith, I love this table base! I would like to build one with 2 posts for a 9 ft long kitchen table for our home. I would love to get the dimensions of the pieces of this project. I would be glad to purchase them or buy plans although I do not really need plans. I am a very experienced woodworker, have done bent laminations. Please let me know if and how I can attain the dimensions of the curves, posts and other pieces.
Great work! Looks really amazing! Such precision! I did notice when you showcased it at the end that the wood grains of the center post are mirror opposites. Its a dead giveaway that those are skins cut from the same board and are just skins..Is it not the goal when skinning smth to give the illusion that the piece is actually solid (whichever wood type)? Not a criticism btw..im just asking as u are obviously very experienced.I do imagine not alot of guests will be poking their heads under the granite top though..but let’s say it was glass. Also if for resale..Would a possible solution have been to invert that strip to better disguise it? Or is this a non issue?
Phenomenal work, definitely a perfectionist. I subbed immediately. Well done, I cant wait to binge watch everything else you’ve made. Im a bit jealous of all the cool tolls and gadgets you have. Those squares look very solid and well made. The hand planner too. Hopefully you have some links in the description lol. Ps. I really enjoy the bit of comedy too
This is the only wood working article that has not annoyed me. For one thing you use your table saw with confidence and without stopping to burn the wood which is a personal pet peeve. Can’t take issue with any of your process either. The only thing I would not have done was clad plywood with solid wood as on the center post. But its not that wide, should be alright.
So I sure hope you got paid for 2 of those. If I’m understanding what you said. The customer gave you the measurements. Their mistake. Not yours. Cut them a small break maybe. But you do quality work. Get paid for it. Unless you can sell it. I just stumbled onto your website. Very well done. I’ll subscribe and check out more.
Remarkable, gorgeous, and expert craftsmanship. Well done!! Bravo. (Is it wrong that my favorite part of the article is when you drank your coffee behind the curved lamination “fortress,” donning your face shield as a jousting helmet?!?! 🤣😂Also, your accent sounds like you’re from Massachusetts, perhaps the metrowest area? I grew up there, and your voice makes me feel like I’m home!)
Your grey feline would not hold a candle to my 3 indoor cats, … they have taken a 1&1/2 x 2″ vertical support board that holds the bathroom door, and reduced it into a piece for a burn barrel, … over the past 4 & 1/2.years, … I started out with a pale orange tabby, (Rascal), … whom I rescued from the streets of East Chicago, Indiana, without knowing anything about cats, he was only a few weeks old, his eyes were still the cobalt blue, which turned into the mesmerizing olive good,/green, eyes on Halloween of the same year, in 2018, and we have become inseparable, friends, … and then Spanky showed up at my garage door, just looking for a place to crash, out of the weather, and a meal, and he has become my protector, per se, … and then, after my wife passed in December 2020, a little itty bitty black kitten showed up at my front door, meowing enuff for 3 kittens, … (I’ve had all 3 of them spayed, or whatever you call it), … and all 3 of them consider me, their property, … my wife fell in love with Spanky, and gave him his name, because he would curl up at her feet, & keep her feet warm, … I had bought a washing machine which needed to go inside of the bathroom, … and is why I had to remove the door, … and it stays that way, because I have back issues, and have gotten lazy, … too, … Nice job, accomplished there, sorry the 1st one was too tall, … I need to make some cabinets for the newer kitchen that I will be replacing, as I need to move the kitchen to the middle of my trailer, instead of having it just off of the front 12 feet of the trailer’s front door, … so I’m moving it closer to the washroom, … and it will be less likely to freeze my pipes in the winter, … My other 2 cats showed up a year ago, just before wintertime, and have been with me ever since, they are both Maine Coon cats, Fluffy, & Princess, male and female, I believe they might be brother, & sister but the has the short hair like a regular cat, but Fluffy is exactly as his names portrays, … long haired Maine Coon, … and they are very well behaved, … I think they may have been taken care of by a vet, but I could be wrong, … yet they will allow me to pick them up and hold them, even though they each weigh right at 20 lbs, … or maybe a bit more, … I have no snakes here, or rats/mice or any other vermin, because they keep it really clean here, … and they play with my black, & gray squirrels, come 1st of the year, they will be making a trip to the vet to be taken care of, and also get their shots too!
Beautiful work. Getting into bent lamination for some coffee table legs. I’ve made an initial form but hoooweee this whole process is quite the rabbit hole. Good fun. Learned alot on the first one out of the gate. Mainly, that I didn’t know what the heck I was doing!! LOL! Thanks for posting this. Just subscribed.
Hello there Keith, Very nice, organised work. I wonder if you knew that the very FIRST person in the history of cabinet making to use the laminate technique was Thomas Chippendale, from Yorkshire, England? Back in the seventeenth century!! It was during his “Oriental” period, where he was doing intricate scrollwork. This created a technical problem on the screens he had cut out. There were big breakage problems, due to grain direction. He therefore decided to use a three-layer technique, for reasons of strength. The middle layer was glued at 90°. He thereby- unknowingly- created the first plywood in history! (This could be a subject for the excellent “History Guy” website!). The Michel Thonet (Swiss) genius technique of steam-bending (solely beech) came about in the mid-nineteenth century. I have a facsimile of the entire catalogue- an impressive array of outstanding pieces of furniture- ALL in bentwood. American Walnut, because of it’s straight-grain quality, must lend itself to a certain amount of bending. Modern glues allow for a lot of different ambitious projects. I live, and used to work in France, where we use laminate techniques, to span ENORMOUS arches- sometimes HUNDREDS of feet (even if we work in metres here). I will end by saying that I admire your logical approach, and MOST of all, your humour!! “Only fools take themselves seriously”, as we say in France . Merci Monsieur. (I was an antique furniture restorer in Brighton, England, and Paris, France for over 35 years)
I work in the Commercial Casework industry… with 20 years in milkwork. I consider myself a millwork specialist. I do not have a degree in wood products but have definitely worked on some amazing projects and had the pleasure of learning from wood workers whom worked in mills longer than I’d been alive… I must say you’re work is impressive. Clean shop and well taken care of machinery are essential to success or avoiding problematic process or even injury. I just wanted to commend your work and relay you are a true craftsman in my eyes. Look forward to perusal future projects you may do and share for all the wood working community. Btw… I bet that walnut splinter hurt… oak is worse in my opinion… My old boss would see me digging a splinter out and he’d say: “you trying to steal wood again?” Love that joke.. take care and God bless… Jesus was a carpenter… your doing the lords work my friend!
Keith, that is beyond excellent. The editing and some funny stuff in there was very well done. Nice shop and lots of very expensive tools. Your narration and glue terminology is a great teacher, and the cat is too cool. I did start to cringe when the scratching post thing started though. Excellent and superb work. Can you get me a Festool sponsor ? Thanks, Jim
One belated thought that I had after my unstinting praise. When I make a form that deep (I think you said 5″?), I don’t use solid plywood. I use a sandwich of, say, 18mm MDF form as you made, 18mm spacer, 18mm MDF form as you made, 18mm spacer and the final 18mm MDF full form. It uses less timber and I have never found any detriment to the shape achieved. Have you tried that and what were your results?
Fascinating! How did you know what to quote for this work? Like if you’re (hypothetically) charging 50/hour plus material all in you’re north of 24k (given that the client made you make 2!), which given the skill and results I don’t find ludicrous but I’m curious of the business aspect to custom pieces. Happy to hear others chime in!
I notice you didn’t dampen the receiving piece when gluing up the lamination, which Gorilla glue requires. Was this because it was already damp from being soaked in the PVC pipe? I have also heard platic resing glue is used, but it seems to need hand mixing which concerns me because if you mix wrong it might be compromized. Any thoughts appreciated. Also, what you built is just amazing!
He drops a minor detail that he had to completely remake it because the first version was too tall at the end, and then down in the comments he says there was a no charge for the customer’s change order! That says a lot to me, I probably wouldn’t have charged for a second table either the more I consider it, but dang what a hit that must of been! The customers must be so pleased with the perfect table, and immensely impressed with the service they received! That is a beautiful piece of work, certainly an heirloom piece. My favorite parts of this are your edge profiles, the finish and that you made the bent sections out of solid walnut!
Love the website! Do you have a rough idea of how heavy that top was (radius and thickness would work too)? My wife saw this base and fell in love with it. We are thinking of using it on a very large live edge log coin. Trying to get and idea of total scale and support capacity. Thanks for any info you can give, I have already learned so much perusal your website!
Keith, amazing work, very creative and entertaining to watch. I got a question, provably asked before but couldn’t find it.what was the moisture reading when you did the glue up? IYO, do you think there would have been spring back if you didn’t wet the wood, or any other issue? thanks a lot for taking the time to share!!!!
Hey Keith, I have this alcove in my house that a table like this would fit just perfectly in. I would like to copy your work but that is gonna be very ambitious for me in my very meager little shop. I was curious though..when you soaked the walnut strips you cut, was it just water or did you also include some white vinegar? I was thinking (sometimes a dangerous thing…) that the white vinegar might help with the softening up of the strips or maybe that would make them too soft? Have you ever heard of such a thing?
I’m so curious: since this was a whole second version for the client, did they pay you for both versions? I’m also really curious how much you charged. I’m just getting in to making bigger furniture and want to sell some. So far the stuff I’ve made and sold has been smaller things on the order of cutting board sized.