I’m getting ready to start a bent lamination project.
I will be using 3 – 1/8″t x 2 1/2w x 5 feet long ash laminates.
1. Does it matter if I use plane sawn or quarter sawn stock?
2. For the center laminate is it necessary/preferred to apply glue to both sides?
Thanks for your help
Mike
Replies
Glue both sides lightly, on all but the front and back lams. Plane or quartersawn is a matter of grain matching.
When you apply the glue, give it some time to seep into the pores before clamping... otherwise, you can starve the lamination, as the glue squeezes out. With Titebond, the glue will become translucent when it has stopped absorbing into the grain.
Regarding glue, Titebond 3 dries darker than Titebond 2, and may become noticeable on the finished finished product.
The radius of your bend will matter a bit. Tighter radius means more potential for flatsawn grain to break out. Also, you might want a more rigid glue line than a PVA if the curved parts are not supported in the curved position in the final assembly. PVAs can creep under stress where urea formaldehyde or hide glues are rigid. Springback is reduced with a rigid glueline. Let if fully cure clamped in the form, I double the time on the bottle.
For the few laminations I've done, I've use plastic resin glue and applied it to both sides with a small short nap roller. I distributes the glue evenly and quickly. I ended up with a very stiff and strong laminations. I suggest you give it a try.
You should always apply glue to both sides of glued objects. Wetting the wood prior to joining them is imporrant.
You can apply to one side. I lay then out apply glue liberally with a roller stack them and put in mold.
Never had an issue glue squeezes out everywhere.
Plastic resin is definitely stiff but also a mess to work with not as bad as epoxy.
I just finished a dining table with bent laminations for the trestle legs. I contacted Michael Fortune and he was very generous with his advice and time when answering my questions. (Thanks FWW for introducing us to this master). His suggestion to me was to use Titebond Extend and add 5% corn starch to the glue to increase rigidity and reduce creep. Laid out the lamination on the table, rolled glue on one side, and put them together into the form. See Michael's video series on this and it will really help. The laminated legs came out great and no creep.
Once I took one out of the form I did put a bar clamp across the bottom to minimize spring back while I glued up the next leg. They probably sat clamped that way for maybe a week while I worked on the top. No issue with creep and rock solid.
Good luck
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