We are building a custom cabinet and the customer wants a radiused cabinet end. Whats the best way to wrap the luaun? Should we use multiple kerfs on the back, soak the wood, or do both? We dont have access to a steam box so thats not really an option.
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Have you considered "wiggle-wood". Don`t know if thats the brand name or just the trade term. I haven`t used it in a while, but if I remember correctly, its a luan skin laminated over "kerfed" fill. Comes in 4 x 8 sheets.....Designed for the very application you`ve described.
J. D. Reynolds
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The trade name for wiggle ply is performa but there is a relatively new mdf product that is factory (cnc) kerfed that will give a smoother surface.On a hill by the harbour
We call it "Wacky Wood" here. 4 X 8 sheets and you order it according to which way you want it to bend (rip direction or cross cut direction). I'm no cabinet maker but I'll bet you could use that and then apply a veneer?
I remember recieving a sheet of exterior grade once to trim out a radius porch I built.
The wiggle wood I've used was actually 3/8x8x4, so you could make something with an 8 foot circumference. The glue used in it smelled like hell. I built some curved stuff using a sort of miniature curved stud wall construction--3/4" plywood top and bottom 'plates' cut with the desired curves, and 3/4 x 3 poplar 'studs' nailed between them--exactly the way you'd build a curved wall. Then the wiggle wood was glued and stapled to the studs, and p-lam over that. Obviously, if your customer wants a curved cabinet panel that's got accessible space inside it, you've got to glue up layers of thin ply around a form with a vacuum bag or cauls. Wiggle wood is the easy way out if the space inside is not accessible and can be cluttered with studs.
I think the last post hit it. If you've got a vaccuum bag, laminate three pieces of bending ply together over the form, with the veneer on top. Leave yourself some reference marks on the back for taking measurements for final trimming. Incidentally, if you can find someone who carries Weldwood plastic resin glue, that stuff is absolutely awesome for vacuum press work. Plenty of time to work with, but when its dry, it's hard as a rock. You won't have to worry about bubbles. Or delamination. And in laminating pieces together, springback is kept to a minimum.
To use it, just mix the powder with water. Let it sweat in for about ten minutes, then use a fine toothed trowel to spread an even layer over everything.
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Thanks for all the suggestions. I dont have a vacuum bag but I may be able to use some of the performa board or work freehand with the bending ply. The area I need to bend around is actually kind of small.
Whats the radius that your bending to, you dont need a vacume, good if you got it but not necessary. I've bent a lot of wood without one, didnt use a steam box either. Make yourself a neg. and pos. of the radii and put the piece in it. Clamp it up and you got yourself a bent piece of wood!
Doug