Lamination Question

[Dominic Carpenter]

I am preparing to begin a Bow Arm Morris chair from qtr sawn white oak. In order to save a little $ on the project, I was considering using plain sawn white oak in the bent lamination for the arms. Plain sawn topped with qtr sawn stock. However, I was wondering if this is a no- no due to the gain pattern. This is my first lamination with Qrt sawn stock.

[Todd Burch]

Wood glue doesn't care about grain pattern. You'll be fine.

Post pics!

Todd

[Jamie Buxton]

You know when you look at the edge of most pieces of plywood, it seems like it is made from alternating dark and light stripes? The light/dark effect is actually a facegrain/endgrain effect. If you do as you're thinking, you'll get a little of that facegrain/endgrain color difference. Maybe this looks okay to you, maybe not -- your choice.

[Bob Vavricka]

In a lamination all the grain runs the same direction so you don't get the plywood look. I have done some bent laminations using a vacuum bag consisting of 8 layers of 1/8" walnut and it looks like solid wood. I would try to pick laminations that match in color as closely as you can.

[Dominic Carpenter]

Thanks I didn't even think about the color issue. Thanks everyone.

[Bob Lang]

Shouldn't be a problem with white oak. If the laminates are about 3/16" thick you can chamfer the edge of the top, quartersawn one down close to the glue line and the issue of edges won't be.

Bob Lang

[Carl Beckett]

Just start with a solid board. Resaw. Clean up, then glue back together in the same order. Will all match and you won't even notice it's laminated

[Chris Padilla]

Bent laminations are often done exactly the way Carl describes. David Marks once resawed a chunk of koa into ~1/16" strips and then glued them back together again to form a long, flowing floor lamp complete with S-type bends. It turned out magnificient and really looking like a solid chunk of koa.

Your idea to save on the cost of quartersawn oak should work just fine since it is all oak...it will all mostly move together but since it is a lamination, and done with thin strips, the glue (use an appropriate glue...one that dries hard--i.e. not yellow or white glue) will hold everything together and minimize movement anyway.

[Chris Fournier]

Carl's advice is the gold standard. Done well the results will "fool" most everyone and even you will examine the piece for the rest of your life and pat yourself on the back.

[Steve Kohn]

Bent laminations are often done exactly the way Carl describes. David Marks once resawed a chunk of koa into ~1/16" strips and then glued them back together again to form a long, flowing floor lamp complete with S-type bends. It turned out magnificient and really looking like a solid chunk of koa.

Your idea to save on the cost of quartersawn oak should work just fine since it is all oak...it will all mostly move together but since it is a lamination, and done with thin strips, the glue (use an appropriate glue...one that dries hard--i.e. not yellow or white glue) will hold everything together and minimize movement anyway.

You are scaring me. 2 years ago I built a crib for my first grandson with bent wood laminations glued with Titebond. This is the first I've heard of not using yellow glue for laminating. I assume it is for glue creep? If this is the case what are you supposed to use?

[Mel Fulks]

Yellow glue is fine .White glue will creep.

[Scott T Smith]

Just start with a solid board. Resaw. Clean up, then glue back together in the same order. Will all match and you won't even notice it's laminated

+1. If you mix and match QS and FS in the same lamination, in addition to the aesthetic issues you may have problems with unusual wood movement.

Each arm requires a couple of board feet of material. You're only talking about a ten dollar savings if you use flat sawn for the middle portion instead of QS for everything. For ten bucks, personally I would want to edge grain to match via Carl's suggested method.

[Dominic Carpenter]

Thanks, everyone. I'm going to go with all qtr sawn for the lamination.