Interesting bending technique

[Ole Anderson]

We visited the Marietta Museum of Art and Whimsy in Sarasota today and they had some furniture that you could sit in and relax. Really good workmanship, looked like mahogany? Curved glide supports were laminated. Matching chair, rocker and glide. The back slats of the chairs had a double bend that was accomplished by (apparently) band sawing 4 narrow kerfs then inserting glued veneer in the slots and pressing them in a mold (zoom in on the middle pic). So the top of the slats were solid, only the bottoms would show the laminations. Never saw that technique before. Very craftsman like. And comfortable. You had to look very carefully to notice the laminations. Back slats on the glider were three laminated thin strips. Can you buy (or how would you make) veneer the thickness of your band saw kerf?

[Mike Henderson]

I made a swing somewhat like the one in your pictures. I did laminate bending and cut the laminates on my table saw. I think the back and seat were three laminates. No problem with cutting them on the table saw except for the waste because of the thickness of the blade. Mine was designed to be supported with chains.

Swing 002.jpg

Mike

[Mike Ontko]

That's an elegant design! Getting thin veneers isn't too much of problem with a drum sander or by using a sled with your planer. The trick to getting thin pieces on a planer is to start with sharp blades, ensure that the pieces are held down to the sled either with side clamps or carpet tape, and most importantly--only take off very thin amounts with each pass, especially as you get close to your final thickness. I've been able to get down to 3/32" running red oak and Doug fir (not easy woods to make veneers with) through a DW735. There was, however, quite a bit of waste created either at points where grain changed direction and was pulled up by the blades or on the leading and trailing ends when the material isn't making full contact with both the input and output feed rollers.

[Jim Colombo]

Easy with the Accu Slicer. http://www.accu-slice.com/accu-slice-system.html

Jim

[Erik Christensen]

that is a really cool tool

[Steve Demuth]

that is a really cool tool

Just short of $700 to put one on my little 14" saw. Given that a sharp blade on a well tuned saw with a plain fence will get me veneer to less than 1/128" thickness variation, I don't see the appeal.

[Frederick Skelly]

Easy with the Accu Slicer. http://www.accu-slice.com/accu-slice-system.html

Jim

Looks like a nice tool. Price is a little steep for the uses I'd have for it. Can you post some of what you've built with it so we could all see.

[Charles Coolidge]

Wood bending is something I always wanted to try but never have, maybe I'll add it to my bucket list.

[Jim Colombo]

first I cut the veneer, then glued and cut to size, cut segments, glued into rings and turned.

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This was my first attempt at making the veneer and as you can see there are some glowing errors but later attempts turned out much better. However, no pictures.

[Frederick Skelly]

Beautiful work! Looks like it was a good investment for your shop, too. Thanka for posting.