I want to make a fairly large wall sculpure about 48 inch across. It will be basically in the shape of a large C or G. My question is could I laminate my stock with the layers rotated about 30 degrees to add strength to the areas with the grain running the short dimension. Will this help or will the wood movement tear the layers apart over time. I also thought about making it from fairly short sections of thick stock with splined finger joints, almost the way a ships wheel would be made.
thanks
Edited 2/26/2008 11:12 am ET by bob30101
Replies
Geez, sorry I dropped the ball on this one Bob.
I think it depends upon how thick your laminations might be. Standard plys are of course pretty thin. But lumber core plywood, made up of small pieces of quarter or rift sawn lumber was made for years. I would just keep the outer veneers, front and back, fairly thin in this glue-up.
The ship's wheel idea will give you an entirely different look with the grain of each section becoming more noticeable. But it's a safer bet for movement over time. One other idea is if the sculpture is not going to get stressed or moved around a lot, then just cut it out of solid stock and drill for dowel rods through the weak sections. It's not foolproof but it's a quick solution for perhaps minimal strength requirements. Good luck. Gary
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