Bent Lamination: How to Bend Wood Like a Pro

Bent Lamination: How to Bend Wood Like a Pro

Learning how to bend wood will open up a whole new realm in your woodworking and furniture making. And it is something that is not that difficult to do. Today we look at making forms, what laminations to use, what glue to use, clamping techniques, examples of Art Furniture that use bent laminations, and we finish with gluing up a couple of bent wood stretchers for a bench I am working on.

If you want to see the Bluestone Bench Being Built, check out the series:
Furniture Artist Building Bench:

0:00 Introduction
0:22 Example Art Furniture with Bent Laminated Wood
2:46 Making the Bent Lamination Forms
5:50 Different Materials for the Laminations for Bent Laminated Wood
8:48 Clamping Bent Laminated Wood
10:45 Beyond Simple Curves with Bent Laminated Wood
12:12 Glues to use for Bent Laminated Wood
14:32 Todays Project: Bent Laminated Stretchers for a Bench
15:16 Using a cull to distribute pressure on Bent Laminated Wood
15:30 Be Completely Ready!! for Bent Laminated Wood
17:13 Spreading the Glue for Bent Laminated Wood
18:55 BENT LAMINATED WOOD: GLUING UP THE STRETCHERS
20:39 Unclamping and Milling the Bent Laminated Wood Stretchers
22:38 The finished Stretchers

[christopherhart]

Great video, very informative - I'm going to use this process on the armrests for the outdoor furniture I'm building.

[istvanotvos]

Very nice clean work and very helpful tutorial

[davidbingham]

And this is why no woodworker has EVER said the words “I have too many clamps. I need to get rid of some of them.”

[MadebyWolfe]

Have you used bent wooden pieces in furniture you have made? If so, share how you have done it.

[arthurgriffin]

Should I use glued laminations of wiggle wood to replace a broken "s" slat from a paint grade rocking chair that's been in the family for many years ??

[Peanutcoxy]

How do you make the edges invisible like you did on the writing desk? Does maple veneer hide the join naturally?