Walnut Bent Lamination Floor Lamp #1: the design

Congratulations on your commission. Looks like an interesting lamp. I look forward to watching your progress and seeing the finished piece. Thanks for sharing.

-- My favorite piece is my last one, my best piece is my next one.

Hi Brian,

Do you glue up those 1/8” veneers right off the saw or do you need to smooth them somehow first?

-- Scott - Chico California http://chicowoodnut.home.comcast.net

That’s going to be cool lamp Brian. Great post, thanks for that great set of pictures on the how to. I’ll be looking forward to seeing this finished.

-- Les, Wichita, Ks. (I'd rather be covered in saw dust!)

Thanks Guys for your comments
Scott, not having a thinkness sander yet I glued up the veneer right off the saw.

-- Brian, Folsom, CA http://www.brianfullerdesigns.com

You got big b@lls, tackling all these bent lam pieces one after the other. This lamp is going to look crazy nice.

Eagerly awaiting the next blog post, JM

-- Jarrod, Taos, NM http://jzmurphree.wordpress.com/

Oh yeah, I was wondering if you edge jointed between resaw cuts, or just ran them through rough? What kind of blade were you using? I just ruined my BS blade and I am looking for suggestions.

Later, JM

-- Jarrod, Taos, NM http://jzmurphree.wordpress.com/

I have similar Qs to Scott and Jarrod…

In general, you must have the bandsaw set up pretty precise. I can imagine that if you had an out of square condition (or if you sawed some twist into the strips) that could be exaggerated in the glued up piece. You ARE brave!

So, how did you keep things so consistent?

Again, great work and approach in these projects!

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

Hi Jarrod & Dorje,

Very good questions. I might have just gotten lucky but I ran them through rough and didn’t edge join between. My backward logic was that if I could only edge joint on one side without using a thickness sander on the other then I would have a rough to jointed surface up against each other and that difference would be more noticeable vs. rough to rough. The blade I used (which can be seen in the Asian table blog pic) is a $15 Grizzly 3/4” .032 3TPI HOOK blade. To date this is the only blade I have used (I am totally new to the realm of Band Saws) so I have nothing to benchmark it against yet (until I buy a Lenox, Woodslicer or Timber Wolf) but here are some pictures of what I was able to produce. I did have the blade dialed in on the tension and spent some time setting my guides. It would be interesting to see what type of results I would get if I A.) changed out the blade to something higher end B.) edge jointed before re-sawing the next slice C.) and used a thickness sander (when I get one) before glue up. My hope is to sell more of these so I am constantly going to try different approaches to see what yields the best results.

-- Brian, Folsom, CA http://www.brianfullerdesigns.com

Looks like great results!

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

Cool, it looks great, I was just curious.

I just ordered a 1/2” Wood Slicer from Highland Hardware; I’m looking forward to seeing the results with it. I had a 3/8” Viking (from Lee Valley) low-tension blade and it worked well, but I twisted it too much trying to do a curve cut on a form and ran it off the wheel and into the guard. Totally ruined all the teeth….

Anyhow, later, JM

-- Jarrod, Taos, NM http://jzmurphree.wordpress.com/

Looks really great. Did you have any spring back with the lamination? I am looking forward to seeing the next steps.

Jarrod, let me know what you think of the wood slicer when you had a chance to use it.

MDF, there is slight spring back in each lamination.

-- Brian, Folsom, CA http://www.brianfullerdesigns.com

Rad.

-- Check out my new website! http://www.blakeweberwoodworking.com

It is great that you are blogging the whole process. I started that hall table with the bent laminations last night. I am going to be bugging you about some of the details of the process when I get to that point. In the mean time I’m studying this blog… thanks and keep it going!

Could you post a link to the glue that you use?

-- Check out my new website! http://www.blakeweberwoodworking.com

Hi could you tell me how this aluminium piece on the bandsaw works?I have some pieces of alluminium that would do fine just like to know how you use it I take it it is for very small pieces.Alistair

-- excuse my typing as I have a form of parkinsons disease

Hi Blake,

Awesome I was wondering if you started the table yet. I had really good luck with this glue http://www.veneersupplies.com/product_info.php?cPath=86_40&products_id=187. If you are laminating a dark wood like walnut you can use the glue as is because the glue is the color and consistency of caramel. If you are using a lighter wood you will have to order the lightening agent that they sell. If you use the lightening agent at full strength the same glue lightens in color to be used with Ash or maple. I used it for both this project and the bent laminated tea cart that I did see below (I also blogged that one). Please let me know if you have any questions and good luck. Looking forward to seeing your project.

-- Brian, Folsom, CA http://www.brianfullerdesigns.com

Hi Scotsman, It is actually the Grizzly resaw fence turned 90 degrees on its face to give me a straight line that is shorter for cutting thin pieces. It allowed me to bring the blade guard to within 1/8- 1/4” of the stock that I was resawing.

-- Brian, Folsom, CA http://www.brianfullerdesigns.com

Thanks. I favorited this page.

-- Check out my new website! http://www.blakeweberwoodworking.com

Hi Brian -

Beautiful design & craftsmanship. I was looking for information for an upcoming bent laminated project and your documentation of your project will be a great help.

Thanks,

Randy

-- Randy, http://www.randallprice.com