Bentwood Inlay Rings

very nice Ring Frank

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon

Beautiful ring Frank, as all of your rings are.

I’ve read your blog on layered rings and really enjoyed it. What process / material do you use to inlay this kind of ring with?

Thanks for posting, I’ll be looking for more to come…............

-- Gene, Majestic Eagle Woodworks, http://majesticeagleww.etsy.com/, http://www.flickr.com/photos/majesticeagle/

Beautiful rings. Fanatstic job

-- Jerry--A man can never have enough tools or clamps

Thanks, everyone!

Gene: Thanks for the kind words about the blog entry! I’m glad you ejoyed it! These inlay rings are done in the bentwood fasion, which involves wetting or steaming thin strips of wood and bending them into the correct diameter. (No drilling involved.) For the inlay part, I carefully cut the thin wood strips and apply them around the “base” bentwood ring, leaving a space in the middle where the crushed stone would go.

-- Frank, Mississippi, http://www.stoutwoodworks.com

Frank,
Wow, your rings are now ART! I just can’t believe how you manage to put the crushed stone in the bent ring… This one is just gorgeous!!!

-- Junji Sugita from Japan, http://tetra.blog12.fc2.com/

Junji: I’m a fan of your work! Your kind words are really appreciated!

-- Frank, Mississippi, http://www.stoutwoodworks.com

Great work Frank. I really appreciate how you explained some of your techniques in your blog also.

-- Matt - Syracuse, NY

Beautifull rings Frank. Your rings are the reason I decided to make my own. Sorry to say I like yours better then mine! haha ( the wife likes mine better but that is ONLY because I made them)

Very fine intricate work on these inlays. Fantastic job!

Keep it up.

Scrappy

-- Scrap Wood's the best...the projects are smaller, and so is the mess!

I like your approach to ring making, they are visually interesting, and I imagine much stronger than the drilled variety.

-- A thing of beauty is a joy forever...

That turquoise ring is just delightful; thanks for sharing it.

-- Res severa verum gaudium - True pleasure is a serious business. http://www.folksy.com/shops/TreeGems

Thanks, guys! It is always a thrill to receive such nice feedback. It means a lot to me!

-- Frank, Mississippi, http://www.stoutwoodworks.com

Those are really nice!! What a great idea!!

-- Matt, Houston Texas

Thanks, Matt!

-- Frank, Mississippi, http://www.stoutwoodworks.com

This is sooooooo pretty… Can you describe the process of making a bentwood ring? i tried to make some bracelets and failed miserably. they all had irregular shapes.

-- The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep...

Hi, moshel!

The best way to approach it – whether it be rings, bracelets or similar – is to always bend them around/against a form of the exact intended size. I’ve seen mandrels for bracelets – I think they are set for two or three sizes. Although typically used for wax-casting (or whatever techniques standard jewelry makers use), you can bend the wood around them. Soak or steam the wood first, bend it around carefully, and use tape to hold the wrapped wood in place while it dries. It’s best to use tape that isn’t too sticky, because you don’t want to pull the wood fibers away when removing it.

One little detail: I like to taper the inside end of the wood before bending around it. This is the inside seam that will be visible later, and (to me) it’s easier to smooth it out while it’s laying flat. ALSO, if it is too thick of an edge, it can crease the wood as it’s being bent around it.

-- Frank, Mississippi, http://www.stoutwoodworks.com

Thanks Frank. How do you close the circle? CA glue? do you use thick piece and make one layer or many layers like in lamination? I tried soaking but maybe i didn’t soak for enough time or the piece was too thick. it was ~4mm oak and i soaked it in boiling water for 30 min. it bent for a while but broke near the completion of the circle…

-- The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep...

Hi, Moshel!

I’d say 4mm is too thick for that tight of a circle, even for oak, which generally bends well. The thickest stuff I’ve bent was around 1mm or so, and it was from hickory. For everything else, I use very thin pieces (.6 mm or less). Exotic species come mostly from veneers and local stuff involves belt sanding to correct thickness. I also taper the ends before bending – particularly important for the end that winds up on the inside of the ring (ie. if it’s too thick, it will put a crease into the layer bent around the top of it)

Sometimes I even plan out the entire piece when flat, multiplying the ring diameter by pi times the # of wraps around the ring to get the length. ...and other times, I just wrap and gauge by eye when I need to stop. :)

Very important: When bending, be sure to hold against the BACK of the piece where it’s being bent.

Generally I tape the piece in place after it’s bent around, and let it dry some before gluing. I do use CA glue, by the way, which works based on existing water on the surfaces of the material, BUT too much water causes it to polymerize very quickly. So I find it’s best to let the wood dry a while and then glue it by carefully unwrapping enough to get glue between. Capilary action works tremendously to your advantage here, particularly with thinner CA glue, which easily wicks into those tight spots.

Let me know how it goes!

P.S. As far as preparing the wood for bending… I’ve used both a vegetable steamer as well as wrapping the wood in a damp paper towel and microwaving. (This varies depending on wood type and microwave, but 30 seconds has worked for me in the past.)

-- Frank, Mississippi, http://www.stoutwoodworks.com