What is "bending plywood"?

[Ian Dodd]

I was flipping through the Nov. '04 issue of Fine Homebuilding today (killing time and it was on a coffee table) and came across an article about building cabinets with curved doors. Scanning through it, the author/cabinetmaker said he made the doors out of 1/8" "bending plywood" over a form and then veneered them.

Earlier in the day I had been rolling an idea over in my mind that called for bent laminations and this article seemed to suggest a possible material.

Has anybody ever heard of "bending plywood"? Is this a particular product engineered with more flexibility for this purpose? If I go to my plywood specialty dealer (and I do have one near home) and ask for "bending plywood" will I get anything more than a blank stare?

Thanks for any insights.

[Greg Millen]

Gotta run, but look here:

[Adam Weber]

You could check LVT--called Finnish Birch Plywood

[Alex]

Here at Paxtons we sell a couple of different forms of bending plywood. The one thing they all have in common is that, when the plys are stacked, the grain direction is always the same. Regular plywood plys are stacked crossways to each other to increase rigidity. The bending ply is extremely flexible and you can roll it into a 4' x 8" diameter tube.

Alex

[TeamCasa]

Just go to you local (non-borgs) plywood supplier and ask for "wacky-wood". Its usally luan plywood where the grain runs the same direction on each ply.

Fun Stuff! Dave

[Charles Erskine]

You may need to find a manufacturer, for example:

then see who their web site lists as distributors to avoid the blank stare.

[igor]

This stopped me for a minute when reading their homepage: "Timberflex is available in 4'x8? and 8'x4? panel sizes..." Sounds like an old Abbott & Costello routine. "Well try turning it this way."

[Charles Erskine]

I think it only bends along one axis. Some customers might want it to bend along the 4 foot axis and others might want it to bend along the

8 foot axis, depending on what they are making.

If you would like a challenge, try coopered doors like Mr. Krenov makes.

[Mike]

I've only seen the 4x8 stuff. I used some on an armoire recently. The bottom has curved sides and front, similar to a bombe chest. Picture on ABPW.