Thread: anybody got any good ideas on how to make these?

Easy did this first at school then during my trade days.

Make a template frame up for both sides in the shape of the back and laminate forming the ply as you build up layers. Then clamp the two forms together to secure and keep the laminated ply in form. leave for a few days.

Idea is you need more than one mould/pattern to make a set or it could take ages.

Hope this helps.

Use thin bending ply, or even thin regular ply as the curve is not that great. I have seen similar chairs made with a veneered and shaped block board splat. As for glue most white pva's would be fine ad you have a huge surface area and there should be no voids to bridge.

any good sources for the bendy ply in BrisVegas?

Single small laminate forms like that where popular in the 50's & 60s medium scale manufacture......they did it because they could and it was cheaper & easier to do that than cut the same shape & size out of solid timber.

Doing that sort of stuff on a small scale one off, realy is bordering on uneconomical & impractical , you need to source thick veneers......thats not easy because most commercially available veneer is high priced and thin, intended for surface veneering.

Bendy ply simply wont give the strength and stiffness, because it is ...um bendy

using ordinary thin ply wont work all that well because...it will spring back quite a bit when it comes out of the mould.

PVA glue will not be real good in this application because it is too soft and creeps too much...this sort of lamination relies on a glue line that is strong in sheer and will not creep.

Urea formaldahyde would have been the glue of choice at the time and is probably the best for the job now......resourcinol is another option but is harder to work with, marine epoxy would be another option.

Realy.....making curved laminated items like that, is not an easy task, certainly not something to take on lightly.

cheers