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designing and building with wood channels my creativity and challenges my mind.
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Monday, September 12, 2011

could hollow wood tubes be a part of the next product from Wine on Deck?

One great thing about plywood and veneer is bendability.  Veneers are easy to bend, relative to steam bending solid wood, and the finished piece can be very strong.  Another great thing about plywood?  Manufacturers are beginning to make pre-fab shapes for builders, eliminating the bending step of a project altogether.  One such shape is the hollow wood tube.  Made en masse in a plywood factory, pre-fab wood tubes are perfectly round, have strong seams, and have clean veneered surfaces. 

Since I make wine racks, and I'm looking for a good design for a counter-top wine rack, I took a special interest when I became aware of the existence of wooden tubes. 

One maker is R.J. Woodworking.  Another is Lenderink.  Both suppliers make tubes from very narrow to very wide, so you can make anything from a soda straw to a Greek column. 

Obviously, working with veneered wooden tubes will present challenges.  One challenge in particular jumps out at me: drilling through a tube at an angle, or off-center.  Once my samples arrive, I will begin exploring milling techniques, and I will report my findings here on the blog. 

5 comments:

  1. One great thing about plywood and veneer is bendability. Veneers are easy to bend, relative to steam bending solid wood, and the finished piece can be very strong. Burgundy wine

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  2. One great thing about plywood and veneer is bendability. Veneers are easy to bend, relative to steam bending solid wood, and the finished piece can be very strong. Burgundy wine

    ReplyDelete
  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. I am anxious to hear how these worked out for you. We need two columns to replace missing ones on vintage bookcase ends and can't afford pricey ones. Would these work?

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