I am planning on making my own longboard skateboard and was planning on arching, or cambering, the board a little. I have 1/2" birch plywood. I’ve heard of steaming the wood and also soaking the wood in water. I was wondering what method I should use to shape it.
get a garbage can, boil the water, place the wood. when the wood is flexible to bend, clamp to the form you want it. if you bond any wood together be sure to use waterproof glue
March 8th, 2010 at 7:42 am
water will work but you will have to submerse it totally till the wood is bendable. also you will need some clamps of some kind to hold the wood in the position you desire till the wood dries out.dont release the clamps till the wood is the same before you soaked it. apply a wood preservitive afterward and you should be fine.
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March 8th, 2010 at 8:32 am
get a garbage can, boil the water, place the wood. when the wood is flexible to bend, clamp to the form you want it. if you bond any wood together be sure to use waterproof glue
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March 8th, 2010 at 9:15 am
That tip on heating the water was a good one, as was the use of waterproof glue. The point about the glue brings up a question about the birch plywood you intend to use — if it isn’t "exterior" grade or "marine" grade, it’ll probably come all apart when you soak it!
Usually birch plywood is intended for cabinet work, so it’s made with glues that aren’t formulated for exposure to a lot of moisture. If the wood delaminates, you’ll just end up with several sheets of veneer!
If you can’t determine what the grade of the plywood is (it’s usually printed on the back side, but you may not have a full sheet), you could test a small piece of it (by cutting off a corner that you’d be cutting away anyway). Soak that in hot water for a day and see what happens!
You may want to get solid lumber for your project instead of plywood.
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March 8th, 2010 at 9:56 am
Number 1 – don’t use solid wood, it’s nowhere near as strong as plywood, that’s why people use plywood. Number 2 – the plywood and the glue used for making very strong things like skateboards, backboards (stretchers) etc, is different than normal plywood. The plys are thinner therefore there are many more plys in the same thickness. This makes the wood stronger. This wood is formed under great pressure and heat and the glue used is a special glue that cures under IR or UV light and heat and pressure all together. My advice is to go out and buy a great deck then customize it yourself. Yours will just break if you try to make it yourself
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I am a journeyman carpenter and trades instructor.