Next time you go to bend the material… have a template set up and fastened down, that you can clamp to. This will allow you to keep one hand free to hold your iron. BTW… drape a wet rag over your miter cut area and keep the iron over them as you bend.. keeps the wood from drying and infuses the grain with steam. I do this every day… I build cabinets for private jets.
Ummm…. The jets are big, cabinets are big. Principle applies to all wood bending. No matter the size. Large hardwood(without miter/cerf cuts) gets the steam chamber.
I bought an 18 degree router bit to do this very thing. (5 cuts = 90 degrees) I decided I preferred an odd number of cuts because that allows me to use a cut as the center. I also did the math to figure out the bend radius in order to account for the gain in material length. Glad to see someone beat me to proof of concept!
@@wolfslayer44 Picture a circle inside a box. The box touches the circle at the mid point on each part of the box. Measure from the mid point to the edge of the box. Figure out the circumference of the circle, 1/4 of the circle, 90 degrees, should give you the length of the curve. Subtract that length from the value of measuring the mid points to the edge of the box. If this is completely unclear, which it probably is, because I'm no math teacher, let me know and I'll see if I can do a better job of explaining the process. Also, there may be an easier way, but, this is what I came up with.
@@thisoldguywithagun9043 idk about anyone else. But that was crystal clear thank you so much!! I went from not understanding how to now i have the step by step logic to determine for future projects. You are awesome!
This is why I love reading the comments on good woodworking videos, there are always people sharing tips and solutions. I wish I could save youtube comments!
Gotta say this is the first time I've seen someone attempt to do kerf bending on solid hardwood instead of plywood. Your solution is nothing short of brilliant, giving a nice clean and even result. The kerfs are nearly invisible, compared to the traditional methods, and if you wanted to, you could get rid of the remaining faceting inside and out with a bit of sanding. Nicely done and you've got a new subscriber. Thanks for sharing!
Gorgeous! I’ve never seen anyone use that bit to do kerf bending, but it makes perfect sense. You need so much less wood fill than using a circular saw. I think maybe you could make it a little safer by just plunging one quarter inch of the router per pass and doing each kerf over 3 passes. I worry that the skinny CNC bit is more prone to break with high friction. Overall you’re a boss and I loved this video and subbed
One suggestion to help with the cracking issue. Guitar builders have to deal with this a lot, as we bend wood all the time. One thing we frequently do is to use a piece of aluminum flashing that is bigger than the bend we are doing and hold that against the wood, supporting it for the bend. We are usually doing that against a hot pipe of some kind, but I don't see why it wouldn't work here, too. You would need to clamp the work piece to the bench, but then use the flashing against the outside part of the bend and use IT instead of just bending the wood by itself. It backs up the fibers in the wood and helps prevent cracking. I hope I explained that well enough to make sense. Nice project, it came out well. But definitely use Titebond I for light woods. In fact, I use it for almost everything. III has issues on some woods and in some situations. I is just about perfect unless you need waterproofing.
@@Tibyon I tend to only use I, though for some things I use III. The thing that I read about years ago, and I can't verify that this is true, is that II has a bit of an issue with creep when used in an under pressure situation. As musical instruments are always under pressure, that is an issue. I don't know for a fact that this is an actual issue, but I do know a lot of instrument builders who won't use II for that very reason. I gives plenty of strength, it's pretty well accepted that it will provide a joint stronger than the wood itself, so that is not an issue. Plus, instruments tend to have to be repaired, and using a moisture resistant glue for such cases is NOT a good idea. III would be a total disaster in that situation, and that is why a LOT of luthiers still use hot hide glue for instruments like violins. The instrument is designed to be taken apart and repaired, and it's expected that it WILL be taken a part at some time. Using a waterproof glue in this case would be HORRIBLE and cause your name to be cured for generations. Choosing your glue properly is really important in some situations. Choosing the wrong one can be seriously detrimental.
This is one of the best videos on wood bending that I've seen on YT. Thanks so much for explaining your process and for doing this with hardwood, everyone else seems to be using plywood with this method, great to see the walnut in particular! 🙌
I agree! My one recommendation to JAR would be to … s l o w d o w n … your speech a bit. I get that making a TH-cam video is exciting, but I did find the rushed delivery a bit distracting. Other than that, NICE WORK! 👍
Awesome video and awesome results! As a luthier who deals with bending wood on the daily, I have some tips that might make things easier in the future. Main thing is heating the area you're bending, but keeping it saturated with water/steam. Instead of heating the wood directly with the iron, soak the wood, letting it sit for at least a few minutes, add a bit more water, then cover the surface with aluminum foil before using the iron. This will help keep the moisture from escaping. I'd try to add heat for at least a few minutes before bending. This will really soften the lignin and let the fibers slip past one another while bending. It's important to let the water soak and penetrate, and also not evaporate from the wood. It's not the water itself that matters, but its ability to transfer heat deeper into the wood. As soon as the water is gone, the heat is only superficial, so you want it to stay as deep in the wood as possible. Second tip is to use some sort of flexible metal to assist the bend on the outer side. Best material is thin shim stock/spring steel because it wont kink, but any thin and flexible metal like flashing will do. Just make sure it's always in contact with the area being bent. This supports the outer fibers, greatly reducing their ability to fray/split or otherwise come loose. Watch some violin/guitar side bending videos to get a good look at what I mean and it will make sense. Hope this helps! As soon as my new shop is done, I'll be making some of these. I was just sitting out there contemplating what kind of shelving I want to do. This video made the decision for me!
Got a good chuckle after you gave very specific instructions on the first bit and then proceeded to throw it in the trash. Your work looks great also. Very clean and neat.
I have made about a hundred mountain dulcimers, which requires careful bending of the instrument sides to fit into a form. My mentor started me out with soaking the sides in water and ironing while bending. It worked and I did this for over a year on dozens of instruments but I invariably ended up with water stains on the wood. On lighter color hardwoods it could be unsightly. For over a decade I have been using a bending iron and forms, no water, and I have found that to be highly preferable. You still need to be careful not to burn the wood, but you can skip the whole soaking step and water management and I rarely get cracks. I will try this out on a floating shelf in the next couple of months, it’s a lovely project. Thank you!
Nice looking results! Thanks for sharing the technique, it's a big improvement over the table saw kerfs. I think saw kerf bending assumes you are going to veneer the face, this gives you the option to do it without have to cover up the ugly kerfs.
Wow! That's awesome man! Ive watched so many "tips for woodworking" videos to which the creators should learn some tips on not wasting people's time. This tip was quite tiptacular!
Good job man. I am very impressed. I'm going to pass this on to some people I used to work for when I was doing staircases sometimes they would put a bullnose Step at the very bottom of the staircase and would have to bend a solid piece of pine or Oak depending on the material of the riser. Thanks for sharing your project I think I'm going to make one of those shelves as well they lookfantastic very sharp but what about if you use a scarf joint instead of a butt joint. Just a suggestion. Keep up the good work man God bless
I had the same idea but do scarf joints need to be put together by sliding them horizontally? I actually don't know, I'm sure there's something that would work.
- It's possible to make router bit experience less load by making partial depth straight kerfs with a table saw just to remove extra material. - You could use a wet rag to make steaming with an iron more efficient. - A single wrap of glass fiber cloth with epoxy on the outside can make it much stronger.
sitting here in my living room, looking at my foredom dremel style tool as it hangs from the stand I made out of mirror polished stainless 1x3 tubing... it has a bend that was kerf bent. made it look like a snake, just for the hell of it. I like the way you have hidden the cuts. this looks way better than my tool stand.
Thank you for sharing this video. And Yes, this is the most beautiful I have seen so far. I really live the technique you used to make this floating shelves and I am planning on using it to built a charging station for the family. I have on simple question : Why didn't you use another poplar slice to fill the gap in the poplar shelf ?
I’ve seen lots of different techniques and the best techniques include that router bit. I got a cat and im making cat shelves for her with this technique. Thanks for sharing.
Pro: No gap. Cons: The narrower tapered kerf means a sharper bend that shows up on the outside. You can clearly see the edges produced. A wider gap means the wood will bend naturally and produce a smoother bend.
Cant, you just do a bit of sanding and make it a smooth bend, and not have the visual side cuts? or even better use a bit half that size and make twice as many cuts
But because there are no gaps the wood glue creates a strong bond. The piece is effectively solid wood in this case. This should mean you can aggressively sand that outer layer once it’s cured to make it perfectly smooth. That’s something you can’t do if you have gaps because the outer layer is what holds it all together. It’s similar to how they turn bowls.
I have a couple questions - please forgive my ignorance: How deep are you making those cuts? Looks like you leave about 1/16th" of material to bend? How do you determine the number of cuts? Is it simply a math problem based on the angle (6.2 degrees taper / degrees of arc)? Or was it trial and error? I think both of those questions may be related - Deeper cuts = More bend? Other things I'm thinking - cuts wider apart or closer together? How does that change things? (I guess I SHOULD have paid more attention in Geometry)
All good questions, I left about 1/16 of material left With 1 cut I was getting about 13°-14° bend so I just had to divided 180 by 13 or 14 to figure out how many cuts to make. I tried both on scrap plywood and found out 13 cuts works for a 180° bend I did try spacing them @ different measurements and what I found out that if you space them farther and closer together the only thing that will change is how big your bend (curve) is. (ALSO THE BIGGER THE SPACING THE MORE NOTICIABLE THE KERFS ARE ON THE WOOD) If you space them 1/4" apart you end up with about a 2" bend from top to the bottom of the outside of the wood. if you space them out 1" apart you end up with about a 10" bend. same thing from the top to the bottom of the outside of the wood I did record all this and planed on putting it in the video but it didn't make the cut because people lose interest way to fast for stuff like this haha. Let me know if I missed anything
Nice result! I'm wondering what it would look like if you made straight cuts, then inserted a wedge strip into each one before bending. Seems like it would be easier to cut, and you might be able to do some interesting things using a different wood for the wedge.
Theoretically that would work, but trying to get a perfect wedge (one saw kerf wide at the bottom where a straight kerf is too wide, and tapering up to zero at the top) would be damn near impossible, especially since you'd have to cut the wedges ACROSS the board if you wanted the grain in them to match the bent piece.
Man, I’ve been a woodworker for over 25 years, and so I rarely see anything new. I’ve never seen anybody use a bit like that for this purpose, but it worked brilliantly! I’m definitely going to get one of those. Anyways, thanks for sharing! I really enjoyed your video, and so I have liked, subscribed, and hit the notification bell! Take care! ☮️&♥️ from an old fart in rural Oklahoma
Why don't we have a set of dedicated kerf router bits with clear instructions on how to get whatever curve we want available to consumers yet? WHY AREN'T WE FUNDING THIS?! Kits like this should have been on the market years ago. It makes too much sense.
Brilliant! I came looking for walnut-level hardness wood bending tips, and finally found a method i can potentially do on my apartment porch with hand tools. That router profile isnt much different from a dove nail pin but narrower and more acute, i can likely accomplish that with titanic effort and a couple of hand saws, plus I've got multiple steam cleaners and an iron. I want to bend solid walnut for a William Tell GE C522G style stereo console but with sides that taper inwards towards the bottom slightly with curved corners and deeply chamfered front facing faces. Also pivoting speaker ends with a stretching fabric front face, backlighting on the front decor plate, a record player and an automated full home music distribution and amplification system, with an eye towards leaving room for a short throw laser projector system.
Great technique, brilliant to make v-kerfs this way, and yes those are some great looking shelves. I plan to use this on for a detail on a "vintage" cabinet design I've been working on. You could calculate the number of cuts by dividing 180 (or whatever number of degrees for the angle you are trying to make) by the angle of your router bit - or the reverse, determine the angle of the router bit for the number of kerfs you want. With that 3.6 degree bit you would have to make 20 cuts in order to bend 180°. Alternatively to the router technique, set your saw to the required cut angle and cut from each side to make a v-kerf. It’s trickier and you’d need a rather precise jig to line up the cuts though. I will be trying this.
I learned about kerfing and steaming and ammonias affect while apprenticing lutherie at JP Guitar in Puyallup Wa, like a decade ago. Just to throw my experience into perspective.
Did you determine the required taper using a particular formula or trial and error? If there is a formula which determines the required taper based on the board thickness and the dimensions of the curve what is it? Thanks.
Nice job, man. I like that you can see the kerf lines on the edge of the finished piece. Makes it look like real wood and not some manufactured piece with edge banding.
Thank you! I've been thinking this should be experimented with for years and found nothing. One potential addition to make it safer, especially on deeper cuts, would be to use a different router bit or a table saw/miter saw/track saw set at the correct angle and cut twice to hog out most of the kerf, then the little carving bit to just finish off the very bottom for that nice sharp point to the kerf.
Like the presentation style! Wasn't as happy with the rather noticeable cross-wise striations along the curves, but I was specifically looking for them (because wood fibers don't have 'bending' at the top of their to-do list). But but, those were minimal and could be sanded out if enough outer-layer thickness was left (and catastrophic if it wasn't). I like especially the transparency about the decision process and, um, adaptation (improvisation?) of methods based on results as they unfold along the way.
I'm about to put up a shelving system with fourteen curved 90° bends, and I'd been apprehensive about using a kerf because of the gaps. This bit is making me reconsider the option.
I like this. Pretty sharp and very well done. 1 -- I have found that face shields are great when you are farsighted, as you really want your glasses on for closeup work (which may be all shop work). They aren't even all that expensive. I see you have found that, too... 2 -- Obviously, you have a router. You need to make a pair of runners in the two perpendicular boards so you can adjust them to whatever size of wood you're using. 3 -- As to using wood glue, you can probably make some edge banding for that to cover it up, anyway, and that'll look good. And you probably want to note you're using Titebond III (I spotted that), rather than Titebond II -- TB II might not work in this app, as your wood is damp, and it cures by releasing moisture. TB III works, however, by absorbing moisture, so it is perfect for this app, as the wood is wet won't make any problem for it. I will also note for people in humid environments (e.g., "The Gulf Coast", Texas to Florida), you probably want to be using TBIII because your ambient humidity is very high, and my own experience with TBII was that it often did not cure within 48h!! (average humidity in FL is 50% in **winter** !!) -- The downside to TBIII is that it foams as it cures, which means you'll spend a bit more time on cleanup. 4 -- "My local home depot and lowes did not have that in stock" -- yeah, probably some idiot enviro protection regs, or misguided "green" attitudes at the stores. This is when you use Amazon or at least some other online shop. I will also note that there are some good online videos about making your own finishes that you might find interesting.
Nice job. I suggest using bending plywood 3 layers glued together will hold a solid shape then you can veneer sides and or top and bottom using a flush trim bit in your router .Finished project should look and feel like solid wood .I have used this method several times over the years. If you try this method I would suggest keeping your veneer generously oversized so it still covers your project as you wrap it around other wise you risk drifting off your piece sometimes it is hard to keep it parallel's to your piece also the contact adhesive is not very forgiving..
could a table saw blade be 'sharpened' to have the wedge profile, just a thought. Loved the technique. Some time ago I made a hammock stand using bent lamination but it was a real faf I wonder whether this technique could have been used. Another thought how did you calculate how many kerfs to cut and at what spacing?
Using the steam from the iron use a wet cloth that way it doesn't dry out. Can also use to remove dents from timber. I used on table's chairs and gun stocks etc. Using clamps is fine but can use cam buckles straps as well.
I am very impressed with everything you did. However I am most impressed with the measurements you came up with. I would have a trash can full of test pieces.
Nice job Bro. And I like what you did with your small errors. Being a wood guy for decades. We all make those types of mistakes. And like in life, it is how you react to them that will determine if you succeed or fail. And you succeeded. Again, nice work and they look great.
Nice shelves. You should have cut a groove at the join in the walnut shelf, and filled it with a strip of poplar wood to balance the joints on both shelves.
When we bend wood for boat building we have a box or pipe with a removable end and two wallpaper strippers hoses pushed into it and steam the wood makes for easy and effortless bending
You can now buy the Floating Shelves here!!
www.etsy.com/listing/1458833985/oval-floating-shelves-o-bent-wood
Next time you go to bend the material… have a template set up and fastened down, that you can clamp to. This will allow you to keep one hand free to hold your iron.
BTW… drape a wet rag over your miter cut area and keep the iron over them as you bend.. keeps the wood from drying and infuses the grain with steam.
I do this every day… I build cabinets for private jets.
uhh, that flex! ;)
@@Macks_Mustermann uhh, that pun! ;)
Must be some big cabinets or very tiny jets
Ummm…. The jets are big, cabinets are big. Principle applies to all wood bending. No matter the size.
Large hardwood(without miter/cerf cuts) gets the steam chamber.
I would love to see some of your stuff.
I bought an 18 degree router bit to do this very thing. (5 cuts = 90 degrees) I decided I preferred an odd number of cuts because that allows me to use a cut as the center. I also did the math to figure out the bend radius in order to account for the gain in material length. Glad to see someone beat me to proof of concept!
Just wondering how do you do the calculation for accounting for material length due to the curve?
@@wolfslayer44 Picture a circle inside a box. The box touches the circle at the mid point on each part of the box. Measure from the mid point to the edge of the box. Figure out the circumference of the circle, 1/4 of the circle, 90 degrees, should give you the length of the curve. Subtract that length from the value of measuring the mid points to the edge of the box. If this is completely unclear, which it probably is, because I'm no math teacher, let me know and I'll see if I can do a better job of explaining the process. Also, there may be an easier way, but, this is what I came up with.
@@thisoldguywithagun9043 idk about anyone else. But that was crystal clear thank you so much!! I went from not understanding how to now i have the step by step logic to determine for future projects. You are awesome!
@@wolfslayer44 You are more than welcome and thank you for the kind reply.
This is why I love reading the comments on good woodworking videos, there are always people sharing tips and solutions. I wish I could save youtube comments!
Gotta say this is the first time I've seen someone attempt to do kerf bending on solid hardwood instead of plywood. Your solution is nothing short of brilliant, giving a nice clean and even result. The kerfs are nearly invisible, compared to the traditional methods, and if you wanted to, you could get rid of the remaining faceting inside and out with a bit of sanding. Nicely done and you've got a new subscriber. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed!
Gorgeous! I’ve never seen anyone use that bit to do kerf bending, but it makes perfect sense. You need so much less wood fill than using a circular saw. I think maybe you could make it a little safer by just plunging one quarter inch of the router per pass and doing each kerf over 3 passes. I worry that the skinny CNC bit is more prone to break with high friction. Overall you’re a boss and I loved this video and subbed
Yes, the tapered bit is excellent
The bottom of the curve is small and easily fill
Compared with a straight curve
One suggestion to help with the cracking issue. Guitar builders have to deal with this a lot, as we bend wood all the time. One thing we frequently do is to use a piece of aluminum flashing that is bigger than the bend we are doing and hold that against the wood, supporting it for the bend. We are usually doing that against a hot pipe of some kind, but I don't see why it wouldn't work here, too. You would need to clamp the work piece to the bench, but then use the flashing against the outside part of the bend and use IT instead of just bending the wood by itself. It backs up the fibers in the wood and helps prevent cracking. I hope I explained that well enough to make sense.
Nice project, it came out well. But definitely use Titebond I for light woods. In fact, I use it for almost everything. III has issues on some woods and in some situations. I is just about perfect unless you need waterproofing.
well said
@@alexnovik6223 Thanks. Glad it made enough sense. It's easy enough to understand when you see it, but a bit difficult to explain.
@@willmorrison1022 you explained it just perfectly !!!
Titebond II is stronger than I or III. Only reason to not use it is the ugly color, if you absolutely can't avoid squeeze out
@@Tibyon I tend to only use I, though for some things I use III. The thing that I read about years ago, and I can't verify that this is true, is that II has a bit of an issue with creep when used in an under pressure situation. As musical instruments are always under pressure, that is an issue. I don't know for a fact that this is an actual issue, but I do know a lot of instrument builders who won't use II for that very reason.
I gives plenty of strength, it's pretty well accepted that it will provide a joint stronger than the wood itself, so that is not an issue. Plus, instruments tend to have to be repaired, and using a moisture resistant glue for such cases is NOT a good idea. III would be a total disaster in that situation, and that is why a LOT of luthiers still use hot hide glue for instruments like violins. The instrument is designed to be taken apart and repaired, and it's expected that it WILL be taken a part at some time. Using a waterproof glue in this case would be HORRIBLE and cause your name to be cured for generations.
Choosing your glue properly is really important in some situations. Choosing the wrong one can be seriously detrimental.
This is one of the best videos on wood bending that I've seen on YT. Thanks so much for explaining your process and for doing this with hardwood, everyone else seems to be using plywood with this method, great to see the walnut in particular! 🙌
Editing, pace, script, concept, execution: all top notch. Well done!
Thank you!! Definitely felt better while making this one lol
I agree! My one recommendation to JAR would be to … s l o w d o w n … your speech a bit. I get that making a TH-cam video is exciting, but I did find the rushed delivery a bit distracting. Other than that, NICE WORK! 👍
Thank you! Yeah as a Spanish speaker I speak fast haha 😄
Nice work on this one! Lots of views incoming
Thanks Jon!
Awesome video and awesome results! As a luthier who deals with bending wood on the daily, I have some tips that might make things easier in the future.
Main thing is heating the area you're bending, but keeping it saturated with water/steam. Instead of heating the wood directly with the iron, soak the wood, letting it sit for at least a few minutes, add a bit more water, then cover the surface with aluminum foil before using the iron. This will help keep the moisture from escaping. I'd try to add heat for at least a few minutes before bending. This will really soften the lignin and let the fibers slip past one another while bending. It's important to let the water soak and penetrate, and also not evaporate from the wood. It's not the water itself that matters, but its ability to transfer heat deeper into the wood. As soon as the water is gone, the heat is only superficial, so you want it to stay as deep in the wood as possible.
Second tip is to use some sort of flexible metal to assist the bend on the outer side. Best material is thin shim stock/spring steel because it wont kink, but any thin and flexible metal like flashing will do. Just make sure it's always in contact with the area being bent. This supports the outer fibers, greatly reducing their ability to fray/split or otherwise come loose. Watch some violin/guitar side bending videos to get a good look at what I mean and it will make sense.
Hope this helps! As soon as my new shop is done, I'll be making some of these. I was just sitting out there contemplating what kind of shelving I want to do. This video made the decision for me!
Got a good chuckle after you gave very specific instructions on the first bit and then proceeded to throw it in the trash. Your work looks great also. Very clean and neat.
Thank you! Haha I had to make a good situation out of that mistake lol 😆
Great job, for some reason I can't stop thinking of those as a custom home surround sound system. I think it would loom really awesome and modern.
You did well with bending the wood. The idea of thinking outside the box applies here. Thank you for the video.
I appreciate that you share your mistakes along the way. Hopefully it helps others from making the same mistakes. Keep up the good work.
I have made about a hundred mountain dulcimers, which requires careful bending of the instrument sides to fit into a form.
My mentor started me out with soaking the sides in water and ironing while bending. It worked and I did this for over a year on dozens of instruments but I invariably ended up with water stains on the wood. On lighter color hardwoods it could be unsightly.
For over a decade I have been using a bending iron and forms, no water, and I have found that to be highly preferable. You still need to be careful not to burn the wood, but you can skip the whole soaking step and water management and I rarely get cracks.
I will try this out on a floating shelf in the next couple of months, it’s a lovely project. Thank you!
Dude, I freaking love these! I also audibly gasped when I heard the walnut crack 😂. Glad they both turned out well.
Haha man my heart stopped when I heard that lol 😆 and thank you!
This is the best wood/ bending kerf video on YT ! Thanks for the tips and the substitution of using a router
Excellent project, great result, and I love the fact that you show the potential mistakes to help viewers avoid disasters. Well done!
Absolute best video I've seen on kerf-bending solid wood I've seen yet! Thanks for sharing!
Fantastic idea. I would consider routing the edges with a rounding over bit too, but this looks great!
"Please do not try this at home. Link in the description."
😂😂😂😂
First time viewer; I really like that you share your mistakes.
Thanks for sharing this.
Dude, this turned out awesome!! Great story and love how the final project doesn't have those ugly gaps.
Keep bending wood! (And making videos)
Thank you Jake! And I definitely will!
Great project, and I really appreciate your extremely dry humor!
Nice looking results! Thanks for sharing the technique, it's a big improvement over the table saw kerfs. I think saw kerf bending assumes you are going to veneer the face, this gives you the option to do it without have to cover up the ugly kerfs.
exactly what i was trying to accomplish lol
Wow! That's awesome man! Ive watched so many "tips for woodworking" videos to which the creators should learn some tips on not wasting people's time. This tip was quite tiptacular!
Thank you!
Hey this is a great method! Thanks for sharing.
Nice shelves. I'm thinking they would also make a good speaker box project.
3:26 was perfectly timed!
Wow, looks amazing. 10/10
That’s really impressive, man
Thank you!! I'm so happy with the results
fantastic, the Office cameo was tops, thanks for posting.
Good job man. I am very impressed. I'm going to pass this on to some people I used to work for when I was doing staircases sometimes they would put a bullnose Step at the very bottom of the staircase and would have to bend a solid piece of pine or Oak depending on the material of the riser. Thanks for sharing your project I think I'm going to make one of those shelves as well they lookfantastic very sharp but what about if you use a scarf joint instead of a butt joint. Just a suggestion. Keep up the good work man God bless
I had the same idea but do scarf joints need to be put together by sliding them horizontally? I actually don't know, I'm sure there's something that would work.
That looks so clean!
Thank you!
Amazing!!! I was sure that walnut was going to fail on you but you adjusted and made it work!!! Thanks for the video.
I was shaking when I was doing the walnut lol 😆
This looks incredible. Best kerf bends I’ve seen. You’ve changed the game!
Thank you!
Great video! I enjoyed the technique.
Thank You! Glad you enjoyed it!
Two words...frikkin' awesome!
- It's possible to make router bit experience less load by making partial depth straight kerfs with a table saw just to remove extra material.
- You could use a wet rag to make steaming with an iron more efficient.
- A single wrap of glass fiber cloth with epoxy on the outside can make it much stronger.
sitting here in my living room, looking at my foredom dremel style tool as it hangs from the stand I made out of mirror polished stainless 1x3 tubing... it has a bend that was kerf bent. made it look like a snake, just for the hell of it.
I like the way you have hidden the cuts. this looks way better than my tool stand.
here from reddit, great video! the chamfer looks really nice, I bet a roundover would look amazing too
and I just noticed the person directly below me who suggested the same thing :D
Haha yeah a new people have suggested a round over lol 😆 maybe on the next ones
Thank you for sharing this video. And Yes, this is the most beautiful I have seen so far.
I really live the technique you used to make this floating shelves and I am planning on using it to built a charging station for the family.
I have on simple question : Why didn't you use another poplar slice to fill the gap in the poplar shelf ?
Dude! Awesome job. Thanks for the info!
Glad it was helpful!
I’ve seen lots of different techniques and the best techniques include that router bit. I got a cat and im making cat shelves for her with this technique. Thanks for sharing.
Really cool experiment with kerf bending. It paid off for sure. These shelves are unique and look awesome!
Great job never seen anyone use this bit to do this going to have to give this a try. Thanks for sharing
have a nice day
Pro: No gap. Cons: The narrower tapered kerf means a sharper bend that shows up on the outside. You can clearly see the edges produced. A wider gap means the wood will bend naturally and produce a smoother bend.
Cant, you just do a bit of sanding and make it a smooth bend, and not have the visual side cuts? or even better use a bit half that size and make twice as many cuts
@@TMD4343 I would love to see a shelf like this but twice as large. It would fit alot more things better, and be more seamless.
I think the edges produced look nice for this sort of high-modern application but I see what u mean
But because there are no gaps the wood glue creates a strong bond. The piece is effectively solid wood in this case. This should mean you can aggressively sand that outer layer once it’s cured to make it perfectly smooth. That’s something you can’t do if you have gaps because the outer layer is what holds it all together. It’s similar to how they turn bowls.
Underrated channel, subbed!
I have a couple questions - please forgive my ignorance:
How deep are you making those cuts? Looks like you leave about 1/16th" of material to bend?
How do you determine the number of cuts? Is it simply a math problem based on the angle (6.2 degrees taper / degrees of arc)? Or was it trial and error?
I think both of those questions may be related - Deeper cuts = More bend?
Other things I'm thinking - cuts wider apart or closer together? How does that change things?
(I guess I SHOULD have paid more attention in Geometry)
All good questions. I’d like to know the answer to them, too.
All good questions,
I left about 1/16 of material left
With 1 cut I was getting about 13°-14° bend so I just had to divided 180 by 13 or 14 to figure out how many cuts to make. I tried both on scrap plywood and found out 13 cuts works for a 180° bend
I did try spacing them @ different measurements and what I found out that if you space them farther and closer together the only thing that will change is how big your bend (curve) is. (ALSO THE BIGGER THE SPACING THE MORE NOTICIABLE THE KERFS ARE ON THE WOOD)
If you space them 1/4" apart you end up with about a 2" bend from top to the bottom of the outside of the wood.
if you space them out 1" apart you end up with about a 10" bend. same thing from the top to the bottom of the outside of the wood
I did record all this and planed on putting it in the video but it didn't make the cut because people lose interest way to fast for stuff like this haha. Let me know if I missed anything
@@JARMade Excellent explanation - thank you!
@@JARMade thanks for the added notes, very helpful.
I would like to see how you figured it out. it may be a time-consuming video, but important information in doing a project of this type
Such an innovative way to make floating shelves!👏 Love the idea of bending wood for a jaw-dropping result. Can't wait to try it out myself!
Nice result! I'm wondering what it would look like if you made straight cuts, then inserted a wedge strip into each one before bending. Seems like it would be easier to cut, and you might be able to do some interesting things using a different wood for the wedge.
Brass wedges might be interesting. Perhaps only partial though as you'd want a good bond with the wood and the glue.
Theoretically that would work, but trying to get a perfect wedge (one saw kerf wide at the bottom where a straight kerf is too wide, and tapering up to zero at the top) would be damn near impossible, especially since you'd have to cut the wedges ACROSS the board if you wanted the grain in them to match the bent piece.
Man, I’ve been a woodworker for over 25 years, and so I rarely see anything new. I’ve never seen anybody use a bit like that for this purpose, but it worked brilliantly! I’m definitely going to get one of those. Anyways, thanks for sharing! I really enjoyed your video, and so I have liked, subscribed, and hit the notification bell! Take care! ☮️&♥️ from an old fart in rural Oklahoma
Why don't we have a set of dedicated kerf router bits with clear instructions on how to get whatever curve we want available to consumers yet? WHY AREN'T WE FUNDING THIS?! Kits like this should have been on the market years ago. It makes too much sense.
There are calculators online and the router bits angle would depend on your spacing and how much of a radius you're wanting.
They actually added a tapered cut to the online calculator now lol
@@JARMade yeah they're super handy.
@@JARMade Well, know that one person will always know that you did it first.
Now I want to give you a Wiki page to make it official.
I think the pieces are Beautiful!! You have taken wood bending to the next level..
Brilliant! I came looking for walnut-level hardness wood bending tips, and finally found a method i can potentially do on my apartment porch with hand tools. That router profile isnt much different from a dove nail pin but narrower and more acute, i can likely accomplish that with titanic effort and a couple of hand saws, plus I've got multiple steam cleaners and an iron. I want to bend solid walnut for a William Tell GE C522G style stereo console but with sides that taper inwards towards the bottom slightly with curved corners and deeply chamfered front facing faces. Also pivoting speaker ends with a stretching fabric front face, backlighting on the front decor plate, a record player and an automated full home music distribution and amplification system, with an eye towards leaving room for a short throw laser projector system.
Help support the channel:
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Thank you!
Very nice. How thick is the wood and how deep are the kerf cuts?
Boards are 3/4" and left about 1/16th at the bottom of the cut
@@JARMade Thanks for the extra detail. I'm going to give a try
Of course! I spend a bunch of time figuring stuff out haha so I might as well share it!
The split at the ends of the walnut board could have been a good place for a long skarf also.
Great technique, brilliant to make v-kerfs this way, and yes those are some great looking shelves. I plan to use this on for a detail on a "vintage" cabinet design I've been working on.
You could calculate the number of cuts by dividing 180 (or whatever number of degrees for the angle you are trying to make) by the angle of your router bit - or the reverse, determine the angle of the router bit for the number of kerfs you want. With that 3.6 degree bit you would have to make 20 cuts in order to bend 180°. Alternatively to the router technique, set your saw to the required cut angle and cut from each side to make a v-kerf. It’s trickier and you’d need a rather precise jig to line up the cuts though. I will be trying this.
Good luck! Tag me when you do make something using this !
@@JARMade absolutely!
Check out the NEW Merch that just dropped!
jarmade.myspreadshop.com/
Ammonia helps for making wood grain flex without breaking the grain structure
I learned about kerfing and steaming and ammonias affect while apprenticing lutherie at JP Guitar in Puyallup Wa, like a decade ago. Just to throw my experience into perspective.
I'm surprised you didn't use a handheld clothes steamer
@@Kam1kaz3dreamer
Hello from Spanaway Washington
Did you determine the required taper using a particular formula or trial and error? If there is a formula which determines the required taper based on the board thickness and the dimensions of the curve what is it? Thanks.
Wow, those floating shelves are truly mind-blowing! Can't wait to try bending wood like this at home 🌟
Those are dope dude. Nice job.
Thank you!
I think the subtle lines that the router bit add make it look better than if it was milled from one continuous piece
Got me with the office meme
Great video, very detailed anf entertaining
Definitely going to make something with this method
Nice little project.Turned out great.
Thank you!
The chamfer was a really nice touch
Awesome job Jesus! Everything turned out looking awesome
Thank you Nelson!
Nice job, man. I like that you can see the kerf lines on the edge of the finished piece. Makes it look like real wood and not some manufactured piece with edge banding.
Thank you!!! Still one of my favorite project I've ever done
Thank you! I've been thinking this should be experimented with for years and found nothing. One potential addition to make it safer, especially on deeper cuts, would be to use a different router bit or a table saw/miter saw/track saw set at the correct angle and cut twice to hog out most of the kerf, then the little carving bit to just finish off the very bottom for that nice sharp point to the kerf.
This is impressive. I can’t believe you made this happen
Like the presentation style! Wasn't as happy with the rather noticeable cross-wise striations along the curves, but I was specifically looking for them (because wood fibers don't have 'bending' at the top of their to-do list). But but, those were minimal and could be sanded out if enough outer-layer thickness was left (and catastrophic if it wasn't). I like especially the transparency about the decision process and, um, adaptation (improvisation?) of methods based on results as they unfold along the way.
Your accent and voice is like the Hollywood actor Edward Norton.
A very simple but beautiful shelf , a lot can be done with this type of bending .
This turned out cool. Nice work.
Thank you!
very inspiring idea. thanks for sharing it, its very useful in my work. Greetings from Indonesia
best video about bending wood i have seen
Thank you!!!
You got there!! I like them very much. For mine I would want the kerf cuts to disappear but that’s choice …yes?
Bob
England
Great look forward to trying it out Ian in the Uk
I'm about to put up a shelving system with fourteen curved 90° bends, and I'd been apprehensive about using a kerf because of the gaps. This bit is making me reconsider the option.
awesome work. loved the fix for the joint!
Thank you!
very nice work, thank you for sharing , beautiful wood
That looks amazing!! Great idea to use a tapered bit in a router for this. Definitely want to give it a try
fun to watch. appreciate showing the “oops” parts 😂
I like this. Pretty sharp and very well done.
1 -- I have found that face shields are great when you are farsighted, as you really want your glasses on for closeup work (which may be all shop work). They aren't even all that expensive. I see you have found that, too...
2 -- Obviously, you have a router. You need to make a pair of runners in the two perpendicular boards so you can adjust them to whatever size of wood you're using.
3 -- As to using wood glue, you can probably make some edge banding for that to cover it up, anyway, and that'll look good. And you probably want to note you're using Titebond III (I spotted that), rather than Titebond II -- TB II might not work in this app, as your wood is damp, and it cures by releasing moisture. TB III works, however, by absorbing moisture, so it is perfect for this app, as the wood is wet won't make any problem for it.
I will also note for people in humid environments (e.g., "The Gulf Coast", Texas to Florida), you probably want to be using TBIII because your ambient humidity is very high, and my own experience with TBII was that it often did not cure within 48h!! (average humidity in FL is 50% in **winter** !!) -- The downside to TBIII is that it foams as it cures, which means you'll spend a bit more time on cleanup.
4 -- "My local home depot and lowes did not have that in stock" -- yeah, probably some idiot enviro protection regs, or misguided "green" attitudes at the stores. This is when you use Amazon or at least some other online shop. I will also note that there are some good online videos about making your own finishes that you might find interesting.
Simply spectacular! Seriously gorgeous!
Thank you
Fantastic!!! what kind of wood is good for such project?
Cool video. Heat softens the wood for bending not water. A heat gun can be used for that step.
Nice job. I suggest using bending plywood 3 layers glued together will hold a solid shape then you can veneer sides and or top and bottom using a flush trim bit in your router .Finished project should look and feel like solid wood .I have used this method several times over the years. If you try this method I would suggest keeping your veneer generously oversized so it still covers your project as you wrap it around other wise you risk drifting off your piece sometimes it is hard to keep it parallel's to your piece also the contact adhesive is not very forgiving..
could a table saw blade be 'sharpened' to have the wedge profile, just a thought. Loved the technique. Some time ago I made a hammock stand using bent lamination but it was a real faf I wonder whether this technique could have been used. Another thought how did you calculate how many kerfs to cut and at what spacing?
No disagreement here! Those are amazing
Using the steam from the iron use a wet cloth that way it doesn't dry out. Can also use to remove dents from timber. I used on table's chairs and gun stocks etc. Using clamps is fine but can use cam buckles straps as well.
Looks good, Jar. I like the mini router idea for the kerf.
Those are baller. Simple, elegant. Great job!
Thank you!
Using the router for things it's not made to be used? Yup, I'll try this one for sure! 😊😊Great work! Very enjoyable video!
Would love to see this as a coffee table
I am very impressed with everything you did. However I am most impressed with the measurements you came up with. I would have a trash can full of test pieces.
Oh I did haha 😄
Nice job Bro. And I like what you did with your small errors. Being a wood guy for decades. We all make those types of mistakes. And like in life, it is how you react to them that will determine if you succeed or fail. And you succeeded. Again, nice work and they look great.
Thank you so much!!
Nice shelves. You should have cut a groove at the join in the walnut shelf, and filled it with a strip of poplar wood to balance the joints on both shelves.
They look awesome!
They look great. Very well done
Thank you!
That is so cool... makes me want to pick up that bit and give it a try.
Just be careful lol. but if you do tag me in it, i would love to see what you come up with
You actually found a bit and did something I have thought of many times. Very cool bit and the results are stunning.
Use a wallpaper steamer to do the bends.... works a charm....
When we bend wood for boat building we have a box or pipe with a removable end and two wallpaper strippers hoses pushed into it and steam the wood makes for easy and effortless bending