Lots of changes and further experimentation has happened in past five weeks! Trying to form plywood into shape I like, turned up to be little bit more complicated…
I was able to steam and band plywood on my kitchen stove. However, to achieve nice and fluent curve all around the edge was very difficult. After speaking to several woodworkers who advised me build up the form from separate veneers or to form it in vacuum machine. I felt hopeless as it was too time consuming considering that this is going to be a small production range… I have also tried to steam the ply, press it in 50t hydraulic press in between male and female (modified pot) die and left it there to dry overnight. This experiment resulted slight curve and form to spring back into original shape after releasing the pressure.
Conclusion of all this research and experimentation has just proven one thing….that I should trust to my own instinct in the first place.
In my last try I have used just my hands to form the edge and it turned up to be easy and nearly perfect!
Below are some snaps from some of the steps of experimentation…
