Laminating for thickness
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Welcome! / Forums / General Woodworking Discussions / Wood and Wood Preparation / Laminating for thickness
Locally (as in with in a 2hr drive) the only sawmill quality lumber I can find is in 1″ thickness, 15/16ths are skip planing. What is the general opinion on laminating wood to get needed thickness for things like chair and table legs?
It’s done all the time in industrially produced furniture, but it can look a bit crap if it’s done without any care or thought.
Matt
Study the Arts and Crafts furniture. Many pieces have legs mitered in all four sides to get the quartersawn appearance on all sides. Some legs are hollow and some have a small square piece of stock inside to strengthen the leg. With this approach, a three inch square leg could be made from even half inch material. Same with fireplace mantels, most are hollow , but appear to be inches thick. Torsion box construction is another example. Yes, you can make one inch stock do anything you want. Bob L.
Looks like the general opinion is pretty much do it carefully so it does not look like garbage, but otherwise it is a sound approach for proper thickness stock.
I had kinda of expected warnings about weakness at the lamination seams. I now feel a bit more comfortable starting the chair projects.