| Project by Gianni | posted 03-04-2013 02:26 AM | 4469 views | 14 times favorited | 14 comments |  |
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After doing Steve Ramsey’s plywood frame for my son’s SR71 poster, I was wondering what else might make an interesting play on laminated plywood. I had the bulk of a 4×8 sheet of construction grade plywood to use up, and thought it might look cool to grind down through the layers in a carved box.
It was fortunate that before i started it occurred to me that a conventional lid or inset top wouldn’t align the laminate layers. Hmmmm. Going to have to try to bevel the sides and tops – yikes, chances for success just hit the floor. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, so I tipped the blade and went to town. When the lid dropped down in and fit reasonably well, nobody would have been as surprised as me. My miters usually don’t work out this well.
When i was grinding into it, I didn’t much like the thick black glue lines, but if I went deeper than normal and at a more aggressive angle, they thinned down a little. After sanding it out i spent too much tume following the black lines around the edges and into the adjoining pieces. My favorites were the ones that slid into the exposed edge, went straight for a bit, then popped out and ran into an adjacent piece.
I thought the green would help add to the creepiness, but afterward I’m not so sure about it. Awfully happy with the process and the way things lined up. May have to try it with a homemade lamination sometime of decent woods. It reminds me of the book in Harry Potter that tries to eat them.
14 comments so far
jap
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#1 posted 03-04-2013 02:31 AM
i think that looks pretty cool
-- Joel
woodbutcherbynight
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#2 posted 03-04-2013 02:38 AM
Cool piece plywood has unqiue properties, never thought to bring that out in a piece of work.
-- Live to tell the stories, they sound better that way.
Dakkar
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#3 posted 03-04-2013 02:39 AM
I don’t think it’s creepy at all. It’s really rather cool. I’ve never seen that effect created with plywood before. At first I though you had painted the design, but I see you found the shape by grinding away ply layers. You’re inspiring me to try it myself.
Hawaiilad
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#4 posted 03-04-2013 08:03 AM
I have never seen plywood look so good. I think the green makes it really pop. Did you use a wood dye on it?
-- Larry in Hawaii,
Monte Pittman
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#5 posted 03-04-2013 09:17 AM
Very interesting. Nice looking.
-- Nature created it, I just assemble it.
blackcherry
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#6 posted 03-04-2013 03:13 PM
Looks like military issued camouflage, nice work on this creative box…BC
Drunken Woodworker
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#7 posted 03-04-2013 03:13 PM
I’m a big fan of ultra creepy. Also a big fan of exposed edge plywood. I use it a lot in my projects. Great work.
-- Visit my blog at http://drunkenwoodworker.com
helluvawreck
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#8 posted 03-04-2013 04:43 PM
That is very unusual. I guess that it just shows you what you can do with plywood. Congratulations.
helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com
-- helluvawreck aka Charles, http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com
punk
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#9 posted 03-04-2013 06:09 PM
like it neat idea
-- Punk in PA
Gianni
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#10 posted 03-05-2013 12:32 AM
Thanks for the comments. It is… Interesting if nothing else.
The green is a tube of minway water-based wiping stain. I considered tye dying with food coloring and water based poly. I have seen that done with candy (dye) paints over root beer on motorcycle paint jobs and it looks pretty cool, but i thought with the already magic-eye grain patterns crisscrossing a multicolored finish could induce siezures.
Bill
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#11 posted 03-05-2013 01:30 AM
That is seriously cool. I love things done creatively to plywood. Pretty awesome.
-- Putting the "mental" in experimental since 1973
Grondor
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#12 posted 03-05-2013 03:19 AM
That is AWESOME! I will have to make one, and I can imagine this being applied to many different things, such as picture frames. So … how DID you do the carving? With a grinder?
Gianni
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#13 posted 03-05-2013 04:01 AM
Thanks guys, Carved with an angle grinder using a cheapy rotary rasp I picked up at harbor freight.
Ivan
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#14 posted 03-05-2013 07:12 AM
Realy scary but quite good for LJs.
-- Ivan, Croatia, Wooddicted
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