Compressed Hardwood - Compwood® - for Extreme Wood Bending™
Gerrit Van Ness
1/2" x 1/2" Solid Compressed Oak
Art Liestman
Compwood® Pricing Below...
Cold Bendable Hardwood (Compressed Wood, Compwood®) is available in White Ash, Beech, Red Oak, White Oak and Hard Maple. Cherry and Walnut are occasionally available. This raw material for your Extreme Wood Bending™ applications may be used for Studio and Production Furniture, Architectural Millwork, Boat Restoration, Wood Turning, Floor Inlays (licensing may be required), Sculpture, Toy Making, Weaving, and Instrument Manufacturing.
Compressed Wood is a highly engineered, solid, cold bendable hardwood, that is uniquely suited to the most demanding Extreme Wood Bending™ projects. It is indistinguishable from clear, straight grained hardwood because that's what it is. It has just been subjected to carefully controlled, but intense longitudinal compression (approximately 100,000 lbs). The hardwood has been engineered to be extremely flexible (as long as it is moist). It is shipped to you as planks wrapped in plastic to maintain it's moisture for long periods of time (months to years) so that it can be kept on hand for current and future projects. It may be re-sawn and dimensioned with your usual tools except for planers, and routers, which often cause grain tear-out when applied to the wet wood. Cross Grain planing and climb cut routing can be employed on the wet planks, but it is best to shape dried wood. Once cold bent by hand (or with jigs, clamps and fixtures), it is then dried to fix the shape permanently.
Use Compressed Wood for Extreme Wood Bending™ to a radius of curvature as small as 5 times the thickness of the board without steam, without backing straps and without springback (1" thick board bent to a 5" radius). Ash, Red Oak, White Oak and Beech are the most commonly available bending species and we have them available year round. Maple, Cherry and Walnut are occasionaly available. We are looking at other species all the time, but most do not perform consistently enough to offer to our customers.
30 second Movie - Bending Compressed Wood with Chris Mroz, June 20, 2007 Annual Association of Woodturners Symposium, Portland, OR filmed and edited by Ed Davidson
Downloadable User Guide Updated July 10, 2007
3 ways to order... online for stock orders (below), email chris.mroz@flutedbeams.com for custom orders and purchase orders, or phone 253.988.2046. Resawing services billed at $75/hr if desired. Please list requirements in order notes or email. Orders are custom compressed and ship in one to two weeks.
17" Sample Pack - White Oak, Red Oak, Beech, Maple - Ok to mix As many planks as fit into a Fed Ex Large Box, 3x12x17" i.e ~ 10 planks compressed to ~1 1/8 x 3" x 17"
$95.00 +$18 S&H US 48
37" Sample Pack - White Oak, Red Oak, Beech, Maple - Ok to mix As many planks as fit into a Fed Ex triangular tube, 6x6x6x37" i.e. 1 plank 1 1/8" x 5" x 37" + 1 plank 1 1/8" x 3 1/2" x 37" + 1 plank 1 1/8" x 2 1/2" x 37"
$125.00 +$24 S&H US 48
40" Bundle - White Oak, Red Oak, Beech- specify 2 planks compressed to ~1 5/8 x 6" x 40" (WO) or 3 planks compressed to ~1 1/8" x 6" x 40" (RO, Beech)
$155.00 +$28 S&H US 48
50" Bundle - Red Oak, White Oak, Beech (specify) 2 planks compressed to ~1 5/8 x 6" x 50" (WO) or3 planks compressed to ~1 1/8" x 6" x 50" (RO, Beech)
$185.00 +$37 S&H US 48
62" Bundle - Red Oak, White Oak, Beech (Specify): 2 planks compressed to ~1 5/8 x 6" x 62" (WO) or 3 planks compressed to ~1 1/8" x 6" x 62" (RO, Beech)
$235.00 +$45 S&H US 48
84" Bundle - Ash, Red Oak, White Oak, Beech (Specify): 2 planks compressed to ~1 5/8 x 6" x 84" (WO) or 3 planks compressed to ~1 1/8" x 6" x 84" (RO, Beech)
$275.00 +$50 S&H US 48
100" Bundle - Red Oak, White Oak, Beech (Specify): 2 planks compressed to ~1 5/8 x 6" x 100" (WO) or 3 planks compressed to ~1 1/8" x 6" x 100" (RO, Beech)
$350.00 +$65 S&H US 48
40" Maple, Cherry or Walnut: 2 planks ~1 5/8x5¼x40 (Cherry) or 3 planks ~1 1/8x5¼x40 (Walnut, Maple) or 4 planks ~7/8x5¼x40 (Walnut)
$250.00 +$28 S&H US 48
email for availability
50" Maple, Cherry or Walnut: 2 planks 1 5/8" x 5 1/2" x 50 (Cherry) or 3 planks 1 1/8" x 5 1/2" x 50 (Walnut, Maple)
$320.00 +$37 S&H US 48
email for availability
Black Walnut
White Ash
White Oak
Cherry
Red Oak
Beech
Hard Maple
Species Notes:
Red Oak, White Oak and Ash are the best bending woods. They are also available year round and last for months to years wrapped at their target bending moisture content of 25%. Beech is available year round but should be used more quickly in warm climates as it has a tendency to mold. Moist Hard Maple stains and spalts during warm weather. For this reason, unless you want spalted or variously colored Maple (it can be very pretty), the pure White Maple should be ordered in the winter . Walnut and Cherry are available in limited quantities and sizes. Please email, chris.mroz@flutedbeams.com.
