Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
How wiggly is wiggle wood?
Steve Yakoban
>I'm beginning to expand my woodworking dabbling and would like to do some things with wiggle wood, but know little about it. What is the proper name? How bendable is it? Can it be formed into small S curves? Does it bend in more than 1 plane at a time?
Thanks guys!
Re: How wiggly is wiggle wood?
Keith Newton
>Steve, I am not sure if Wiggle-wood is a brand name for bending ply or not, but I have been using bending ply for about 15 years or more. the one that I use most is 3/8" thick, and is made up of three plys, with the middle one being the thinnest, usually maple, and the outer two are rotary cut luan, and should have lots of fracturing along the grain to make it easier to bend.
I have a scrap out in one of the bins, and just judging by eye, I would say that it will easily bend to about 10" diameter or 5" R.
Yes you can bend an S easily enough, but changing the axis of the bend is a bit of a problem, unless you are out of the bend area, and maybe some narrower parts need to bend on another axis.
I like to use epoxy for the adhesive especially when the bends start getting extreme, because it is so slippery, the parts will slide by one another without any problems. Back when I was just learning, I used some other glues that wanted to grab too quick, which would cause the inner face to crowed and wrinkle, and the outside face split down the grain.
The downside to using epoxy is that it will bleed through the grain onto the face, and if you don't sand it off while it is in the leather/toughness phase of cure, it will be extremely hard to sand off.
Re: How wiggly is wiggle wood?
Steve Yakoban
>Thanks Keith - that's some great insight!
Re: How wiggly is wiggle wood?
Robin Corell, Atascadero CA
>I've used the product keith described as well as what is often called italian poplar. Italian poplar is a poplar 3 ply plywood that is 1/8" thick and has the grain of all the ply's running parallel. It is kind of like working with a wet noodle and requires 2 people or large infeed and outfeed tables to cut on a table saw. It takes a tighter bend than wiggle wood and has a surface that is closer to the birch ply you are likely familiar with. Wiggle wood has a surface that is not suitable for painting without substantial putty and primeing. using two pieces of italian poplar will give you a panel that is 1/4" thick, somthing that is impossible with wiggle wood. If you need 3/4" panels and will be veneering them than it is more economical to use wiggle wood.
Robin Corell