The art of steam laminating wood has been around for a long time. The idea of using this fundamental process to create rings however, has been a more recent development.
When I came across this method of creating rings, (more than a decade ago) I never imagined creating so many rings for so many people. This method is not in any way shape or form an automated process. These rings need to be created one at a time, and each one is unique in the way they are created. Minor differences in the grain and irregularities in the inlays (as they are hand laid) can be seen when comparing two rings of the same design.
The Bentwood method is a super strong design, and stands alone fairly well. I have integrated a Stainless Steel ring blank into each ring which adds both beauty and strength.
Over the years I have developed a process of building these rings to last!
First, we select the wood for the ring to be shaped. I use Walnut, Maple, Cherry, and Ebony. Next, the wood is cut into a thin strip, and boiled in water for an hour. Once boiled, the wood is ready for bending, or rolling in our case. I use a wood dowel or mechanics socket to roll to the approximate shape and size. Once rolled tightly, masking tape is used to prevent any unrolling.
Then the wood is placed into an oven to thoroughly dry for an hour. Once out of the oven the wood is bonded to its metal core and stabilized in "cyanoacrylate" The cyanoacrylate, or CA, we use is simply commercial grade crazy glue.
The CA will then cure usually overnight but at the very least, for 12 hours. Once cured the CA and ring are as one, and ready for shaping on the lathe. The ring is then shaped on the lathe along with any cutting for inlays to be completed.
With all inlays made and stabilized in CA, we are ready for filing, sanding and final finish.
The final finish is 8 coats or more of thin CA which is sanded, and polished to a mirror like gloss. Once fully cured, the finish on these rings is very hard, and wears extremely well. With so many ways to create beautiful wood rings, (stabilized blocks, drill press, etc..) I have chosen to master one method as opposed to learning and using many. -Roy
Comments