Andy Chidwick's Cold-Bend™ Hardwoods for Extreme Wood Bending™ : Order Page
Andy Chidwick owns the Chidwick School of Fine Woodworking in Stevensville, Montana, and speaks and demonstrates at Woodworking shows across the country. Andy's customer can order from this page. If ordering from the "Ready to Ship" page, please note AC in order notes so that Andy gets credit for sales to his customers. More on Andy Chidwick at http://chidwickschool.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=106&Itemid=109 .
36" Sample Pack. Order below...
3 ways to order...
-onlinefor custom compressed orders (below) (credit for order goes to Andy Chidwick - or use the Ready to Ship page to build yourself a sample pack and put AC in order notes to credit Andy for the order) -emailchris.mroz@flutedbeams.com for custom orders and purchase orders - orphone Chris Mroz at 253-988-2046 for credit card payment by phone
-Please order over-size because of shrinkage during drying and add at least 6" to your needed length for bending leverage and trim. -Resawing services billed at $55/hr if desired. -Most orders are custom compressed and ship directly from Fluted Beams LLC in Gig Harbor, WA, USA in 3 to 4 weeks.
Sizes and Pricing: Sold by the linear foot in widths of 6", or sample packs. Minimum order is $150.
Group 1: Ash, Red Oak, Beech, Sassafras, Soft Maple**, 5/4 White Oak, 5/4 Hard Maple Group 2: 8/4 White Oak, Hickory, Sycamore (lacewood), Cherry, Elm**, 8/4 Hard Maple** Group 3: Walnut**, Osage Orange**, Black Locust**
* limited supply ** sold out (taking pre-orders)
5/4 Cold-Bend™ Hardwood - net 1 1/8" to 1 1/4" thick x 5 1/2" to 6" wide. Priced per linear foot Use quantity to specify number of linear feet and notes to specify species and plank lengths Available 5/4 Group 1 Species: Ash, Red Oak, Soft Maple, Sassafras, White Oak Available 5/4 Group 2 Species: Hard Maple, Hickory, Cherry, Sycamore Available 5/4 Group 3 Species: Walnut: pre-orders only (ready in Feb 2011)
6/4 Cold-Bend™ Hardwood - net 1 3/8" to 1 1/2" thick x 5 1/2" to 6" wide. Priced per linear foot Use quantity to specify number of linear feet and notes to specify species and plank lengths Available 6/4 Group 1 Species: Ash, Red Oak and Beech Available 6/4 Group 2 Species: White Oak: pre-orders only (ready in Dec 2010) Available 6/4 Group 3 Species: Walnut: pre-orders only (ready in Jan 2011)
8/4 Cold-Bend™ Hardwood - net 1 7/8" to 2" thick x 5 1/2" to 6" wide. Priced per linear foot Use quantity to specify number of linear feet and notes to specify species and plank lengths Available 8/4 Group 1 Species: Ash, Red Oak, (Beech: pre-orders only, ready Dec 2010) Available 8/4 Group 2 Species: White Oak, Cherry, (Hard Maple: pre-orders only, ready Feb 2011) Available 8/4 Group 3 Species: none
Species Engineered into Compressed Wood...
Species Notes:
We offer 14 Extreme Bendable species. These are all temperate forest hardwoods. Softwoods and exotic hardwoods do not bend (or compress). Our best extreme bending woods are Red Oak, White Oak, Ash, Elm, Sasafras, Sycamore, Cherry, Walnut, Hickory and Black Locust. Maple is slightly behind with Beech in last place (but not by much). Osage Orange was added in 2010 with very limited, but very promissing results.
Since compressed wood is shipped at a relatively high moisture content of about 20% MC, some of the species can begin to grow mold in warm environments. Where cool storage is not available, quatities ordered should reflect short term needs if storing over a summer season. Maple and beech are the worst for mold growth, though some of the others can grow mold too when the weather is right for it (walnut, sycamore, maybe others). This can be prevented by wrapping the unused pieces in kitchen wrap to exclude oxygen, and stored cool. We have stored compressed wood this way for many years without loss of moisture, flexibility, or mold growth. We have even stored some compressed wood in very unfavorable conditions (warm and dry, but plastic wrapped) for many years that lost very little flexibility. Mold spores are naturally present in the environment. Dry wood is not susceptible to mold growth.
We are always running experiments with new wood species and expect to be testing Alder, Birch, Honey Locust, Koa, Hackberry, Catalpa, Kentucky Coffee Tree, Rainbow Tulip and Sweet Gum during the next year. None of these are in stock for sale yet but could be by mid 2011. Tests with Ipe and Purple Heart have failed (quite spectacularly) - placing them in the list of "not bendable", along with all softwoods and exotic hardwoods tested so far.
Please Note:
Compressed Wood is a natural material and as such will have variation in grain pattern, and color. Though compressed wood starts with clear hardwood, there may be minor defect introduced by the compression process, or from unseen, natural qualities within the plank. Iron tannate stain from the engineering process sometimes occurs, but this is a surface stain only. Just as in planning a project with any lumber product, you should count on ordering about 15% more material than you expect to need to ensure you have a consistent and adequate supply and in case of breakage, or shape deviations during drying. You should also order extra length so that you have leverage on the parts when bending. Bent parts will need some surfacing after they are dried, and this should be factored into your size needs.
Many applications you can think of to use Compressed Wood in will be new or only partially tested. Compressed wood is best employed by the inventive and experimental craftsperson who is willing to go beyond some of the conventional wisdom commonly used in woodworking. This includes restricting your surfacing of the wet wood to sawing and sanding, no planing or moulding, though abrasive planing is very effective. Early experiences may be immediately rewarding, or may require some re-thinking and additional attempts. Our user information provided on this site is not complete, and is evolving as we and our customers push the product into new and ever challenging projects. Please plan on a test project to gain some experience with compressed wood before commiting to a customers paid or finished project.
You are invited to share your experiences, pictures and videos with us and we would be pleased to include certain works in our galleries.
