This outta get me kicked off this site...

[Todd Carpenter]

Okay, I know this is a wood working site but I was just wondering, have any of you guys used cardboard in any of your projects? Not for patterns, or sreading glue, but as an integral part the project - maybe even a structural component? I know Ian Kirby did a bit on torsion boxes and one of the side bars was for using Trico (basically a cardboard honeycomb) instead of the usual methods, and I've seen a few people use it like this: http://www.instructables.com/id/Cardboard-Lumber/ and somewhere on the Instructables web site, I thought someone had made a night stand (although I can't find it right now), and of course there's the myriad of cardboard chairs - but I was wondering if anybody's used on serious projects?

Just curious,
Todd

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

Todd - I'd say MDF is used widely, and is closer to cardboard than it is to 'real' wood....so no worries, we won't kick you off ...

[Jamie Buxton]

I once made a set of dining chairs from sonotube and plywood. The plywood was the seat. The sonotube was something like 18" diameter. It stood vertical. The top of the cylinder was cut away to leave the back, and the front of the cylinder below the seat was cut away to offer room for the feet. It worked pretty well. But you did just have to live with looking at the manufacturer's printing on the outside.

[Rob Fisher]

While I haven't made full size "furniture", I have made lots of models with different cardboards. In college, as an Architecture major, we made everything out of cardboard (in addition to using other materials). It was great to use because it could be cut (the bandsaw worked great for this), glued, screwed, and nailed just like wood, often a lot easier. We would use the typical corrugated kind you see everywhere as well as uncorrugated (we called it chipboard, essentially solid cardboard). The solid stuff was great but could get heavy if you put a lot of it together, the corrugated stuff was nice and light but if the corrugations got crushed it would lose a lot of its structural properties. All of it would take a finish, although I only ever used a cheap poly.

If you are interested look up Shigeru Ban, he is famous for designing buildings out of cardboard.

Rob

[Keith Christopher]

Actually this is not new, Frank Gehry was noted for his work with cardboard and his pieces were even features in the guggenheim! If you look at the chair in Iron Chef America it is Frank's 'wiggle chair' made entirely of cardboard. Here is some examples.
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=frank+gehry+furniture&sourceid=navclient-ff&rlz=1B3GGGL_enUS246US246&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=4FUYS42gFMv4lQeToLDjAg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBkQsAQwAA

http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/geh0bio-1

[Jim Rimmer]

Just my DC for my CMS.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=130670&thumb=1&d=1256093412 (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=130670&d=1256093412)

[Mike Cutler]

Platt Monfort was/is an ultralight watercraft design engineer. His design are simply amazing. Of course his medium was fiberglass resins and epoxies, and the cardboard was actually a mold for the glass, but still.........
A 22' long "engineered beam" made from poster board, and 1x6's, resting on sawhorses, with a 200lb man jumping up and down in the middle. It was pretty impressive.

[Paul Atkins]

Cardboard is just another form of wood, right?

[Dan Friedrichs]

Just my DC for my CMS.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=130670&thumb=1&d=1256093412 (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=130670&d=1256093412)

Oh, I see you went with the Oneida-brand DC box, huh? :)

[jim hedgpeth]

I think it all depends on what the project is and where/why the cardboard would be used. Cardboard would be a viable choice of materials if, as with any other material, it is used in the right manner. Just like I wouldn't use MDF to build a boat, but I would use it as a substrate for a counter top.

Oriental cultures have used paper as a major part of folding wall partitions for centuries. Here is a good pic. if you have never seen one.
http://www.orientalfurniture.com/oriental-furniture/SS-BLOSSOM.html

I guess what I am saying (and thinking to my self) is, why limit yourself to just wood?? Dont we use other materials already? Brass hinges, steel catches, glass, ball bearing slides, magnets....................;)


Jim

[Paul Ryan]

Cardboard is just another form of wood, right?


+1 on this, cardboard is made of wood, the table saw won't care.