Finnform Plywood Platter

[Jim Thillen]

Been experimenting with turning plywood bowls and platters. The platter is made from wisa finnform plywood
that was used for the finished face of the architectural concrete walls at the Kimbell art museum in Fort Worth Texas.

[Curt Fuller]

Now that is just plain cool!

[Thomas Canfield]

That is neat wood, but expect the glue worked on your cutting edge. More info please. Where did you get the wood?

[Richard Madden]

Neat! I like it. I too would like to know more about that plywood.

[Bill Wyko]

Now that is just stunning, very well done Jim.

[Rick Markham]

Jim that is awesome! Great form, fantastic arrangement, visual appearance, joinery, and finish! Well done, this is going to get interesting, you better run with this!

[bob svoboda]

Nicely done!

[Scott Hackler]

That is great! I would be making a bunch more of these. The look of weaved wood really draws one in.

I might have to start looking for that type of plywood!

[Pat Scott]

Very nice. Kind of reminds me of a platter I did with Cherry offcuts several years ago. But yours is kicked up a notch.
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[Michelle Rich]

very appealing plywood..amazingly good looking.

[Jim Thillen]

The plywood is from a project i have been working on the Kimbell Art Museum expansin in Fort worth texas. The architect is Renzo Piano and he wanted the best architectural concrete walls in the world. We used wisa finnform plywood which is the best plywood in the world. It is 20 mm thick with a phenalic coating. The plywood was shipped from Finland we had some sheets 9' wife by 26' long. I sanded the phenalic coating off and ripped pieces 3/4" and 1-1/2" and glued them into one board rotating the 3/4" piece 90 degrees. Then i cleaned up the glue ,ran it thru my drum sander and then cross cut 2" pieces On my tablesaw sled. I made a simple square jig to help keep the pieces lined up. Then i glued them up alternating the direction of the pieces. Once the glue cured i cleaned upmthe glue rand it thru the drum sander then rounded it off on the bandsaw. Then i glued on a waste block and turned it.

[Scott Conners]

Awesome! I love turning architectural woods like this (they come my way often, being in the building trades in the city). This is great!

[John Beaver]

Really nice interpretation of the medium Jim.

[Michael Kellough]

The plywood is from a project i have been working on the Kimbell Art Museum expansin in Fort worth texas. The architect is Renzo Piano and he wanted the best architectural concrete walls in the world. We used wisa finnform plywood which is the best plywood in the world. It is 20 mm thick with a phenalic coating. The plywood was shipped from Finland we had some sheets 9' wife by 26' long. I sanded the phenalic coating off and ripped pieces 3/4" and 1-1/2" and glued them into one board rotating the 3/4" piece 90 degrees. Then i cleaned up the glue ,ran it thru my drum sander and then cross cut 2" pieces On my tablesaw sled. I made a simple square jig to help keep the pieces lined up. Then i glued them up alternating the direction of the pieces. Once the glue cured i cleaned upmthe glue rand it thru the drum sander then rounded it off on the bandsaw. Then i glued on a waste block and turned it.

Interesting platter Jim. I was also intrigued by the work at the Kimble and looked it up.

"The Kimbell's board did not want a white box gallery, and it was willing to sacrifice some flexibility in the exhibit spaces for more architectural character, Lee said.
That evolved into concrete gallery walls, but since Old Master paintings will hang on them, they needed to look pure. The answer was European-style concrete perfected by a Venetian company that has worked with the architect Tadao Ando (http://www.chron.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=entertainment%2Farts-theater&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Tadao+Ando%22), who designed the nearby Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (http://www.chron.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=entertainment%2Farts-theater&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Modern+Art+Museum+of+Fort+Worth%22). (Kahn's building, in contrast, celebrates the irregularities and roughness of plain old American concrete.)
The refined material presented awesome challenges.
"They'd pour a perfect wall in January. And then, using the same formula, it would come out all wrong in July," Lee said. "Making architectural concrete is an art. The smallest change in the mix or a change in temperature - any variable - will have a great impact on how the concrete looks."
It was created by an American team that also had to keep the walls structurally clean. Piano wanted the tie-bar holes 30 feet apart so they wouldn't distract from the art.
"Some people think this is the best concrete that's ever been poured in place," Lee said."

Incidentally, the wholes in Ando's walls are only about a meter apart.

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Here is an example of an Ando wall that didn't turn out so great.

Looking forward to seeing the Kimbell expansion when it is finished.

[Jim Thillen]

Micheal,

I have been working on the Kimbell Art Museum project for 4 years a year of pre construction and 3 years of construction. The architectural concrete that Renzo wanted was more like a extreme challenge. The building facade started out as wood and during the SD stage they looked at travetine cladding to the point that i spent a week in italy watching some Italian artesians erect a full scale mock up of travetine that was book matched with 1 mm joint between the pieces. It looked like you were looking at the wall of a quarry. Then they sent travetine to Fort Worth where we had local stone masons install a mock up. About that time Renzo visited Fort Worth and the mock up and decided he did not want travertine and said he wanted the "best architectural concrete in the world" and he wanted Dottor a venetian contractor to perform the concrete work. So with that we went to Venice to meet with Dottor and look at the work he had done at the punta della dogana in Venice the Tadao Ando project. We spent a few days meeting and months negotiating the scope and role in the project. Basicly it came down to they provided 6 technicians to consult a local contractor with the formwork and concrete placement details. Architectural concrete is extremely challenging and with the climate in Texas it makes the task even harder. A few Months ago Tadao Ando visited the project and he was impressed so i think we have achieved Renzo's expectations.

[Jim Thillen]

Here is a link to you tube that will give a little insight on building the Kimbell walls. The platter is from plywood that was used to form the wall.


http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tVb2K6ceImk&feature=player_embedded&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DtVb2K6ceImk%26feature%3 Dplayer_embedded