Making a thick board by laminating two thin boards

[Greg Magone]

I have a decorative project that calls for 1.5" thick wood. I have a bunch of 3/4 wood lying around but no 1.5" wood.

I'm thinking of laminating two pieces together to get the thickness that I need.

Curious as to the concerns with doing so. I think board warpage is a big concern - perhaps not so much if I have two flat boards to start with. I'm also concerned about the glue line being distracting in the decorative project. I could inlay a small piece of different color wood to hide the glue line.

Like your input.

[Mac McQuinn]

I needed a 1.5" thick, 18"x40" platform to mount a 3HP air Compressor on my garage wall. I had a couple pieces of .75" MDO so I used TB3 to glue them together and also ran screws from bottom side. I experienced no warping whatsoever and it's very sturdy.
Mac

[Chris Padilla]

Greg, I do this all the time. If you're concerned about the glue color, get a glue that matches your wood color or as close as possible. For example, maple works well color-wise with TB-I and TB-II because those dry to a pale yellow color. TB-III, however, dries to a brown color. If you can't find a glue color you like, try a clear epoxy instead.

Whatever you use, the best thing is to minimize the glue line by having perfectly flat pieces to glue to each other. To help minimize movement, glue the board to each other against a solid, flat reference if possible. Also, glue the boards together so that the "warpages" are opposite of each other so that the boards are "pulling" against each other.

Finally, let the glue-up rest and return to normal moisture content. Further milling may still be required if movement still occurs so you may need to glue-up thicker than your 1.5".

[Jim Matthews]

Get the grain in opposition, or use quartersawn to reduce movement.

For maximum strength, laminate the two boards together
with a fine 1/4" ply between, and plane to thickness.

[Sam Murdoch]

I have a decorative project that calls for 1.5" thick wood. I have a bunch of 3/4 wood lying around but no 1.5" wood.

I'm thinking of laminating two pieces together to get the thickness that I need.

Curious as to the concerns with doing so. I think board warpage is a big concern - perhaps not so much if I have two flat boards to start with. I'm also concerned about the glue line being distracting in the decorative project. I could inlay a small piece of different color wood to hide the glue line.

Like your input.

Yes 2 flat boards will equal one flat board. I often glue up table legs and have made doors with laminated stiles (for a variety of reasons). Color match and grain match as carefully as you can and be certain to maintain an even and firm clamp pressure all along the joint and your seam will be invisible except to the most critical eye. This is especially true with darker grained woods. The line in light color woods are likely to be visible but not objectionably so if the joint is consistently tight. IMHO. Inlaying another colored wood will simply add another glue line.


AND - if you will be running your new thick board over the jointer be very certain to check and mark the feed direction of each board and glue them together with the marks oriented in the same direction. Nothing worse than running a laminated board over the jointer and having the grain of one board tear out. Not all woods are subject to tear out but best to make sure that you can joint your edges without that concern.

[Bill Orbine]

I have a decorative project that calls for 1.5" thick wood. I have a bunch of 3/4 wood lying around but no 1.5" wood.

I'm thinking of laminating two pieces together to get the thickness that I need.

Curious as to the concerns with doing so. I think board warpage is a big concern - perhaps not so much if I have two flat boards to start with. I'm also concerned about the glue line being distracting in the decorative project. I could inlay a small piece of different color wood to hide the glue line.

Like your input.

Laminating two boards together is quite common in the trade. Curiously, what is this project you are attempting that requires you to laminate boards? That information can yield some important answer to you question about laminating boards.

[Loren Woirhaye]

The approach to finish will have a big effect on whether the laminate detracts from the design. One thing to consider is grain runout on the pieces. If you get it right you'll be able to plane the laminated edges with minimized tearout. If you get it wrong you'll be effectively dealing with an interlocked grain situation.

[Steve Peterson]

As previously mentioned, quartersawn boards are probably best. You probably don't want to mix quartersawn with riftsawn.

There are 3 different ways of gluing riftsawn boards, )), (), or )(. I usually expect that the growth rings will try to flatten out as the wood dries. () will try to break the glue lines near the edges at the rings try to flatten. )( will try to separate near the center where it would not be able to start separating. This style should result in a slightly stronger board. Both of these types will tend to cancel any warping so the piece should remain flat. )) type should hold the glue better, but may be a bit more prone to warping. It might allow the best grain matching for the most invisible glue line.

Steve

[Greg Cuetara]

If I remember correctly I think I read a while back about craftsman furniture used to laminate two boards together and then on the 'edges' they would glue a thin piece so that the glue joint did not show. There are also ways that you can miter the corners so that there will be no glue joint down the middle. I have a few pieces of furniture that i needed 1 1/2" thick stock for legs on a dresser and I just glued them together and tried to match the grain and walked away. Good Luck, Greg

[Greg Magone]

Thanks all for your replies.

I decided to give it a try and see how it worked, and I am pleased with the results. While my project was clearly made from two boards, the glue line adds a bit of character to my project and I think the fact that I saved the cost of having to buy new wood to be a nice benefit. I was able to use this out of existing wood that I had no current plans for.

I attached a couple of pictures of my project to the post below.


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[Curt Harms]

Looks great, Greg. You did a nice job grain matching and yes, I agree it adds a bit of visual interest.

[Al Launier]

Nicely done indeed!

[Hunter Locke]

Looks cool, Greg. You got me thinking I should do something similar. Household six loves candles so it would be a home-run in my house.

[Jim Becker]

Lamination is a normal method for getting thicker stock...and you can use the "less nice" stuff for the hidden layer. Further, if you want to eliminate the appearance of the seam if it will not disappear naturally through grain matching, you can miter the edge of the top board and glue up a mitered "face" for the front, visible edge. This makes the end-grain end more complicated, but there are various ways to deal with that, too, if you are creative.

[Chip Byrd]

Great looking project. Very elegant.