Cross Laminated Solid Wood Composites…Not Your Father's Plywood.

While there is no limit to the rich materials and information around the various building and craft industries, we thought it would be great for our blog readers to meet one of our local furniture makers and wood-crafting professionals, Randy Weersing Furniture Designs, here in Eugene, Oregon.  Randy creates and fabricates from a vast array of materials, including our own States Industries ApplePly®  Randy was generous enough to provide so much content for this blog that we have designed it into 3 postings which will begin today and conclude early September. 

Enjoy Randy’s craftsman tutorial and his photos.  A link to his website and work can be found at the end of this article.

Happy and safe woodworking everyone.

Sincerely,

Michael Blakley

Marketing Director

States Industries, LLC

CROSS-LAMINATED SOLID WOOD COMPOSITES…not your father's plywood.

- By Randy Weersing

Thirty five years of designing, building, and selling fine furniture pieces has taught me an important lesson about  human nature: What we perceive as "quality" often has no basis in reality. The use of plywood in furniture construction is a prime example. I can't count the many times I've had a design rejected by a client simply because it uses plywood. When pitching a design, I've even begun referring to premium plywood products as "cross-laminated solid wood composites", or CLSWC. This somewhat tongue in cheek acronym can open the door to further education on the many merits of premium plywood and I have started by listing just a few:

*Stability - The cross laminated veneers are not subject to seasonal movement as is solid wood. This opens the door to design opportunities and building techniques  that would otherwise be impractical...even impossible.

*Environmental benefits - Do the right thing. Plywood makes better use of our precious resources as many wood producers today now source only from forests and plantations that are harvested under strict sustainability and fiber renewal standards.

*Aesthetics - Plywood edges and surfaces can boast all the beauty of solid wood.  From the rich grain patterns to the unique colors in the veneers, plywood celebrates the natural characteristics of wood.

*Strength - Premium plywood is superior in strength and stiffness to solid wood, particularly when  structural integrity is required in multiple planes. Structural members can be smaller and lighter with no risk of splitting or cracking.

One example of the amazing properties of plywood is illustrated by my recent "ZigZag" and "Ampersand chairs". ZigZag is constructed of 3 pieces of ApplePly's 1/2 inch maple faced material. It is strong, lightweight (10 lbs.) and comfortable. Material costs are about $30 per chair. This design would not be possible in solid wood. The slats would split (I tried it), and the frame would break where the grain opposes the structural loads. The "Ampersand" chairs are a similar if a bit more elaborate application of the same techniques. In this case, in addition to the above mentioned attributes, I would add flexibility to the key characteristics that make the design possible. The frame and seat parts of these seating pieces flex under the sitter's weight to conform and support with surprising comfort. Again, this might be achievable with solid wood, but at what cost? And how long would it last?

Tradition runs deep in the furniture business, and we should respect tradition. Solid wood has been the mainstay material for furniture construction for millenia, and has acquired a mystical, magical aura...as it should. I love it and use it where it works best, but I keep an open mind to the alternative opportunities afforded by new technologies.

Cross laminated solid wood composites;  now there’s a cool twist to a timeless material.

To see more of Randy Weersing's designs visit his website at www.weersingfurniturestudio.com