You are reading a single comment by @Captain_Blight and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed is a community of predominantly fixed gear and single-speed cyclists in and around London, UK.
This site is supported almost exclusively by donations. Please consider donating a small amount regularly.
@Captain_Blight
I think a layup of 3 mm veneers, particularly if sourced from live-edged stock and resawn to follow the grain as closely as possible, avoiding runout, with a single layer of 6-ounce unidirectional E- Glass through the middle, and glued with a good epoxy (West marine, System Three, Silvertip, Raka) would be overkill for strength. You'd want to finish it with a good spar varnish to avoid UV degredation of the epoxy, but you'd want to do that anyway. Why paint something nice like that?
I've thought a lot about this, but haven't been able to act on it since my vacuum clamp sucked epoxy last year. I believe that a person should be able to do this in two steps:
First, make a clamping jig, with the bends and sweeps and rises exaggerated by about 10% to allow for springback. Saw your veneers out as described above (n.b.: the thinner your veneers, the greater the waste to the blade. Veneers as thick as the blade will give 50% of your stock going away as sawdust; but the more plies in your glueup, the greater the strength. Choose your own compromise.) and then pop them into a steambox. Pull then after 20 minutes or so, stack them in the jig, and tighten the clamps. Walk away for four or five days to let them dry in their new postion.
Second, release the clamps, get all stickified with the glue, and clamp back up. A vacuum press is the tool of choice here, you don't want to starve an epoxy joint with too much clamping pressure; good, even contact is all that's required and necessary.
When the glue's dry, about a day, sand and finish with spar varnish. Ther'es an opportunity here for aero shapes and fancy face veneers of exotic woods for extra bling.
I want to try this with spruce inner veneers, quartered white oak face veneers, and brass fitments to go with the steel Specialized Allez frame I gun-blued last week. I think it would knock the eyes right outta yer head.