Wood rings are beautiful. They feel warm and have a lovely sheen when finished properly. They tend not to be very durable, though. Often they crack along the grain after continued wear.
Bent wood rings address this problem. Made from very thin layers of wood wrapped with the grain running all the way around the ring (instead of across or through), these rings can stand up to quite a bit of pressure without cracking or breaking.
I gave Josh wood this past father's day. Woodcraft sold various turning blanks of exotic hardwoods, and we had a lot of fun turning rings on his tiny micro lathe. I still prefer the look of wood rings made from a solid piece of wood with the grain running through the ring. Some exotic woods hold up quite well, but some do not. We began looking into ways to make our rings more durable and read about bent wood rings.
There wasn't a whole lot of information out there as to how exactly to make the rings. After a fair amount of experimentation, I've come up with a method that works for us. We don't make wood rings any more (our passion for making them lasted about a month before our attention spans expired and we moved on to the next interest), but I wanted to share the method with others.
I also sometimes put a bent wood interior inside a solid wood ring to make it stronger. It would be impossible to use some woods for rings (like figured satinwood) without some type of serious strengthening. I haven't included directions for that in this instructable, but they're not too hard to figure out once you know the basics.
I'll also show you how to add a crushed stone inlay.
Some people are now choosing bent wood rings for wedding or engagement rings. They can be pricey from some retailers. They might take a little bit of practice if you want perfect rings, but the technique is simple and the materials are cheap.
Bent wood rings address this problem. Made from very thin layers of wood wrapped with the grain running all the way around the ring (instead of across or through), these rings can stand up to quite a bit of pressure without cracking or breaking.
I gave Josh wood this past father's day. Woodcraft sold various turning blanks of exotic hardwoods, and we had a lot of fun turning rings on his tiny micro lathe. I still prefer the look of wood rings made from a solid piece of wood with the grain running through the ring. Some exotic woods hold up quite well, but some do not. We began looking into ways to make our rings more durable and read about bent wood rings.
There wasn't a whole lot of information out there as to how exactly to make the rings. After a fair amount of experimentation, I've come up with a method that works for us. We don't make wood rings any more (our passion for making them lasted about a month before our attention spans expired and we moved on to the next interest), but I wanted to share the method with others.
I also sometimes put a bent wood interior inside a solid wood ring to make it stronger. It would be impossible to use some woods for rings (like figured satinwood) without some type of serious strengthening. I haven't included directions for that in this instructable, but they're not too hard to figure out once you know the basics.
I'll also show you how to add a crushed stone inlay.
Some people are now choosing bent wood rings for wedding or engagement rings. They can be pricey from some retailers. They might take a little bit of practice if you want perfect rings, but the technique is simple and the materials are cheap.
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Signing UpStep 1: Form the ring shape
To make the rings, you'll need:
wood veneer
a straightedge
a thin, sharp blade
something to hold and boil water
something finger sized to wrap the wood around
masking tape, rubber band, or velcro cable tie to hold wrapped wood in place
superglue
various grits of sandpaper
dremel (optional)
If you're adding a crushed stone inlay, you'll also need:
stone to crush
a hammer and anvil or some other device for crushing stone
epoxy
a toothpick or other small, disposable implement to mix and apply epoxy
a metal file
We bought a sample pack of wood veneer at the local woodworking supply store. It cost $20 and contains more than 20 pieces of veneer, enough to make hundreds of rings. Some types of veneer don't bend very well at all. I had the most success with thin, tight-grained pieces of veneer with the grain running the long way. I'm sure the more difficult woods could be used if they were sanded much thinner. I didn't bother, though. I can use that veneer for something else.
Using a straight edge as a guide, slice your piece of veneer into a long, thin strip. I've found it works better if I use many light strokes instead of trying to cut through the veneer in one pass. Sometimes the blade tries to veer away from the straight edge along the irregular grain. Lighter strokes helps combat that.
Using a dremel with a sanding tip or regular sandpaper, sand down the ends of the strip. You'll want them very thin. If you don't sand them down, a kink will form in the wood as you wrap it. It'll look out of place and will make it difficult to get a tight wrap. It's also easier to hide the seam when the end is thinned down.
If you want to do a crushed stone inlay, slice two thin strips of veneer to fit over the base strip of veneer with enough space between the thin strips for the stone inlay. On the ring in the picture, I simply sliced out the middle of a strip of veneer on one end of the strip, leaving the other end intact so I could wrap the base and overlay of the ring with just one piece. I'm lazy like that. Please look at the picture for reference. I wanted the groove for the inlay deep enough, so I left the thinner strips longer than the base portion.
Some people steam their wood. Some wrap it in wet paper towels and place it in the microwave. Boiling the strips in a pot of water works best for me. Different woods take different amounts of time to get flexible enough. I boil mine for roughly 10 minutes. They're usually bendable by then.
I've discovered that a copper pipe is roughly the right size to make rings for my middle or index fingers. We have a stepped ring mandrel somewhere that I could use, but I can't find it. I've also learned that a AA battery is the right size to make a ring for my 3 year old.
When the wood is sufficiently flexible, remove it from the boiling water using tongs. It cools quickly, so it shouldn't burn you by the time you get back to the table. Wrap it tightly around the round item of your choice and secure it with masking tape, a rubber band, or whatever you can find.
If you're making a ring with one color on the inside and one on the outside, only wrap the inner portion at this time. Leave the veneer for the outside in the pot for now. If you're making a ring with a stone inlay, make sure to wrap the base part of the ring (the solid portion of the strip) first if it's in once piece. If the thin strips are separate pieces of veneer, leave those in the pot for now.
wood veneer
a straightedge
a thin, sharp blade
something to hold and boil water
something finger sized to wrap the wood around
masking tape, rubber band, or velcro cable tie to hold wrapped wood in place
superglue
various grits of sandpaper
dremel (optional)
If you're adding a crushed stone inlay, you'll also need:
stone to crush
a hammer and anvil or some other device for crushing stone
epoxy
a toothpick or other small, disposable implement to mix and apply epoxy
a metal file
We bought a sample pack of wood veneer at the local woodworking supply store. It cost $20 and contains more than 20 pieces of veneer, enough to make hundreds of rings. Some types of veneer don't bend very well at all. I had the most success with thin, tight-grained pieces of veneer with the grain running the long way. I'm sure the more difficult woods could be used if they were sanded much thinner. I didn't bother, though. I can use that veneer for something else.
Using a straight edge as a guide, slice your piece of veneer into a long, thin strip. I've found it works better if I use many light strokes instead of trying to cut through the veneer in one pass. Sometimes the blade tries to veer away from the straight edge along the irregular grain. Lighter strokes helps combat that.
Using a dremel with a sanding tip or regular sandpaper, sand down the ends of the strip. You'll want them very thin. If you don't sand them down, a kink will form in the wood as you wrap it. It'll look out of place and will make it difficult to get a tight wrap. It's also easier to hide the seam when the end is thinned down.
If you want to do a crushed stone inlay, slice two thin strips of veneer to fit over the base strip of veneer with enough space between the thin strips for the stone inlay. On the ring in the picture, I simply sliced out the middle of a strip of veneer on one end of the strip, leaving the other end intact so I could wrap the base and overlay of the ring with just one piece. I'm lazy like that. Please look at the picture for reference. I wanted the groove for the inlay deep enough, so I left the thinner strips longer than the base portion.
Some people steam their wood. Some wrap it in wet paper towels and place it in the microwave. Boiling the strips in a pot of water works best for me. Different woods take different amounts of time to get flexible enough. I boil mine for roughly 10 minutes. They're usually bendable by then.
I've discovered that a copper pipe is roughly the right size to make rings for my middle or index fingers. We have a stepped ring mandrel somewhere that I could use, but I can't find it. I've also learned that a AA battery is the right size to make a ring for my 3 year old.
When the wood is sufficiently flexible, remove it from the boiling water using tongs. It cools quickly, so it shouldn't burn you by the time you get back to the table. Wrap it tightly around the round item of your choice and secure it with masking tape, a rubber band, or whatever you can find.
If you're making a ring with one color on the inside and one on the outside, only wrap the inner portion at this time. Leave the veneer for the outside in the pot for now. If you're making a ring with a stone inlay, make sure to wrap the base part of the ring (the solid portion of the strip) first if it's in once piece. If the thin strips are separate pieces of veneer, leave those in the pot for now.
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Also, once you discover a nice coating of dry superglue on your fingers, nothing takes it off like 80-grit. You break it up with the paper (and instantly get the sensitivity back) then after an hour or so the micro-sized chunks have fallen off of their own accord.
P.S. Once glued these things stop resembling wood in terms of stiffness to weight. More like FRP. I imagine a bamboo ring (bamboo is already as good as some kinds of aluminium in this regard) would be simply incredible...
Also, I'm having a lot of trouble with my veneer. I bought mahogany and after boiling it, it's still splitting really bad. Like to the point I can't bend the ring. I was thinking about maybe bending a larger radius, letting it dry, then boiling again and bend it to a smaller radius gradually. Does anyone have thoughts on this?
I was using pine before for this project, and it bends really nice, however I'm worried about it not being durable. I like the look of mahogany an since it's a harder wood I thought it would be more durable. Maybe I should look for a softer wood?
Some woods like mahogany are a pain. If you find it splitting, you'll have to sand it down very very very very thin. Of course, if you do that, you'll need several long strips to wrap around to make a ring that's as thick as the others.
Even the softer woods end up being pretty durable in these; the cellular structure being wrapped in a spiral and impregnated with superglue really adds incredible strength to the rings.
I figured out a solution that I'm sure will work on any type of wood.
If the wood is splitting, boil it, then wrap it to a large radius. This might be the radius of a coffee mug if need be.
Use a large metal hose clamp as a clamp to keep it in place. Let it dry.
Once it's dry, it will hold the shape if taken out of the hose clamp.
Bend it to a smaller radius while dry, but don't force it too much or it will split (you'll know what the limit is.)
Tighten the clamp to the new radius and boil it again.
Repeat until you get the desired radius.
Once you get the radius down, roll tin foil very tightly to the size of the inside diameter (which should be slightly smaller than the finger) and roll the ring around it. Clamp it, and boil it again. This will make the ring have a uniform bend that you can't get with just the hose clamp.
I did this with the mahogany, and it worked awesome. The bend is more uniform than previous ones too. I know it's a lot more work, but I wanted to use a dark hard wood, and I like the holographic proporties of mahogany so for me, this is worth it.
Also a good source for veneers is Constantines. I happen to live near them and I bought an assortment of veneers for less than twenty bucks that will let you retire on wooden rings.
http://www.constantines.com/supriseassortment.aspx
Anyway, I was successful making my wife's wedding ring using the method I mentioned above.
Gorilla glue worked really well too. It does expand, but if you have the ring wrapped around the aluminum foil on the inside, and then have a small wrap of foil around the outside, and then hose clamp that bad boy till it dries, all the glue squishes out the sides and it's brown so it makes a sort of wood filler. Then you just file and sand off the excess.
I have an instructable on how i make brush applicators for cyanoacrylate bottles. Essentially it can turn the bottle into a paintbrush. I know you don't have large areas to cover on your rings, but you may still find it useful.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Brush-applicator-for-cyanoacrylate-glue/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_polish
I finally got all the supplies (just not a lot of CA)...
Out of curiosity, as I have learned from another ring guide (can't remember where) that used maps as the supply (the maps were run through a paper shredder and then coiled, and painted in three sections- outside, inside, sides), you can "paint" with resin if you have cheap brushes you are willing to part with and are careful. After a few layers the rings would supposedly stay together and be hard as resin. Do you think this method would work over wood?
I found that sockets that I had around the shop (3/8 metric and english deepwell socket sets) are a wide variety of outer diameter sizes and are great for forming rings. With an 3/8 socket to 1/4" hex adapter you can put the socket into a cordless drill and quickly sand and micromesh the spinning ring.
They are beautiful!
I jury-rigged a holder for the ring out of a torx-driver, sandpaper and tape, chucked it. I used this setup for sanding as well, which really does a good job. What I noticed was that the ring would stick on the sandpaper fairly well. So I stuck the ring up there, put a dab of CA glue on it, and let her spin. Then I used a microfiber cloth to spread it around, and a few minutes later lightly sand it and apply a different coat.
For the inside, I taped the cloth around the torx-driver (with tape underneath to prevent it sticking), put a dab of glue on THAT and put the ring around that.
WORD OF CAUTION: Do not use actual cotton, either swabs or cloth, to spread CA glue. Cyanoacrylate reacts with cotton while curing by producing heat, and can spontaneously combust.
1.Just cut the wood a bit wider than the width u want for your ring.
2. try to cut wood as thinnest as possible, max 1 cm or else it will be harder.
3. with the 1 cm thick wood and the desired width mark the sides of the wood to about 2-3mm.
4. now it the most tedious part. using a sharp blade trim down the edge of your wood. ONLY THE EDGE until it becomes like rounded and make sure to not crap the 2-3mm area.
5. now trim down the rounded area.
6. after it nearly as thin as 2-3 mm, to make it more thinner, sand it down or place ur blade perpendicular to the wood, and start to scrap of the layer of the wood with a slight force n pressure but not too much.
it is easier to just buy a veener, but I think by making the whole process myself, its a lot of satisfaction. owh, BTW, wood that us tooo dry or old split easily. still do able though. thanks supersoftdrink for providing this tutorial, all this time i just make a solid wood ring :).