Cardboard Lumber

How would you like an incredibly strong, cool, and cheap building material for making lightweight tables, chairs, shelves, or anything else you can think of. Reusing cardboard to make furniture has always been a good idea, but the results I've seem have been either incredibly complex, or shoddy looking.

By laminating sheets of cardboard together into a large block and cutting this up with a table, or circular saw, you can create cardboard lumber of any dimensions you want: 2x4s, 2x8s, 4x4s. If you alternate the grain of the corrugations you can create plywood. If you glue your lumber together end-to-end you can create strong honeycomb-like boards.

You will only need three things to create cardboard lumber:
1) A Saw
2) Lots of cardboard
3) Glue... lots of glue

Step 1: Types of Saws

Table Saw: The best saw you could possibly use to do this is a table saw. You can adjust a table saw's fence to help you cut perfectly uniform lumber out of your cardboard block. This allows you to easily mass-produce cardboard lumber. Because of a table saws fence, you should be able to cut lumber twice as thick as the max height of your blade by cutting once, and then flipping your cardboard block over and cutting through entirely.

Circular Saw: If you're really good at cutting straight lines and have no other option then I guess you could give it a try.

Hand Saw: Possible, but too labor intensive for me.

Band Saw: If your band saw is as powerful as a circular saw than go for it, this could open interesting options.

Chain Saw: Messy...

No Saw: Unfortunately for people without access to saws, this instructable is not for you. I know it looks cool and all, but it's just not gonna work out.

Comments

[pastdue]

I saw kitty blocks at $35-$50...I would like to make my own and I think I can do it after reading your ible! I have access to ALOT of cardboard and am thinking of just making a template and gluing the pieces together with some kitty safe glue that won't attract roaches (ewwww...Las Vegas is full of them). I could do it your way if I only had the tools...it might go faster. Thanks!

[threecardmonty]

How is this on weight versus wood?

[theRIAA]

I would say half the weight of wood, volume-wise, and 1/4 the strength of wood weight-wise. aka, i think you could make something stronger and lighter with wood.

[armored bore]

Yeah, that's the feeling I've gotten so far. It seems to have a surprising amount of compressive strength (I've stood on a sample without any alarming damage), but not so much laterally between layers. That might be solved with just a bit of wooden reinforcement.

[mhyden1]

If you have no saw available, why not pre-cut the cardboard before gluing it together with a knife or scissors etc. more time, but it should work if you're bent on doing it without better tools.

[armored bore]

You could do that in theory, but you'd have to be very accurate and painstaking in your cuts. Any lapse would result in a kind of wonky edge.

I could see it being done with a jig or fixture of some kind, but you'd probably already have some kind of woodworking saw to even make one of those.

[theRIAA]

yea.. just like you cant go into safeway and walk behind the register to look through the drawers for things you want, you cant go in back and look through the cardboard.

[ipisors]

You don't go in "the back", you just go in the main store while they are unpacking and take them. Almost any store in the US will let you take empty boxes from them, every day. it's trash. yes, they get maybe a penny a box for recycling them, but it's about equal to the work you're saving them from baling and processing it.

[jarikcbol]

I work in a grocery store in the US, and we have a baler on site, and bale all our cardboard boxes (and bag all our plastic). we get 200$ per bale, and we make about 6-7 bales a week. (and this is a pretty small store). We do however let people take boxes/cardboard if they need them/show up before they get crushed.

[foobear]

Any updates on how it has held up over time? It's been three years now, how did the bench do over that period? Thank you

[PitStoP]

Great info here..
When I usto rent in the past and I needed cardboard to work under my car to avoid sand/dirt from getting on my clothes and tools when greasy I used to go to the furniture stores near by and get really large carboards boxes (from headboards) that they dumped. They were really long and wide and they covered the whole bottom of the car. They will be great for making longer pieces. I just started looking into this and my question is.. Can these cardboard lumber be used for outdoors and can it be sealed and protected like wood maybe using an oil base polyurethane or other? Just wondering if anyone have try this and how did it hold up? Thanks for the instructable btw!

[kkuo47803]

This looks great!
How cleanly does a jigsaw cut through the cardboard plywood? I'm thinking of making some cardboard furniture like Gehry's "Easy Edges" and was thinking that it might be faster to first create some cardboard lumber and cutting out a pattern from those rather than cutting out individual layers with a craft knife.

[AtOurOwnPace]

I think this is the coolest 'able. A great resource for a good cardboard supply is your local bicycle shop. Bike boxes are big, thick and most shops have a lot of boxes laying around. They'll be very excited to give you the boxes if you volunteer to break down the boxes for them!

[skatattookid]

interesting link on this topic..http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/General/Glass/glass.html

[Mr.Miz]

Lumber in Colorado is expensive. Good hardwood is hard to find. I've read all the comments so far and I'm probably too far down the line for my comment to even get read, but I think the real value here is for making models. I'm a pretty below average wood worker. I can't tell you how much expesive lumber I've messed up learning. If I start using cardboard instead of lumber I will save myself TONs of money and it gives me a VERY abundant material to work with. THANK YOU this is VERY helpful and a wonderful idea.

[paulzef]

I agree with you. I live in Aus and I'm only a first year uni student, I can't exactly afford to go out and buy hardwood or lumber, so why not reuse the 3000 cardboard boxes that my neighbours throw out everyweek; not to mention I work in a supermarket and everynight there are 3 large (2 meter cube) bales of cardboard that just gets sent off for recycling without any monetary gain, I doubt my work would care.

[extrordinary1]

In the movie Lord of the Rings, the entire Shire Village was constructed from cardboard. All the homes were built with carboard. I think it was in New Zealand where they constructed all of it. Now i am provoked to build a cardboard electric tri-hull pontoon boat for fishing and recreation! Conv. stores get a lot of cardboard too. Every week they throw away a lot of card board. I worked at a chain that has over 50 stores now. 9 years ago, there were only 7 stores. Wonder if I can design a trailer too from cardboard. I think I'll use the expoxy for extra strength. I've tried cardboard stuff in the past, but my results were poor. Thanks for this instructable!

[theRIAA]

You're welcome, it sounds like you're on the right track to becoming a great woodworker. and don't worry, new comments automatically go to the top.

[micraman]

Great ible! Love laminated cardboard. But I am a little skeptic about the strength of the wheatpaste... I made a tiny bottlecap full and it seemed pretty sticky but doesn't feel as hard as glass like you say. Is it waterproof?

[sonipitts]

Actually, dumpster diving is NOT a crime in most areas, as long as the dumpster is not on private property, locked or fenced up. YMMV, depending on where you live, but the law generally considers trash to be abandoned by the owner and therefore free game. OTOH, most cardboard storage dumpsters are going to be on store property. So ask first, and leave the place at least as clean as you found it, if not more so.

[flamekiller]

This. For example, LE can look through your trash without a warrant once you put it on the curb. By the same token, if the cardboard bin isn't in an area that's off limits to the general public, you're more than likely good to go.

That said, to avoid any problems, just ask the store.

[hardlec]

There is a product called PC Petrifier that is designed to restore dry rot. When applied over paper or cardboard, it makes the cardboard much sturdier. In the Victorian era, Boiled Linseed oil was used to reinforce paper machie. I'd like to know more about either, but I really like the idea of using cardboard. What is the cost ratio to wood when all the glue is taken into account?

[Sequimania]

I've used a product called Wood Hardener on all kinds of weakened/open-grained wood that was either too valuable or difficult to replace. Love it but I think cardboard might soak up an awful lot of this stuff and it isn't cheap.

Boiled linseed oil used to be used as a finish for antiques but I've heard that it isn't recommended any longer. It does have a strong smell that lingers, sometimes for years.

A neuron just fired - Is there a new type of boiled linseed oil on the market that dries faster and has anyone used it?

[avatar_i]

Try going to your local hardware store and look for "HOMER FORMBYS FURNITURE FINISH".
I have been using Formbys for about 30 years in place of boiled linseed oil on anything I do with wood, if I want to have a durable finish.
There is nothing wrong with B.L.O., but Formbys gives you a hard waterproof finish that brings out the grain/colour of the wood, like B.L.O., with a matte varnish-like finish.

[Sequimania]

I've seen this in stores. I usually use a mixture of 1:1:1 mineral spirits, BLO, and denatured alcohol to restore a wood finish. After that any top coat can be used.

I restore antique sewing machines. In the interest of historical authenticity it is generally preferred that BLO is the final finish on the box-case-treadle stand. Unless they are for my own use and then, depending on how accessible they'll be to company, I choose btwn BLO and a satin poly. I've been wiping the poly on with a clean rag and it gives a nice finish.

Thanks for the tip.

[theRIAA]

I guess I paid $8 for flour, but I wasted a lot. I think they have a different starch glue that they use that is much cheaper though. A much sturdier stool could be made from $3 worth of 2x4s.

[precipice]

harika tebrikler..

[rrrmanion]

hard as glass? technically, glass isn't hard, because in fact, glass is a liquid... though this may just be an expression, but i've never heard it.

[chello2k9]

Glass is a liquid....ok.

[rrrmanion]

glass is what's known as a super cooled liquid. if glass was a solid, it would be opaque.. apparently anyway..

[starfox365]

Well, glass is CAPABLE of being a liquid. If it's melted down to extreme temperatures, it becomes like a gooey lava. I've seen glass blown before, and it's quite the site, seeing how pliable glass can be before suddenly becoming a solid to be reckoned with. :3

So, really, glass is a liquid. Until it becomes a solid. Things can change category, just as the 'liquid' form of water is water, and 'solid' is ice, and 'gas' form is mist/steam.
Many things have the range of becoming all three. :D

http://www.glassbirds.com/iittala-glassworks.html

[rrrmanion]

it's called molten glass when it's melted down

[crowd9]

Actually, diamonds are solid and transparent. Glass flows in cosmic time, inciting this age-old debate. For all intents and purposes, glass is a solid (unless you have a century-long slow motion camera), additionally, glass is definitely harder than other substances--hence, it's capability to cut those other substances.

[rrrmanion]

well, i wasn't fussed about rate of flow, but thanks anyways, insightful

[112251919112]

Thats like saying that everything solid is just a super cooled liquid, not a solid,

[Bob_of_Mars]

I'm afraid that is not true. Here, allow a physicist to explain:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Omr0JNyDBI0

[rrrmanion]

well, some say it is, others that it isn't, I like the idea that it is because it's sound cool.

[XTL]

Actually just because a number of people have made a mistake and believe something to be true, when it is not - doesn't make it a type of true.
Or in other words "Endless repetition of a lie - does not make it true"
Just as when people talk trash about you - it doesn't mean its true.

In this case Glass is a solid (when it cools). Many materials are transparent and the video from sixty-symbols (above) explains why.

Glass also has a very special property and its why its called Glass. Generally when materials cool and harden into solids they form regular atomic structures - like Crystals. In fact all metals do this and is why they are called metals. Glasses do not form regular crystal-like structures. Instead their structure is more random and locally connected. This is why it forms sharp edges and irregular shards when it is broken.

Try listening to this explanation. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fk3y_lPr6Q

[redcore4]

could you use water-based varnish to stick the layers together? i have lots of varnish kicking about at home but no glue!

[ArtsyFartsyGirl]

Great ideas, but if I 've got to get sawdust and mix with glue, etc,etc, that would kill the thrill for me. I thought the idea was cardboard, not permanent construction. And yes I know its for added strength and durability, yada,yada! Maybe I'm just too lazy for all that!