Cardboard Lumber

Step 10 Build!!!

Use your imagination! This is an entire new building material that you have to figure out how to use.
To further strengthen your projects, you can seal the whole thing in wheatpaste like i did in the previous step.

Ideas for using this stuff, suggest anything you want to add:
Scapile (my original inspiration for all of this)
A cardboard playhouse made by Piersg
a MASSIVE amount of completed woodwork projects (search with the "view more tags" link)
lots of lumber plan blueprints
Andy Lee coffee table
nice table design
cool sitting bench
another bench
and another
snap together table from instructables
Pano Chair

Please rate and comment...
But Note:
Can we stop talking about the environment guys? I wasen't really trying to make any point that this would help the environment anywhere in my instructable. If you have easy access to cardboard, flour and power tools, then you might be interested in making this. Go ahead, try it and tell us what happened. If you don't like this idea, then please suggest better alternatives. Please calm down the comments on your assumptions about how cardboard and wheatpaste effect the environment.

Comments

[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.

[precipice]

harika tebrikler..

[kgrove-1]

For everyone saying just use wood, that is for ppl who dont care about what materials they need just the end project which is fine. I, on the other hand am in a competition to make the most epic house out of cardboard only to win a cruise and to help raise homeless awareness so this is perfect!!!!

[pdub77]

I would love to see what you are doing and any progress you care to report. Message me if you are willing. I am very curious.

[1234Becka]

I love the idea...save big with cardboard!! Even wood don't last long if you don't waterproof it every year. I been using cardboards for my solar cooker and solar dehydrator. Hmmm...I guess you use wood screws when you make a table or bench. And it should hold up a few years if you waterproof your projects.

[a4great]

how do you make wood screws???!!!?? (instructable?)

[scarabeetle101]

 It's just a normal metal screw, designed for wood. Not a screw made of wood.

[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.

[jolujo]

This is a fun idea and could be usefull for temporary needs such as set designers for theater... no wait .... they already know this ...so.... Not to be cruel but, What a waste of perfectly EXPENSIVE GLUE, not to mention green house gasses and the BTU's of energy taken up to manufacture the glue only to be used to fabricate a product that will fail and fall apart in a short time. Have you considered using your table saw to rip pieces of waste wood from pallets (many are constructed of VERY dry hardwood) and put your glue to good use by laminating together strucural components that will actually last for years. Pallets are not the only source... construction sites routinly discard vast amounts of douglas fir and other scraps that could be put to use with your process. Great Idea! Wrong Application.

[DeanThompson]

trying to justify being "green" or "environmental" should never include pallets! they should not even be entering North America!
http://www1.american.edu/TED/beetle2.htm
Now you know.

[poperol]

dude, it's wheatpaste, you cannot get a more eco-friendly glue than thinly-diluted, half-cooked flour. well, maybe hoof glue, but that's animal cruelty

[jolujo]

would you really want wheat paste dried and mixed with cardboard any where near your home? Have you considered INSECTS? They love that stuff.... good luck with your termite infestation...and the ants.... and the wasps.....and wood bees and on and on....... not to mention the other critters that will show up as soon as the rain starts falling

[a4great]

hmm mabye not so good for sheds or closed spaces but what if you added insect repellent to the wheat pase (or cardboard).....

[Adam LongWalker]

You could add borax to the mixture. Heard of this material being used in papercrete for fire retardant and insecticide properties.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borax

[imrobot]

umm what? expensive glue? BTU? Pallets? douglas fir? umm... I think i do not understand your rant. please clarify i

[smutjeuk]

I use pallets regular and have you ever thought about all the NAILS and other METAL bits that are in them? I was lucky that I only destroyed my saw (needed a new one anyway, but that is besides the point) and only because I used the proper protection and did not removed covers etc from my saw that I am still here to tell the tale. In fact I use by now a small cheap handheld metal detector (from eBay via Hong Kong) to make sure that there are no more nasties in. As mentioned before you CAN use different glue but if you offset the production of glue to the usefulness of the recycled cardboard you may find that the cardboard recycling wins by miles. Most of us want to do our bid for the environment and even if you cycle to save on petrol pollution etc you still need rubber tires that in their production give out gasses as well. It is as always that someone has to find a middle way and refreshing ideas like this are better then going out and buy wood etc to build bits and pieces. It is great to see your concern but coming up with alternatives would have been more useful. Peace, we all want the same.

[theRIAA]

It's something different. I have more access to cardboard and flour than free trashed pallets. What about the BTUs it takes to recycle cardboard? I didn't waste anything in my opinion.

[smutjeuk]

Just a tip here for you as I was in need of some cheap wood and a friend past this one on. Go to a local delivery service (UPS DHL etc, you got the idea?) they trash nearly all pallets unless they are blue in colour (there is a deposit on blue pallets!) and plastic pallets. All other pallets are 'scrap' pallets. Look out for pallets from Asia/Singapore as they even use exotic wood to make their pallets and are great for furniture, even for outside. The only pain are the nails that they are use as they sometimes impossible to get out. I just then cut out the middle planks (shorter but still useful). I use the rest or in the winter in an Woodburner and collect the nails after. Just an idea for you how to get hold of pallets. Also a lot of building sides burn even whole sheets of ply or other timber and are in my past experience only to happy for you to come up and help yourself as long as you speak to the side manager first. They see the positive side of recycling and I even got by now a couple of managers that phone me up when they got stuff, one even delivered for free. I always leave either a tip or a 'six pack' for the workers and it works wonders in some cases. Even got tools for free just for a 'six pack'. I find that if you be nice and look after them the definitely look after your needs. Just a tip and keep up the good work.

[DeanThompson]

Ill post this link here to.
http://www1.american.edu/TED/beetle2.htm

[edfel01]

I agree, especially if u used wheat paste instead of glue...

[lotsofglue]

]This is wonderful!!
I have read some sites from France, which building with cardboard is incredibly popular. Yahoo Babelfish is very handy to read the sites.
They do make outside furniture, along with moulding, trim, picture frames, tables and bedroom furniture for children.
This is my project http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=303271.0 the shelf itseld can support 1) a two year old throwing it around and standing on it 2) being thrown in the bath.

This would be very good for hurricane area (where i am) reasons being- sheet rock is insanely priced after a hurricane hits, and a 4 by 8 sheet of plywood ranges 55$ per sheet. Right now it is 35$ for treated. You could texture with flour plaster and then paint, for a fraction of the cost of commerial.
PM me if you want a list of the french sites I have rummaged thru.

[jolujo]

I am sorry for being such a grump. I have been formally chastised by my friends. Please take the positive basics of my suggestions and disregard my "talking from the cuff" perjoatives. It was not meant to insult or degrade. Without this forum and other forums like this, we, all of us, our country, and our identity as the preeminent creators of new and unimaginable technologies will cease to exist.

[yendallisum]

interesting will have to try this one good instructable

[ugocrazy]

I've used this technique before it's amazing. I have some points you might want to consider in your research. You use massive amounts of glue, what i did instead is this: made starch paste, poured it in a painting pan, used a long hair roller and applied the stuff on each layer of cardboard. This is extremely durable, cheap, eco friendly and easy to clean :D As for durability, cardboard is excessively tough when stacked like you did, you dont really need the strength of the glue. The only thing that matthers is that it needs to stay together. "United it stands, divided it falls" :) Cheers!

[Glenn™]

Whats the cost comparison to just buying the lumber you need? The time plus materials to "build" the "wood" to build the item ratio seems to be a little skewed. Maybe I guess if you do it enough you would get faster at it, so anyway, just wondering... =)

[rezman]

I agree with Glenn. Great idea. Really cool. But there is an assumption that your time is worth nothing.

[theRIAA]

Well I'm unemployed and would like to learn more about cardboards' properties and refine my construction skills. Way more fun than sitting around all day watching TV. Even if I had a job, I would still find building these kind of things fun. If everyone always used their money and time efficiently we would have slow advancement and no art. I never said this was cheaper than cheap wood, but it is cheap and importantly, the materials can be obtained from normal living. What if you're in an area that has little access to milled lumber?

[Thenwcp]

Well....if you make about 5 gallons of wheat paste that would be somewhere under five dollars. The cardboard is all free (Grocery stores have tons and tons of it and are usually happy to give it away) so...... hypothetically if you made six 2x4's about six feet long then since the cost of 6 foot 2x4's of cheap wood might be somewhere around 6 or 8 dollars each so.... $36-$48 altogether.... I think $5 sounds much better, unless you're in a hurry, in this case its obviously always faster to just buy the lumber.

[theRIAA]

"cheap" 2x4s here in Washington only cost me about $1 for 8ft, you must be hundreds of miles from trees or something. I just made this because I wanted to. I liked the coolness factor. Even if this procedure isn't used, recycling cardboard to make furniture should be considered by more people. In third world countries, they may not be able to process recyclables and this might be viable. I don't really believe recycling in the US is all that efficient either. It's hard to get a hold of cheap recycled materials because of the nature of recycling, it's expensive.

[Thenwcp]

Okay...with a comment such as yours I will more precise with my answer. You also have to remember Washington is extremely close to the logging industry centers...while there is not much logging in WA itself Idaho which is right next door has a bustling logging industry, not mention Canada which is where the US receives most of its lumber, so.. I do not necessarily live in an area with no trees. I live in South Carolina, a 2x4x6 here costs $5.93 at Ace hardware. Prices do vary by region, and most obviously the type of wood because at my local Lowes a 2'x4'x93" of kiln dried whitewood is about $2.18. Also with one dollar you could still make more than 8ft worth of your 'cardboard lumber' especially with my suggestion of getting the free cardboard from grocery stores. Efficiency of the actual recycling process itself is not the problem, there aren't enough people recycling materials. Basic high school economics, the less there is of something with a demand, the more expensive it will become. More people like to buy recycled than to actually commit to recycling.

[annaliesa!]

I think this is a wonderful idea. One question though; is is weatherproof? (i'm guessing not)

[theRIAA]

nope

[mc_artist]

I bet you could strengthen it even more by pouring the glue into the corrugation and wrapping the other side with wax paper so it didn't leak out. Of course, this would require more glue, but if it's a piece of furniture that you want to last longer, I'd say it's worth it. Also, I find that places like Costco are awesome to get free cardboard at. Just visit about 30 minutes or an hour before they close and make sure that you ask one of the box collectors if it's okay that you take some of their cardboard. I even got one of them to just bring all the cardboard to me so that I could load it in my truck!

[theRIAA]

I would use cardboard putty to level off the outside and then wheatpaste to laminate everything with bonding paper. That would make this very stong, I just wanted to keep the corrugations.

[MillenniumMan]

If you're looking to make this weather resistant, use a clear-coat spray on from rust-o-leum or krylon. Worked great on my MAMEcab control panel after I painted it, made it glossy and resistant to the occasional soda spill(s) And that was the easy to ruin sandboard and not plywood either. Never helped the electronics from soda spills, but oh well...

[cibradley]

This looks great! I just did a papier mache project and scraps of newspaper with wheat paste makes an amazingly sturdy plant pot. I think this would work to make sturdy wall-mounted floating shelves. Thanks!