Make Furniture With Cardboard! by Creativeman
Contest WinnerFeatured
A small end or occasional table is always handy to have around. so I decided to make this project and will enter it in the Gorilla glue contest as well.
 
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Step 1: Draw The Design

P7240011.JPG
I just do a rough drawing, saves time, and no need for a CAD program.
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ozkr says: Mar 22, 2013. 10:40 PM
Impressive stuff!
rockerchandru says: Feb 7, 2013. 6:20 PM
interesting
Feelthbrz says: Sep 24, 2012. 5:14 PM
This is very clean! It looks great.
Feelthbrz says: Sep 24, 2012. 5:11 PM
If you cut the cardboard pieces a little wider, you can put a screw through the center point of the circle and rotate the unit as the blade cuts a perfect arc. Totally worth it if you're making several things that all need to be identical. The bandsaw would also be powerful enough to cut through quite a few layers of laminated cardboard, with an identical cut on all of the pieces together.
Feelthbrz says: Sep 24, 2012. 5:09 PM
If you cut the cardboard pieces a little, you can put a screw through the center point of the circle and rotate the unit as the blade cuts a perfect arc. Totally worth it if you're making several things that all need to be identical. The bandsaw would also be powerful enough to cut through quite a few layers of laminated cardboard, with an identical cut on all of the pieces together.
misfit7707 says: Aug 28, 2012. 7:51 AM
I love this idea! Inexpensive, and readily available, too. A pessimist might view it as a fire hazard. Any thoughts?
raviolikid says: Mar 3, 2012. 11:24 AM
Beautiful! I love doing things with cardboard, but I've never come up with something that would fit right in with decor! Congratulations on a great 'ible!
Sam the Wizer says: Mar 30, 2011. 6:47 PM
Brilliant! I have a small studio apartment and am poor, and think I might employ your techniques to build a large room divider/shelving unit. My only fear is that it might be a fire hazard to have such a large cardboard structure in such a small space. I think if I go with fire retardant paint I should be ok. Not that I expect to have open flames or heat sources near this structure, but it would help to put my mind at ease.
HandyMummy says: Jan 8, 2012. 5:20 AM
The answer to fire safety as well as strength is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_silicate
1 part to 5 parts of water will do ;-)
deathbyvolt says: Jun 17, 2011. 11:57 AM
lol i wonder if anyone has used this method to make a guitar?
Schober says: Jul 16, 2011. 8:50 AM
Making a guitar out of cardboard like this would be next to impossible. You would have a hard time making the cardboard strong enough to support the tension of the strings. Not without some extremely well designed supports on the bridge and (assuming you are thinking of using a wood neck) where the neck meets the body. Even then the tension might still be too great to keep the body from folding over on itself.
reptedjess says: Jul 17, 2011. 1:51 PM
What if you used epoxy between the layers?
Cobalt59 says: Apr 21, 2011. 10:21 PM
Lol. CAD stands for Communal Arduous Duties. LOL.
bigjeff5 says: Jun 17, 2011. 10:11 AM
I googled CAD - I could not find "Communal Arduous Duties" (I got bored after four pages).

By far the most common result was related to "Computer Aided Design", followed by the comic "Ctrl+Alt+Delete", followed by the Canadian Dollar, followed by the Welsh word "cad".

In other words, I do not think that word means what you think it means.
Cobalt59 says: Jul 10, 2011. 10:51 AM
*sigh* It was a joke.
jasmineconrad says: Jun 17, 2011. 8:31 AM
No it doesn't...
ddarkeststar says: Jun 19, 2011. 10:08 PM
Superb. I think I'm going to be looking for a cardboard mine now :-).
MandingaRes says: Jun 17, 2011. 4:49 PM
Esta idea es excelente!! Justamente hoy me regalaron varios empaques de unas motocicletas alemanas que están compuestos por un esqueleto de madera (que ya tiene destino) y todo cubierto por un inmenso cartón, para el cual todavía no encontraba utilidad y me da mucha pena tirar a la basura.Tengo suficiente cartón para copiar tu diseño (o algo similar) y me sobra para hacer algún gabinete para guardar todo tipo de cosas...
Prometo fotografiar el proceso de fabricación de los muebles y mostrarlos con mucho orgullo. Muchas gracias por compartir la idea!!
Creativeman (author) says: Jun 17, 2011. 5:04 PM
Gracias!
star_above_the_clouds says: Jun 17, 2011. 2:51 PM
This is absolutely amazing! I could not believe that this was made of cardboard! Thanks for sharing, now I know what to do with all the extra cardboard that is laying around my house. (:
seabee890 says: Jun 17, 2011. 2:11 PM
It has probably already been said, but I think that I would have more confidence in his hightstand than some of that ICEA (spelled intentionally wrong to avoid slander or copyright violations) Beautiful project.
javajunkie1976 says: Jun 17, 2011. 1:38 PM
That end table with the lamp is CARDBOARD??!! Seriously?? C'mon, what kind of wood did you use? Both thumbs up on this one!!
Kryptonite says: Sep 17, 2009. 3:26 AM
That's amazing, you can still just see the small corrugates in the picture, I almost couldn't believe my eyes that it was cardboard. I definitely know what I'm pimping my house out with. Any ideas in terms of strength for largest size? For example, how large was the top of your little table, how far apart were the supports and how much can it carry? Not that you'd want to try break it just see how strong, but still...
karlpinturr says: Jan 22, 2011. 3:37 PM

Your main problem, strength-wise, is that the corrugations cannot take a point-weight. Basically, they are the first point of contact for anything, and your top layer will collapse, despite (or because of) the number of layers beneath it.

A spread weight is better, but can still be affected where the 'top' meets its supports.

I have found that brown (wrapping/parcel) paper over a layer of wallpaper-paste (essentially creating Papier Mache) can add strength

bigjeff5 says: Jun 17, 2011. 10:57 AM

You can significantly increase the point weight (and spread weight) strength with nothing but cardboard, kraft  tape, and glue, but it is tedious.

Instead of using flat pieces of cardboard for the horizontal sections, cut the cardboard across the grain at the thickness you desire, then glue the individual pieces together end-up.  Once done, use the kraft tape (or the parcel paper) to cover the entire piece - wrapping the tape parallel to the vertical pieces.  Make sure it is nice and tight.  Note that the tape (or paper) is critical to the integrity of the shelf, and it is important to have pieces of tape that wrap all the way around the shelf.

This provides incredible stiffness to the pieces by simply reconfiguring the grain in a more ideal direction.  In order for an object to break the table it must be heavy enough to tear the tape by tension only, which is pretty difficult.  You could probably break it by pounding on it with something, but less than that wouldn't likely cut the mustard.  Basically, if you can tie one end of craft tape to the object and lift it, it won't deform the shelf.  You'd probably be surprised what you can lift with that tape, and in most cases you'll have four or five pieces of tape resisting, not just one.

You can do this one better by placing another layer of cardboard on the top and bottom - again with the grain parallel to the vertical strips.  This is more difficult to plan out but is a little less tedious to build and is even stronger than just the tape - and it looks better.
CyborgGold says: Sep 6, 2010. 2:44 AM
you could make it pretty strong, much stronger than it is already in fact, by adding some fiberglass to it. You might even be able to make patio furniture using the fiberglass method, layering the card and fiberglass should provide enough support.
Kryptonite says: Sep 17, 2010. 4:44 AM
Yes, but that's not using just cardboard! Maybe I'm just a perfectionist.
reptedjess says: Jul 17, 2011. 1:49 PM
That's being a purist, not a perfectionist. Maybe if you can use an epoxy finish instead of a varnish. That would definitely make the entire project stronger
spanner1969 says: Jan 27, 2011. 5:36 PM
Whilst what I am about to suggest does not constitue 'just cardboard' I would like to say that a really thin wood veneer on top would make the functionality (strength) of the top much better in terms of taking on point weight.

You could use really cheep 2mm ply wood or you might even be able to recycle some wood scraps from somewhere.

So in essence this is a fantastic instructable which I will attempt to make this weekend if LOML (aka SWMBO) lets me have some shed time by my self! LOL.

Keep up the great work.
JeonLab says: Jun 17, 2011. 10:01 AM
This is great inctructable. Thank you for sharing your idea. :-)
Creativeman (author) says: Jun 17, 2011. 10:33 AM
You're welcome!
quan_chi says: May 26, 2011. 2:53 PM
Me gusto, quedo muy bien

Salu2
husamwadi says: May 24, 2011. 11:01 AM
now if only we could build card board airplanes with engines....OH YEAH, NEW PROJECT!
Cobalt59 says: Feb 26, 2011. 4:19 PM
Simple CAD tool? Do you even know what CAD stands for?
apapp77 says: Apr 14, 2011. 9:10 PM
You know that was sarcastic, right?
janetsellers08 says: Mar 27, 2011. 5:43 PM
These are superb instructions - thanks so much.

@ Cobalt: chill out. Nobody is worried about CAD...
Yotta_Byte says: May 24, 2011. 12:50 PM
CAD also stands for Computer Aided Design... so there is definitely no need to worry! :)
janetsellers08 says: Mar 27, 2011. 5:54 PM
Thanks for this. Very nice looking, too. In college, I used liquor boxes ( they have the partitions which makes the box stronger) and made beds and sofas out of them with a plywood top. 6 of those boxes with plywood on top & foam will hold 2 people easily. We just covered them with a clothe/dust ruffle and the sheets and blankets and voila.
Creativeman (author) says: Mar 28, 2011. 12:12 PM
hey, thanks for the comments jantsellers08! You piqued my interest so I checked out your blog-cool. Nice to know there are some somewhat kindred spirits operating out there, and apparently you do it big time. That makes your comments and interest that much more special. Thanks again, and your quip about who artists are, and why they do what they, i.e., JUST BECAUSE, allows me to validate my art, however humble it may be.
santis308 says: Feb 5, 2011. 3:07 PM
did you use school glue? would school glue work? does it make that much of a difference? any help would be greatly appreciated!
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