I’ve had the materials for a couple of years to do a project just like this, just never got around to it. When I came across this guy’s website and video tutorial making a bent laminated guitar holder, I had to give it a shot.
You’re most familiar with flat plywood, but plywood can be made in all kinds of shapes. The famous Charles and Ray Eames designers showed the world how far plywood could be bent to their will (yes… yes I just wrote that, sorry).
To make bent plywood, there’s a variety of methods, but typically you have at least one mould made from wood, metal, or MDF. Then you’ll use very thin sheets of wood called veneer. Coat the wood with glue and lay multiple layers on the mould and apply pressure until the glue dries. To apply pressure some designs use a positive mould and a negative mould and sandwich the veneer sheets between them. You could also just use clamps like the guy in the the links above, or you could do what I did and use a vacuum bag to get the pressure of the atmosphere to get in all the nooks and crannies.
I don’t have a real vacuum bagging system, not that you have to spend too much to get one. I already had a Ziploc food saver vacuum sealer I’d never used. It came with 3 small bags to get you started, and I only used one.
My first inclination for making the mould was to use my Xcarve CNC to mill out the design, but I’m kind of pissed off at my CNC workflow right now so I skipped this. It is much faster to just cut some MDF by hand. I started by cutting a template for the design out of cardboard to test the angles and lengths I would need. I then traced the side profile of the design on some MDF and cut it out on my bandsaw. I needed the mould to be about 3 inches wide so I cut 4 of these rough designs and glued and clamped them overnight.
The next day, I cut the now solid block on my bandsaw. This didn’t go as planned because my bandsaw blade wasn’t tight enough (I think) and I ended up with a not consistently 90-degree edge on my critical radius of the mould. This meant I’d have to do a lot of sanding to try to even it out.
I mounted the mould in my workmate and went at it with the beltsander. Of course always wear a dust mask working with wood, and at least a half-face respirator with NIOSH100 particle filters (NOT just vapor filters!) and goggles when working with MDF. (Reference from someone who knows a bit about safety). MDF is a blend of sawdust and god-knows-what nasty chemicals in the glue. Limit your exposure to it, and try to be in an outside environment. Attach a shop vac to your tools, clean up any dust in the shop and be sure to run your HEPA filter to clear the air of particulates for any MDF work or and fine sanding, etc.
Once I got the approximate lengths from the mould, I cut the veneer. I had 12 square foot pack of Sauers & Company walnut veneer which happened to be about 6 inches wide. I was able to fudge my measurements so that splitting the sheet in the middle on half of my cuts gave me two pieces I could use for a uke holder. Guitar holders will need to be wider and you’ll likely have a bit of waste when ripping with the grain. Keep these offcuts for other future projects though, seriously make a bangle bracelet or ring or something if you can’t think of anything else. I only used a single sheet from my supply which gave me enough material to make 2 uke holders. When cutting, you should make sure you cut with the grain for half of the sheets and then across the grain for the other half. The criss-cross grain gives plywood its flexibility and strength.
I used an exacto blade to cut my sheets. I ended up with 8 sheets total which measured roughly 5.5″ x 2.75″ each. Again, 4 sheets had the grain running longways, the other 4 had the grain running their shortest dimension. This veneer is somewhat fragile and liked to split in places I didn’t intend, so I had to be very careful with it and cut or score with a metal straight edge.
The sheets of veneer with the grain running longways did not want to bend around my form, so I did what any idiot would do and tossed them into a bowl of hot water first. They immediately curled and I could no longer tell which side was the “good” side to show the best grain detail. This did allow the sheets to easily bend around my tight radiused curve on the mould without splitting or breaking though.
Since I was going to be making a giant mess with glue of any type, I’ve learned to lay down a good foundation of wax paper to protect my working surface (countertop in this case). TIp: If the wax paper wants to curl up and not lay flat, simply rub a wet rag on the counter first. the water’s tension will make the paper adhere to the countertop. A note of caution. The glue will bead up and roll off this and spill all over the floor if you aren’t careful. so make sure to keep it contained.
I also covered my mould in wax paper to prevent sticking, but next time I’m just going to use Johnson’s paste wax. This stuff is good for just about every thing as well but works great for mould release in fiberglass and plywood projects, repels glues, protects wood, and won’t leave additional crease marks in your design like the wax paper can.
I took the nicest piece of long-grained veneer from the bowl of warm water and coated it with glue. This will be the inside piece, facing the user. Then I started layering all 8 pieces , applying glue between each layer and making sure to alternate grain direction each time. I also wanted to end with grain running length-wise so I saved the second best looking piece for this.
When I was done building the stack, I laid it on the mould, placed it in the vacuum bag and hit the “Vacuum and seal” button. The Ziplock device sicked out all the air in about 20 seconds or so and during that time I frantically smoothed pieces and wedged them how I wanted. When it is done, it heat-seals the bag. I’m not going to lie, I had to cut the bag, reposition the stack and do it again. I was luck in that my mould was small and fit in the bag with some extra room. I cut it open straight across and reused the same bag.
This is how it sat for a full 24 hours which thought was plenty of time. Heck, this guy built a longboard using vacuum bags and only let it dry 8 hours. I was having no luck with that. The glue was still just as thin as when I put it on there. So I called the woodcraft store and asked for advice. The recommendation I got was that putting the sheets in water to loosen up the fibers added way too much water to the situation. Honestly, I think it was a combination of that and the glue I used which was Titebond II extended wood glue, which was recommended to me by another guy at Woodcraft which takes longer to dry anyway. (I was originally going to use this pack of veneer to make acoustic guitar sides which would require a long working time for the glue). Really though I can’t figure out how the glue is supposed to dry if it’s in an airtight container. Isn’t the bottle an airtight container and that’s why it’s not all solid when you buy it? Where’s the moisture supposed to go? Next time I’ll maybe throw in some desiccant packs under there to soak up the moisture from the glue. After more research, the moisture apparently soaks into the MDF. Not directly because of the wax paper, but indirectly. There are a few factors that control the glue drying (depending on the glue or epoxy). One main contributor is temperatur. Using a heating pad or electric blanket is often recommended.
After a full day and a half with no change in glue consistency anywhere in the bag, I wrapped duct tape around the form tightly to try to keep its shape, then cut the bag open on both sides to allow the air in. After a day or so of additional drying time I cut it out. I thought the wax paper wouldn’t stick to the veneer, but I was wrong. It stuck pretty good and I had a tough time peeling it off, so I ended up sanding it off. Also, the back side came out looking pretty good except it had the webbed texture of the vacuum bag in glue relief that I had to sand off. It also STILL hadn’t cured fully and it was still quite pliable, with the veneer separating if I tried to bend it. Looking at the angle of the holder, I realized that as it was, it would never be a good hook shape to hold the guitar given the mould I had and a little springback in the wood since it hadn’t fully cured yet. So I cut a half-inch dowel in half and stuck it in the crease and put the stack of veneers back into tension for another day. I clamped it this time and added some water-thin CA glue (superglue) to some of the loose veneers in the middle of the stack. I also had to superglue a few strips of veneer that just 
couldn’t handle the bend and had split.
After all this it was finally dry. I went about sanding it. Sanding interior radiuses is a nightmare, so do yourself a favor and but a nice round foam sanding block and make sure to never buy cheap sandpaper. I used 3M cause I had it, but a rule of thumb is that almost any yellow (don’t use black) sandpaper with a P rating will be good. There are two different grit rating systems for sandpaper and the P rating is the european one. It has higher regulations and gives much more consistent results. Also, 180P grip is not the same as 180 CAMI or just 180 grit You should be looking at the FEPA/ISO standard, which is the P rating. This is printed on the back of the paper. And I recommended against black sandpaper because it it to be used in wetsanding metals typically. It is made of silicon carbide and can stain wood with carbon dust that will show up in your final finish if you aren’t careful.
You can see here how rough the hanger is at this point. You can also see some separated veneers. Again, i hit those with water-thin superglue which is great because it wicks its way into every crevice (again apply this on top of wax paper or you’re going to have a bad time…). I used small clamps to hold these edges tight until it was dry. I actually waited overnight, but could have started earlier. You might want to get some activator for the CA glue to speed up the drying process. Even overnight when I sanded I could smell when I hit a pocket of wet stuff.
The pic below shows the hanger with the edges cleaned up on the bandsaw a bit in comparison to the cardboard template prototype. 
I laid out the decorative curves for the cuts on the bandsaw using sticky remnants of sandpaper as a guide. I cur one side, the traces it on some paper for the other side. It can never be perfect because the mould wasn’t straight and I can only cut so much off the edges since it is already pretty narrow.
I also used the bandsaw to cut the center notch for the actual instrument to hand from. This was a bit of measurement then trial and error as I have several ukuleles of different neck widths and I wanted a universal hander. I have to say tat due to the saw’s limitations and the extreme curve of the piece, I think I was able to get the best result possible. Sand again with 180P and 320P. 320 is overkill on the smooth finish, 220P is best for this, but I don’t have any on hand.
Here you can see the prototype cardboard with the final product. It;s a little wonky and twisted, but it will work. Now on to finishing. The inspiration designs were all glossy, but I can’t stand a glossy finish on wood. Seems too fake and plastic to me. All my instruments (save for my electrics guitars which are painted) have a nice satin finish. This is also a test of the Wipe-On poly I’m using or the Ukulele kit I’m building. (More on this in a later post or series of posts i’ll likely forget to update a link here for).
The first coat of poly is a light sealing coat. Wait until it completely dries and is no longer tacky, hit again lightly with the 320 and then do a heavier coat. Do this in a ventilated area, and be careful with the wrags you use. They will spontaneously combust as they dryl it’s best to lay them out flat on your driveway or in the yard until the poly cures hard on the rags, then throw them away.never store them in a pile in your garage or house or even nearby. Don’t believe me? Google it to see many stories of people who were careless and now they are homeless.
Again,wear gloves when using chemicals, as well as well ventilated areas and safety glasses. You’ll do one thinner seal coat, let it dry then come back in a few hours and do a light sanding, and thicker coat Repeat once or twice more to your desired effect. A satin poly will never be too shiny, so if you want that look, make sure you buy the gloss finish wipe-on poly.
On the very end results I added some foam padding with rubber cement to the edges of the hook as to not mar the ukes, and of course screwed it to the wall. Works and looks great!
Now was it work all the time and effort rather than just buying one? Hell yea it was. Plus now I have all the materials to make as many as I want and get fancy with them with inlays and such. This one was a learning process. I already know what I’d like to improve.
