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Bendy Birch Interior Pictures anyone?
Posted:
Mon Feb 12, 2007 7:29 pmby Mike Angeles
Hey Folks, after messing with a few sheets of Luan on the interior, I think I’m going to order some Bendy Birch from Boulter Lumber, Who would have thought you could have Plywood delivered to your door, Pre-cut, In a Tube? Ready for stain! Bah, Crazy days. Any how, I’m interested if anyone that has used it for their Interior Ceiling and might have Pictures in their gallery? Stained? Side interior walls might be a hunter green, Exterior Hunter green as well with Aluminum on the top, Not too sure how it will look but. We shall see, Paint is paint after all,
Thanks,
Mike
PS few updated Pics in the gallery, if'n your bored
Posted:
Mon Feb 12, 2007 7:45 pmby Miriam C.
MNOHO, I used 1/8 Birch and didn't have a problem with it. Bendy shouldn't look too different inside than outside. Ira has bendy on his roof.
Posted:
Mon Feb 12, 2007 7:52 pmby madjack
...we used bendy on the interior w/a pickled white stain...takes a goodly amount of sanding to get to show nicely...
clicky here
madjack
Posted:
Mon Feb 12, 2007 8:53 pmby Woodbutcher
I used the 1/8" Baltic Birch. Very easy to work with and reasonably priced.
Posted:
Mon Feb 12, 2007 10:32 pmby paddlehead
Mike,
We also used 1/8" Baltic Birch, for inner and outer wall. Inner wall had ≈16 1/2" radius. No problems at all. For an even tighter bend, we used it on the tongue box which had 8" radius. No problems bending it around that. Price in our area was between $13 & $14 per 5x5 sheet. See pics below.
Don
Posted:
Mon Feb 12, 2007 10:39 pmby halfdome, Danny
Bender Board is generally considered a substrate and not a finish plywood. I use it all the time to make radius reception desk walls and cover it with plam (Formica) or paper backed veneer. I have to do an extensive amount of filling with Bondo for it to sand smooth enough so as not to telegraph through the finish sheets of veneer. I have found Bender Board to flake off on many occasions as it is very soft. In my opinion the perfect ceiling plywood would be 1/8" Baltic Birch. It takes a nice finish with some sanding and bends very nicely. Bender Board bends lumpy and Baltic Birch bends smooth. 
Danny
Posted:
Tue Feb 13, 2007 5:02 amby BrianB
Don,
I've never even tried to get 1/8" to bend at that tight of a radius. Did you wet or steam it first?
Posted:
Tue Feb 13, 2007 6:03 amby paddlehead
Brian,
No need to wet or steam. The Baltic birch bent just fine as is, across the grain. The 1/8" stuff is 5 ply, bends easily and finishes beautifully. You could easily roll it into a 16" tube.
Don
Posted:
Tue Feb 13, 2007 9:02 amby Ira
I ordered from Boulter, but I got 1/4" instead of 1/8" because they couldn't get the 1/8" in stock. Here are my experiences, and that of another folk here.
1) The 1/4" won't bend into a tube, so they have to ship it flat. Make SURE they have the 1/8" in stock to ship to you, or they will kill you on the shipping for the 1/4". (They didn't charge me anything extra for my out-of-stock experience, because the guy was headed to Vegas and in a good mood.) Also, I had no problem bending the 1/4" for my profile.
2) I believe Tom Swenson here had a little issue with the thinness of the 1/8"--that it was too "wavy" for him in spots. (Maybe this is what Danny is referring to about bendy board, but what Tom and I ordered from Boulter is indeed called Bendy Birch.) In other words, with spars every 12", as an example, it was wavy. If he had them every 6", he wouldn't have had a problem--but who does THAT!?
So be careful in this regard.
3) I loved the way my roof came out, spar varnish only, but the cabin ceiling came out like total sh**. There are two possibilities why this happened, but one of them I know to be true for sure:
The true factor is that I am a total spastic, and it was REAL hard for me to varnish and then orbital-sand the thing between coats with the ceiling installed and working in that tight space. And I'm basically a MIDGET--only 5' 2". A normal size guy would kill himself in there.
I was afraid to do the varnishing flat first on sawhorses, for fear of later cracking when finally installing it. I thought the varnish would stiffen it up, making the bend impossible without cracking. I later found out that this is not necessarily true. Also, if you're going to stain, and then use a one-coat poly coating after it's installed, you're cool in this respect.
The factor I'm NOT sure about or remember too well is whether or not BOTH sides of the bendy are equally finishable!!! As Danny said, it's not a finish wood, yet for my standards, my roof came out great. But the cabin ceiling came out awful, and I don't know if THIS is the reason--especially combined my with my sub-par skills. Perhaps if I put 110% effort it would have been okay, but that's too much work for a guy like me. And since it will only bend one way (am I remembering this correctly?), you don't have a choice on which side to finish.
So I wound up covering my my cabin ceiling with tiki bamboo--and I just lie to everyone that I planned it that way.