Lowe's Creative Ideas Blog

Woodworking is all about taking a raw material and creating something new, especially in different shapes and sizes. As woodworkers, we spend a lot of time shaping wood by removing what’s not needed.

But, many projects are created by moving the wood into shape. Bending wood is almost a craft unto itself. Water is often used as a way to do this, either via steam or by simply soaking the wood to weaken the fibers and then secure the wood to a form. Another method is laminating thin strips and clamping them to forms and jigs.

Another method is kerf bending, and it’s a method we’ve used on a couple of Woodworkers projects. Check out the Demilune project, and the Art Deco Vanity Dresser. Both incorporate this technique to create curved fronts for these projects.

It’s a relatively simple process. You are doing nothing more than making a series of cuts that are the width of a saw blade (kerf). Do this across a span on a piece of plywood stock and you have created flexibility.

Now there are a couple of rules. One, you must make the cuts deep enough, but not too deep. In a 3/4-inch sheet of plywood you can slightly cut into the last ply before the veneer ply.

Two, you need to space the cuts properly. About 1/8-inch apart works well.

Three, you can’t bend the plywood too much without taking additional measures. What does this mean? Look at the two projects mentioned above. With the Art Deco Vanity Dresser we‘re doing a very tight bend, so we first remove about 1/3 of the thickness of the wood in the area we’re bending using a dado blade. Doing this keeps the back of the remaining sections of plywood in the bending area from touching each other as the stock is flexed. If those sections were to touch there would be too much force placed on the remaining ply in the kerf cut areas, resulting in visible lines or cracks in the wood.

Four, you need to secure the stock to a form. With the Demilune we’ve created a substructure for the apron and with the dresser we attach the cabinet waterfalls to cleats.

Follow these tips to make successful kerf cuts:

• Make several test cuts first. Practice on scrap plywood to test your technique and get a feel for making these cuts.


• Use your miter fence or a crosscut sled. Go here for a miter gauge fence extension project, and here for plans for a crosscut sled.


• Do not use your rip fence as a guide.


• Handle the stock with care. The plywood isn’t as strong after you’ve made the cuts so you’ll need to carefully move the part. Carry it with the cut side down and don’t bend the stock the opposite way you intend to bend it. You could split the remaining ply.