Off the trailNumber 08Object making

Wood Ripple

A stone hits the water. The panel holds that moment in laminated wood.

Kind: Wall panel
Made with: Laminated plywood, 3-axis CNC
Surface: The grain of the laminations reads as contour lines

A long wooden panel milled into concentric ripples spreading from two points, its laminated layers showing as rings

Object making

Furniture, ceramics and panels from three years in Woodbury's digital fabrication lab. Mostly plywood, clay, and a CNC mill.

The ripples a dropped stone makes last a second. This panel is that second, cut into a block of laminated plywood.

The block is glued up from layers, so when the mill cuts a wave through it, every layer it passes shows as a line. The topography draws its own contours.

Milling the ripples. No sound.

A stack of plywood sheets glued and clamped into a thick block — Glue-up.

The laminated block, its edge showing dozens of layers — The blank.

The CNC head cutting curved passes into the block — On the mill.

Close-up of a freshly milled ridge with sawdust on it — A ridge, mid-cut.

The finished panel standing on end against a wall — Standing.