About Our Bentwood Rings

What is a Bentwood Ring?

The term “bentwood” refers to a traditional method in woodworking to form wood into curved shapes. A piece of wood is first steamed to the point it is pliable. It is then quickly bent and clamped into the desired shape using a form or template while it is allowed to dry and cool. Once it has dried, the wood will retain the shape of the form. This technique has been used for decades to create furniture and other wooden works of art. Another technique used to bend wood is called bent lamination. The process begins by cutting a piece of wood into multiple thin strips. Glue is then applied between each layer, creating a multiple layer “wood and glue sandwich”. While the glue is still wet, the “wood sandwich” is clamped into a curved form. Once the glue has dried and the piece is removed from the form, it will retain the desired curve. Both of these methods create extremely strong and elegant curves from an otherwise straight piece of wood.

Kingwood with Turquoise

Our Bentwood Rings are handcrafted using a combination of both of these traditional woodworking techniques. We start by steaming a thin piece of wood until it bends easily. The amount of steaming required will vary between wood species due to the differing characteristics of each species. Once the strip of wood is pliable, we quickly bend it around a form and clamp it in place. After it has dried and cooled, we are left with a loose spiral of wood that is ready to be formed into a ring. Next, we begin to slowly wrap the strip around another form. As we wrap around, overlapping it on itself, a strong adhesive is applied between each layer. This adhesive not only bonds the layers together, but it also soaks into the pores of the wood, adding even more strength as it hardens. The number of overlapping wraps will vary depending on the natural strength of each species of wood as well as the thickness of the strip. We typically try to keep the thickness of our rings to a minimum, as we find they wear more comfortably that way, while still maintaining the structural integrity of the ring.

Once the basic shape of the ring is crafted, we begin a meticulous sanding and shaping process which includes smoothing over the edges and bringing the ring to the desired width. At this point, if an inlay is to be applied, we hand cut the channel(s) around the circumference of the ring. The inlay is then set by hand into the channel(s). A final, multi-step smoothing process is then complete in preparation for the finish.

The finish we use is a hard, durable and waterproof acrylic finish. We apply between 10-15 thin layers of this finish to each ring, inside and out. These multiple thin layers allow us to create an extremely smooth finish, while enhancing and adding depth to the grain of the wood. After polishing your ring to a high gloss shine, the final step is to apply a natural buffing wax to add another layer of protection.