First, I'd like to congratulate all the audiophiles that have built Hedlund horn-speakers. It's hard work! You can take a look at the Hedlund speaker-plan over at Lowther's net-site (www.LowtherLoudspeakers.co.uk). Just look under "cabinets." Well, I did, and I noticed that Jan Hedlund (of Sweden) specified solid wood for the curved panels of the speaker. Believe me, this is the hard way to build those speakers: You are forced to make precision, odd-angle cuts on several parts! Even with a lifetime of woodworking experience, it is easy to make mistakes with those cuts! Now, if you are contemplating this kind of project, I suggest that pick up an issue of Wooden Boat magazine and take a look the many examples of boats built with wood-veneers (esp. kayaks and canoes)! The boat-building process involved is called cold-molding. Below is a description of how it is done. Cold-molding with West System epoxy: In this technique, you use an Arrow T-32 Staple-Gun Tacker with 3/16" (or 1/4") thin-wire staples to temporarily fasten 1/16" wood-veneers to the ribs of the boat until the West System epoxy dries out. You keep adding plies until you reach the desired thickness. That's it, and it's easy! Why 1/16" veneers? Well, 1/32" is the standard thickness for furniture. However, for boat-building, 1/32" takes too long--you go twice as fast with 1/16"! You might say: I'll go for 1/8" veneer to finish faster! Well, it doesn't work too well because 1/8" veneer doesn't bend as well as 1/16" veneer. Actually, the 1/8" thickness is considered wood, not veneer! So 1/16" is a must for curved panels, and 1/8" may be used for straight panels. Personally, I went crazy searching for those thicknesses. Yes, Constantine's has them, but they don't specialize in these. So here is a source for 1/16" veneer and 1/8" wood: Certainly Wood......tel (716) 655-0206 11753 Big Tree Road Route 20A East Aurora, NY 14052 Why West System epoxy? It's waterproof! Remember, moisture causes movement in wood. So epoxy eliminates that problem completely. Another plus is the superior strength of the bond between the plies of veneers--it will last an eternity! BTW, TAD-Pioneer uses epoxy to glue their wood horns. Information on cold-molding: I got my info from the March/April 1986 issue of Fine Woodworking magazine. "Cold Molded Cradle," an article by Larry Hendricks, explains the process in detail. I imagine you can also find info in Wooden Boat magazine. Or you can contact Taunton.com, the publishers of Woodworking magazine to inquire about cold-molding books. I hope all this helps. Although I like the Hedlund, I'm really smitten by Carfrae's Little Big Horn (www.carfrae.com). Both are difficult to build. However, I have no doubts that cold-molding is the way to go! My best regards to all, Gariver
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