HANDS ON
Vacuum Bagging
Creating wooden laminates in your shop
By Mark Chouinard, Eaa 803386
AS A HOMEBUILDER WORKING on a Pietenpol Air Camper, I’ve had
to contemplate a fair amount of woodwork. While some of the solutions are fairly straightforward and easy to resolve, others have
taken a bit of research and have occasionally required me to learn
a new technique, which is one of the best things about homebuilding—the learning. For those familiar with the Air Camper, you know
that many choose to construct the center struts (or cabane struts)
out of wood. These vary in type from solid planks of walnut or
Douglas fir to a combination of types.
After returning from our annual trip to Brodhead, Wisconsin,
a friend and fellow Pietenpol builder, Jim Markle from nearby
Pryor, Oklahoma, suggested that I try vacuum bagging the mate-
rials for my center struts. He had used this process in the past
with excellent results, so I took him up on his offer and prepared
some veneers of Sitka spruce and Brazilian cherry to see how
they would look. The resulting assembly was very solid, straight,
and nice-looking even before varnish was applied. I was so
pleased with the outcome that we started to discuss wooden lift
struts. I did a lot of research and found this to be a suitable
option, so I set up my own vacuum bagging
operation and pressed on. The following
text will describe the necessary equipment
and how easy it is to vacuum bag parts in
your own shop.
