A visit to the Muenster-based furniture designer Kawentsmann
A daring statement concerning all carpenters out there: It doesn’t always have to be screws and dowels! There are also various adhesives that are perfectly suitable for use in wood craftmanship. Kawentsmann, who is a well-known furniture designer based in Muenster, agrees – and where could you find suitable products better than at the friendly adhesive manufacturer next door? When WEICON and Kawentsmann met, it was obvious straight away: It’s a match!
Yet looking at the wide range of our products, the question is valid: Which adhesives are suitable for woodworking? And what do I do if I want to bond wood to another material – like metal? All this and much more is what we covered in a product training, which took place at Kawentsmann’s impressive workshop.
If you’re interested in adhesives for carpentry or other joinery products, you should definitely read on!
About Kawentsmann
In the beginning, it was just a nice big table in their own four walls. Meanwhile, you can find Kawentsmann furniture everywhere. Whether in your living room at home, the hippest bar in town or the cosy café at the corner – the young team is certainly not lacking work. Founder and owner Maximilian Bayer-Eynck – or just Max, as he prefers – is a well-known face from the German DMAX show „Männer(t)räume“. In the show, the passionate carpenter built rustic “man caves“ along with steel working professional Hasso.
Kawentsmann, just like WEICON, is a true family business. Both his siblings Lisa and Greta joined Max right from the start and he is sure that without the two of them, the furniture designer from Muenster would not be where he’s at today.
What a Kaventsmann!
The name Kaventsmann is a colloquial expression to describe an obese man or a very large item (similar to the English term ‘whopper‘).
Glue instead of screws – a no-go among carpenters?
According to Kawentsmann founder Max, adhesives are still frowned upon by many carpenters. However, he doesn’t really understand why: “We have many projects where screws don’t necessarily make sense. And that’s where adhesives can be a good alternative. It’s exciting to see the many possibilities they offer,“ Max says. And we can only agree with him.
One of the biggest advantages of adhesive bonding is that a greater force can be transferred due to a full-surface application. With screws, dowels or rivets, only a partial force transmission is possible. In addition, the invisible helper in everyday life has a few other tricks in store when it comes to woodworking. Did you know, for example, that cracks in the wood can be filled with a little adhesive? We’ll get back to that in just a moment.
“We have many projects where screws don’t necessarily make sense. And that’s where adhesives can be a good alternative.”
Kawentsmann founder Max
Adhesives for carpentry – versatile use
What exactly are the possibilites adhesives offer for carpentry? That’s what Kawentsmann wanted to learn more about. And that’s why we visited the furniture designer – and brought along all kinds of demo pieces and products. Founder Max and carpenter Tian were eager to listen to the information our application engineer Mike presented.
We’ve compiled some of the most interesting training and product facts for you below!
Assembly adhesive for wood
Our Fast-Bond Assembly Adhesive is suitable for bonding MDF, wood and chipboards and thus perfect for furniture manufacturing. The adhesive has the huge advantage that push-in joints can be connected in a fracture-proof way due to a clamp fit. The adhesive also bonds veneer edging in a high-strength and moisture-proof way. Expert tip from our application engineer Mike: As the adhesive expands while curing, bracing beforehand is important.
Elastic bonding of different materials
You would like to bond wood to metal or wood to plastic? With our Flex 310 M Adhesives, that is not a problem. In addition, all products from this range cure elastically. So they’re perfect for wood, which always keeps moving.
Filling wood cracks
With some of our 2-component adhesives – whether epoxy or polyurethane systems – thin cracks in the wood can be sealed or larger surfaces can be filled.
With the Easy-Mix PU-240, for example, you can close expansion cracks in the wood.
You’d like to see another example? No problem: Our Epoxy Minute Adhesive can be easily mixed with grinding dust. That way, you can match the adhesive perfectly to the colour of the wood. A little fun fact on the side: We actually tried that for the forst time ourselves, when we were visiting Kawentsmann. Even as adhesive experts, we always keep learning! And there’s nothing more valuable for us than gaining new experiences right there along with the users of our products.
Casting larger surfaces
You would like to fill a larger surface, for example when building a trendy epoxy resin table yourself? Then we can recommend our Casting Resin Plus 90 – a casting compound, which cures crystal-clear and enables layer thicknesses up tp 90 mm.
In this video, we show you how exactly you can close expansion cracks in the wood:
Even more carpentry products
In addition to the adhesives mentioned above, Kawentsmann has filled his workshop with several other WEICON products for carpentry and welding. Perhaps the list will inspire you for your own woodworking projects.
Welding, by the way, because Kawentsmann not only uses wood to create his designer furniture, but also metal. So frequently, in fact, that a welding shop has recently moved to the company premises. So as you can see: Kawentsmann is not a small crafting workshop, but an innovative company set for growth.
Adhesives and Sealants
Flex 310 M Crystal
Speed-Flex MS-Polymer
Easy-Mix PU-240 Polyurethane Adhesive
Epoxy Minute Adhesive
Casting Resin Plus 90
Easy-Mix S 50 Epoxy Adhesive
Repair Stick Wood
Repair Stick Steel
Windscreen Adheisve
Mounting Tape Transparent
Mounting Tape Grey
WEICONLOCK AN 302-43 Threadlocking
WEICON WR
Contact VA 300 Cyanoacrylate Adhesive
Technical Sprays
Regional cooperation
And the moral of the story? We are pleased that the Kawentsmann team will continue to use our products for their unique pieces of furniture – so there’s a little bit of WEICON in some of them.
Thanks to the close proximity, we can provide quick neighbourly help at any time and, in return, show the world once again that our products are not only suitable for industrial use, but also for crafts, households and hobbies. Thanks to this valuable cooperation, we have access to authentic application material that we can share with all DIY enthusiasts out there.
We are looking forward to the regional cooperation among fellow Muenster-based locals and hope that we could also provide the carpenters and woodworkers among you with some new inspiration!
Written by Annabelle Kreft
