bending wood

Hi,

I want to know some techniques on how to bend wood. My father is the woodworker in the family but even he does not know :-( I want to know how exactly you do it. what presure to use. how long it has to be under pressure. do you need some special equipment or can you make it yourself? all kinds of questions I want an answer on it. If somebody can explain or tell me where I can find some websites solving this problem. please inform me.

many thanks

Mousquito

Reply to
Mousquito
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A common method for more pliable woods is steam bending. The wood is steamed to make it more pliable and allow it to bend more easily. Another method is to cut saw kerfs at regular intervals (not all the way through the material) allowing the wood to bend. This is usally for outer skins on display cabinets or some decorative/modern furnitue designs. Another method is to use thinner pieces of material that bend more easily and laminate them together in a bending form and hold it in that form until the glue dries.

There's a start for you :)

Reply to
xcz

If you can, find a copy of Zachary Taylor's _Wood Bender's Handbook_. ISBN 0806997028

Reply to
Chuck Taylor

Actually the steam and heat active the resins in the wood or some such thing and this allows bending while also holding the wood's shape as it cools. This process is only available once in each piece of wood. And there's not a lot of open time so you need a jig all set to accept the steamed wood and hold it while it sets. Some woods work better than others for steaming due to resin content or something.

We used red oak for the curved arm and bow back on the Dunbar Sack-back Windsor chairs. Bending the wood was done on the first day of the five day class and we let the pieces cure (tied to hold the bow) until the last day of class for final assembly. Mike used a length of 4" schedule 80 plastic pipe with end caps as the steam chamber. Rods through the sides of the pipe keep the work off the bottom of the pipe and holes in the bottom let out condensed water. Steam was provided by one of those propane cookers that people use to deep fry turkeys heating a 5 gallon metal gasoline can (uh, filled with water not gasoline, folks!) which was connected to the steam chamber by a length of automotive radiator hose. You do want to have a lot of steam and heat. I'll see if I can find my photos of the rig and jig.

I'll have to check my notes which are over at the shop, but I think we only had to steam the wood for about 5 minutes. Then you want to work quickly as only a few minutes out of the steam and the wood is setting up in its new shape. It is remarkable how easily the wood bends in those few magic minutes.

The other very important consideration is picking the piece of wood you choose to bend. You want straight grain and little or no grain running out on the edges. We started with rived wood rather than sawn boards; literally splitting red oak logs into billets of grain. And then we carefully worked those pieces down to dimension with drawknife, planes, spokeshave...

There's one spot on my chair's back bow where a tiny tab of grain runout pops up just a hair. It's not enough that anybody else would notice, but I do.

I'll try to find photos and stuff if you're interested.

-Dean Windsor chairs should be painted for the same reason girls shouldn't get tattoos.

Reply to
Dean H.

There are several methods. You can bend and glue several thin strips of wood together, clamping them to a form to cure. "Springback" occurs with curved pieces, maybe 5-15%. This is how long curved banisters or hand rails are made. You can also build a wood steamer--a little more involved. There is no exact way to do it since wood bending is classified as an "art." You may want to visit your local library or Amazon.

Reply to
SWDeveloper

This comes and goes on the group. Here's a link:

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that you can sort/refine by date.

I have seen bending rig made from all manner of shop stuff, including a small bender made from schedule 60 pvc with screw on ends that was supplied steam from an electric tea kettle.

All I remember about steaming is the greener the wood the better, allow about an hour an inch, you have less than 5 minutes work time after reaching elasticity, watch for springback, and leave the wood in the form for about a week.

What are you making?

Robert

Reply to
nailshooter41

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