Bending Wood on the stove top

Matt, You have a number of options: you can bend thin wood 1/4" or less by soaking & bending over a hot pipe. (electric or propane torch heated)

You can make a bending jig & glue laminate thin dry pieces together- depending on the radius, your laminations will have to be thinner for a small radius.

you can steam the wood & put in a bending jig to dry. I did a quick search on woodweb & found this: there a number of ways to make your own steamer

What's the radius? If you laid the edges down on the table, how high would the center be?

I'd just cut them out of thicker stock.

Phil,

Thanks for the link. That was one of the places I was looking, I read a lot of the initial material there. I'm going to have to go back through that site looked interesting enough to add to my links. (Just started collecting woodworking site links)

Larry,

Including the thickness of the wood (3/4") about 1.25-1.5 inches. But I only have Home Depot and Lowes at my disposal so that would leave me with gluing two pieces and then cutting them on a band saw. I don't think my band saw even has a 4" opening. But that is something to keep in mind.

Thanks,

Matt

... as a bas idea, because of the short grain that such a sawing operation generates, weakening the piece.

Search this newsgroups archive on "amonia freeze bend" (yes, it's spelled wrong). There is a reference to another bending technique using ammonia. I am not endorsing it, I just remember seeing recently.

Stove-top steaming will work, but I prefer the electric kettle from Lee Valley, piped to a simple wood steam box. What kind of wood are you using? Some kinds bend better than others.

Hi Matt,

A lot depends upon how much you need to bend them. At 12 inches long you don't have much leverage. You will find the process easier if you bend the pieces when they are a bit longer. Then cut them to size.

But otherwise boiling is a perfectly good way to do it.

Gregg

Well, if they are just 12"x4" you could probably do it on the stove using a big pan like a turkey is roasted in. Put the wood on a rack, and cover with foil. Keep an eye on it to make sure all the water doesn't boil off.

Mitch

Ok, in order: