Anyone ever bend slats by only wetting the wood? If so, how well did it wo rk? Opinions, as to wetting only, also welcome.
I have numerous ash slats to laminate for making rockers. Prefer not to fi re up the wood stove for steam bending. Ash is air dried for ~10 years. D id one slat (defected, had a knot in it) by just soaking over night and it bent well, but had ~50% spring back when released from the clamps. Just a test, so thought to soak, for several days, the project slats and leave the m clamped for at least 2, maybe 3-4 days. Slats are about 5/16" thick ~2" wide.
fire up the wood stove for steam bending. Ash is air dried for ~10 years. Did one slat (defected, had a knot in it) by just soaking over night and i t bent well, but had ~50% spring back when released from the clamps. Just a test, so thought to soak, for several days, the project slats and leave t hem clamped for at least 2, maybe 3-4 days. Slats are about 5/16" thick ~2 " wide.
I've never bent/laminated, so correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't the glue between each strip prevent springback? I thought that was reason for laminating strips vs bending one solid piece. No need to soak/steam.
has 1/8" thick laminations glued with Titebond II for the backrest arch. Both ends fail, that's one reason why this rocker was never donate. The wo od was old cypress, so not sure what caused the failure. I have discovered that sometimes that old cypress doesn't bend as I would like..... it's bri ttle. Quite a few slats snapped or cracked when making this arch.
I think the ash will be more forgiving, not nearly as brittle, if at all. My test sample result was encouraging, but still wanted opinions. My finis hed rockers will be about 1.75"-2" thick and 3.5"-4" wide, fairly robust. My slats are about 5/16" thick, whereas in your first video link, his slats are 1/8" thick. Softening with water and pre-bending may/should help the bending process.... hopefully.
Titebond creeps. You need some kind of catalyzed-cure adhesive, like resorcinol or epoxy. I'm sure that there is much experience on what does and does not work.
With the thicker slats and larger than normal finished rockers, using epoxy may be my best bet. I often use West System's G-Flex 650 and will use th e 655 for the Maloof joints of the chair structure, itself. As for WS epox y, they have special instructions for damp wood, though I plan to pre-form the slats while wet and allow them to dry in pre-formed position, before do ing the final bending and gluing to finished form. That's the plan and my confidence is further on the plus side. Thanks.
The rocker build is shaping up pretty nicely, accent on the rustic look. The chair is for my brother, but I'm starting to get an idea of keeping it myself, at least for a while, I'm liking it that much. Stay tuned for some pics hopefully in 2 weeks or so.
Having a problem understanding the sequence of work.
You cut them into strips and glued them together and then bent them? If yes, were your careful to glue them together in the same order as they were prior to being cut?
On the Public TV show Craftsman Legacy they had an episode titled The Table Maker. The craftsman was making table legs bent in 3 dimensions using cherry lumber and when he ripped the stock apart he said that when glued back together it was important to keep the pieces in order.
No. I haven't done any gluing and bending yet. Because I cut the slats ab out 5/16" thick, I needed to test bend one slat to see how well that thickn ess bends. I soaked the slat overnight and clamped it in a curve. No crac king or breaking, but it did have about 50% springback. This amount of spr ingback was expected, since it was soaked for just a short time.
The slats were kept in sequential order during cutting and will be glued in sequential order. This sequential order is contrary to laminating straigh t (table) legs or table top board orientation, stuff as that.
The slats have been soaking in water for a few days. I will clamp them in a curved form (no glue) and allow to dry, hence pre-form the rocker curve. Once dry, then I'll epoxy them in the final permanent curved form. I am t hinking I need to pre-form the curve of the slats, first, to some extent, b ecause of 1) the thickness of the slats and 2) to accommodate the method, I plan to use, for attaching the rockers to the chair legs.
I'm not sure this second reason is applicable, but I wonder if it will lend itself to the specific way I want to attach the rockers to the legs. With most chairs, the front legs are offset (front to back) with the back legs. For rockers, the offset has to accommodate a curved "board", unlike a str aight stretcher running from leg to leg. Relative to the plane of the seat , the front legs are essentially straight up and down and the back legs are angled backwards at about 7°, so the rocker attachment is a compound angle fit. You can't simply drill holes in the rocker and insert the chair legs into the holes. That insertion can't be done when the legs are at/i n a compound angle orientation. Not sure I am describing this adequately, but I'll be taking pics to show how its done, or how I plan to do it.
A consideration for this rocker-to-leg attachment, is also because of the b ulk/weight of the chair. The whole chair (up to now) a little heavier than I'd like, so this attachment will help with the bulk issue, I think. I ca n trim down some weight, here and there. I'm trying to make sure I'm not missing something, in that, in case there is a mistake with my engineering, I want to cover my bases with regard to any error. My planned leg to roc ker attachment may be over kill, to counter any mistake. This is a somewha t new design and I need to make sure the whole chair, itself, is properly b alanced once it's all assembled. Sometimes this balancing (and alignment) act is a hit-or-miss proposition, for me, anyway.
The chair is made of cypress, generally not an appropriate wood for chairs, so I have to bulk-up the joints and a few other parts, for sufficient dura ble structure. Bulk equates to weight, so I have to accept some not-so-fav orable aspects. In the end, the chair is for my brother. Any excess weigh t or inconvenience will be his problem.
At least along with the lower strength of cyprus goes lower density - so even a slightly "fatter" chair shouldn't be a WHOLE lot heavier than oak or hickory- if you do it right - - -
LOL, if I do it right! I calculated 3 cu ft of cypress for this rocker. A ir dried cypress is 32 lbs per cu ft. It feels like 100 awkward lbs when m oving it around. I've done lots of dry fits as I go, making sure parts fi t nicely, properly. Each part is custom fitted to an adjacent part/parts. It's a good project, a learning project.
I bought 4 treated 2X10X8' this morning, for making the rocker forms. Been mowing grass since, before wood shop work later this evening.
fire up the wood stove for steam bending. Ash is air dried for ~10 years. Did one slat (defected, had a knot in it) by just soaking over night and i t bent well, but had ~50% spring back when released from the clamps. Just a test, so thought to soak, for several days, the project slats and leave t hem clamped for at least 2, maybe 3-4 days. Slats are about 5/16" thick ~2 " wide.
Having made some bent lamination rockers, and a couple of chairs for a chur ch platform, you do not need to either wet bend, which works, heat bend or steam bend. All you need to do is make a form, being sure to cut out the m ating sides to the thickness of the desired final thickness. In other word s, do not just make a single cut for the desired shape in your form materia l, as the two sides will not mate up correctly when you get the strips betw een the sides. Also, just make sure your form is thicker than the width of the strips.
I used Titebond II on a couple and Urea glue on a couple of others. The ure a has the advantage of having a much longer open time. That is really help ful in the warmer weather we have now. Apply a liberal amount of glue and clamp the sides of the form together, making sure to be on the lookout for any spots where the slats are not completely in contact with each other.
Let it dry 24hrs and you are in business. The only other thing is, make yo ur slats about six inches longer than your final length. It also helps to m ake them a bit wider, again so you can have a clean cut when you trim to si ze That way any slippage or gaping will be cut off when you cut to the fina l length.
urch platform, you do not need to either wet bend, which works, heat bend o r steam bend. All you need to do is make a form, being sure to cut out the mating sides to the thickness of the desired final thickness. In other wo rds, do not just make a single cut for the desired shape in your form mater ial, as the two sides will not mate up correctly when you get the strips be tween the sides. Also, just make sure your form is thicker than the width of the strips.
Thanks Doc. Yep, with tweaking your advice here and there, I've pretty muc h have the rockers ready to epoxy. Ash accommodates bending, so my slats a re a bit thicker than one would normally have them. I thought to pre-bend them, because of thickness, hence wetting them for the pre-bend. The pre- bend only required clamping using one half of my clamping form.
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your slats about six inches longer than your final length. It also helps to make them a bit wider, again so you can have a clean cut when you trim to size That way any slippage or gaping will be cut off when you cut to the fi nal length.
Because cypress is soft, the part of the chair feet that insert into the ro cker needs to be larger than that of a typical rocking chair, or at lest th at's my logic. This logic is also based on the way the back feet are to be *attached to the rocker. *The back legs are angled 7°, so there will be somewhat of a compound angle for attaching the rockers to the chair leg s. I won't be able to simply drop the chair legs into holes in the rockers . I've cut for 4 sets of "laminates", 2 for each rocker unit. I'll cut t enons on the chair legs to insert into mortises in the rockers. Each lamin ate pair will sandwich each the left and right chair leg tenons. Here's on e pair of laminates, hence one rocker. I'll take subsequent pics to show the process, if my description is not clear, and hopefully all turns out as I plan. Each finished rocker will be about 3"-4" wide, depending on how m uch I trim from the sides.
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I am thinking (preventative maintenance) I need larger than normal leg inse rts (tenons), into the rockers, because cypress is not a strong wood. I wa nt to prevent the chair legs from breaking (at some future date) at the roc ker insertion or there abouts.
I'll probably need all the best. Heading out, now, do the epoxying this ev ening.
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