Shaker Box Wood Bending

I remember getting from HD some wallpaper tubs that were some comsiderable length. I can't remember what length they were though.

HTH

rik

It's expensive, but John Wilson sells covered copper containers specifically for Shaker box-making. He has a website with ordering info.

tt

I was in the same boat and here's what I did. I got a piece of copper flashing material from a local roofer and bent it into a U shape, cut the ends, and soldered it together. A friend had a bending brake and I used that to bend the material. I made mine 44 inches long and about 4 inches deep by about 6 wide. I also put some hinges on it so I could make a lid to hold the heat in. I use a couple of Walmart hot plates to heat the water. Works pretty slick.

Regards

IF you are in a rural or pseudo-rural area I'd suggest finding an agriculture supply store (Tractor Supply Co, Fleet Farm etc are examples from the MidWest). Look in the section for feed troughs or ask them for suggestions. Otherwise, I would agree with a previously posted suggestion of getting some rain gutter.

I've never hot water bent (always used steam) and would be curious to know how you get along.

hex

-30-

C'mon! You're a woodworker! Get some cdx plywood and make a box! Put in several screws at the joints and the wood will swell and keep the leakage to a minimum, or you can use epoxy for the joints, being sure to slather it on in critical areas (like corners). Epoxy has gap-filling properties which will fill small gaps (~1/16"), so it should work well.

I bet you even have some scrap wood laying around which will work.

I made a herd of shaker baskets several years ago. Had a bathroom adjacent to the back porch, so I soaked 'em in just a covering of hot water for about an hour (replacing the hot water every 10 minutes or so) and added boiling water about 10 minutes prior to running out the back door with 'em and wrapping them around the styrofoam molds and duct taping them. One out of six was just on the verge of cracking, but all worked out well after allowing 3 days for drying here in AZ.

I did the final thicknessing on my RAS with a rotary planer, but that's another story...

-Doug

I'm like hex here any bending I have ever done successfully has been with steam. I take a big downspout or some other pipe to fit the stock put duct tape over one end and wood inside and loose fit a rag in the open end. Then I poke the hose from an old wallpaper steamer through the taped end and let it steep. I made a box and put it on top of a woodstove in my shop but never had any success with that. The steaming method has even bent 1" walnut rope dowel for me and that is a hard bend (the short grain wants to break off).

just finished a weekend of Shaker box making at the John Campbell folk school and the instructer had a stainless tank that had a hinged cover. he had it made at a local sheel metal shop in Atlanta. He also suggested a length of metal rain gutter. I have also seen articles that indicated the Shakers used room temp water but I can't confirm that.

BRuce

hex wrote:

The original poster stated he wanted to boil water in the container.

-- Jack Novak Buffalo, NY - USA

Well, I bought a length of guttering, put the end caps on, filled the gaps at the end with gutter seal, and it holds the water just fine. It also looks like it will do fine for boxes up to about a #8, 4 feet in length and 5-6" in width.

I tried heating the water over a dual hot plate, and after about an hour, the water was still only at about 150 degrees.

Any ideas on the best way to get the water to boil?

doesn't have to boil, just get to the "steaming" state. boiling breaks down part of the wood and can weaken it. Our instructor last weekend had a 2 burner hot plate under his stainless steel tank (18"x48"x 4" deep) and that worked just fine, took about 30 miuntes to get the water steaming but it never did boil. did you have a cover on it?

BRuce

GrayFox wrote:

I bought an old tea kettle for $1 at Goodwill and fit a metal pipe to it and my steambox. I heat the tea kettle with a natural gas Fisher burner (gets extremely hot), but I guess an electric burner will work fine too. What you don't want is to run out of fuel in the middle of the steaming process (like using a propane torch.)

Get yourself a pair of leather gloves. Steam burns hurt!

Another tip. Use less water (1/8" deep is fine) but don't let it boil dry. Never leave the room.

I was RASing when RASing was cool, but I had to go into the closet when it became uncool. Rumpty, on the other hand, ain't no closet RASer :-)

-Doug (still counting to a full ten - on the fingers)

You don't have to boil the water for Shaker boxes. You need to keep the stock thin -- for the smallest boxes (with the tightest radii), the stock must be thinner than a big box, like a #8. I use a Walmart electric hotplate under a 40" x 7" copper tray, with about 3" of water in it. One burner gets really hot, while the other is stuck on "low" for warming only. It gets the water more than hot enough. I soak the pieces for 15-20 minutes, and they bend like butter.

tt

I did not have a cover on it. Where do you find such a tank of those dimensions?

His tank was a gift from some former students. they had asked in class what his ideal tank would be and had a sheet metal shop make 3, one for each of the 2 students and the 3rd they sent to him.

Sheet metal shop or sheet metal fabricator.

BRuce

GrayFox wrote: