Bending wood

[bbn]

How do you guys bend wood?

I've been pouring boiling water over the wood and then gently coaxing them.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g227/lcasambre/W17/IMG_0059_640x480.jpg
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g227/lcasambre/W17/IMG_0120_640x480.jpg

Broke one try to bend it cold
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g227/lcasambre/W17/IMG_0118_640x480.jpg

[timber715]

I haven't made anything that required me to use bent wood, but I think building a steamer trunk or box would be reasonable if you need to bend plenty or often.

[spyghost]

i saw an episode in new yankee workshop where he bent wood. he has a huge steamer though.

[bbn]

Thanks guys. I had the same thoughts however there is an opinion that tropical wood will not bend by steaming. They seem to based on what I've been doing though from what I seen it is not quite the same.

[timber715]

btw, are you gluing the bent wood or you making a form?

[chisel]

If steaming is not an option I usually re saw the wood about 1/8” thick enough for bending glue it and laminate it to a form, much stable than steam bending.

[timber715]

If steaming is not an option I usually re saw the wood about 1/8” thick enough for bending glue it and laminate it to a form, much stable than steam bending.
without a steamer, that is the best option imo...

[bbn]

Actually, that's already what I'm doing. The strips shown will be laminated one on top of the other so I get curved sticks that are each 20 mm thick.

I heard before that rattan can be bent with a blow torch. Is this true?

[guad]

I would be interested in something like this steamer (http://www.amazon.com/Wagner-Products-282018-1-Gallon-Wallpaper/dp/B0009XEL4O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1273047172&sr=1-1), instead of having to improvise one. I wonder if these are available locally.

http://www.wagnerspraytech.com/portal/pics/spraytech/products/powerPrep/705-w14_product.jpg (http://www.wagnerspraytech.com/portal/wagner_705_spray,43321,747.html)

[workbench]

From what I've read, to be able to steam bend, you need to expose the wood to the hot steam for a good duration of time. This helps the heat and moisture penetrate deeper into the wood to soften the fibers and help in the bending process. Maybe we can get together for an experiment to try this.

[bbn]

Here is the result. Some springback but no problem really.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g227/lcasambre/W17/IMG_0121_640x480.jpg

[timber715]

I have been wanting to make a project out of bent wood, just not considered steamed... so how about a group project? problem is who gets it? must be the person who spends for the materials and merienda... :) hahahaha

[moji]

lncc,

What material do you use as your mold? Is that plywood?

[bbn]

Yes the thing the strips are being bent to has plywood sides with fiberglass laminated to the inside of each. The side are spaced by solid lumber blocks. The "mold" is the actual unit into which the strips will be bonded. The strips will provide additional area to bond the bottom panels which are three layers of 3 mm plywood. These "things" are the outer arms of the outriggers. They will take a lot of stress so they have to be built solid. In fact after I close the whole thing, a couple of layers of structural fiberglass will have to be bonded to the outer surfaces.

[balarila]

Sharing my experience on bending wood. Hope someone finds it useful.

On the boat I am building, the stem (or bow, the curved front of the boat), composed of the stem and false stem, as well as the floors (the curved wood frame at the bottom onto which the keel and lower hull is attached) require some wood bending challenges.

First, I cut thin (5mm) strips of wood. The idea is that these strips of wood are easier to bend. Glued together when bent, they will form the stem and floors.

Went early to the palengke to get some garden hose and a "takure" (kettle). Didn't go for the fancy whistling-when-boiling kettle but, instead went for the old-fashioned big pot.

I improvised a steambox by screwing together from my already-cut chipboards meant for the strongback (boat jig) and set things up:

http://balarila.smugmug.com/Other/Boatbuilding/IMG00046-20100619-1124/906726051_q5nHy-M.jpg

The hose goes into the window into our "dirty" kitchen where the water-filled kettle went to boil.
http://balarila.smugmug.com/Other/Boatbuilding/IMG00047-20100619-1124/906727549_n8n5d-M.jpg
http://balarila.smugmug.com/Other/Boatbuilding/IMG00049-20100619-1125/906728716_zrriG-M.jpg

Ater about an hour of this, I noticed that the steam was not going into the box. Instead, it kept spilling out of the kettle's lid, despite various attempts of keeping it shut (weight, clamp...).

So, I thought, maybe the kettle was too far from the steambox. I then commandeered my maid's clay stove and did this:

http://balarila.smugmug.com/Other/Boatbuilding/IMG00050-20100619-1226/906729968_pZpom-M.jpg

That handkerchief made for a tight fit on the lid.

After about an hour more of fiddling with the fire, still the steam would not come out!

I decided to open the kettle and see if there's something wrong inside it. Only then did I realize that the kettle I got had its spout connected to the near-bottom of the pot. Since the pot is filled with water, naturally, the steam would never find its way into the spout (the inside end of the spout being underwater)! And I thought I was a smart man!

Should've gone for that whistling kettle.

So, spilled out the water until the level in the pot is just below the spout. It worked.

[balarila]

Despite the steaming, it was still tough to bend the wood. Here's the stem and the floor strips.

http://balarila.smugmug.com/Other/Boatbuilding/MG2368/906724985_he7Vd-M.jpg

I progressively pulled on that blue rope that bends the stem and, after a few days of leaving the assembly alone, the wood "relaxed" into a bent shape.

Glued the stem and the floors.

http://balarila.smugmug.com/Other/Boatbuilding/MG2381/922457293_Pfsri-M.jpg

In photo is my "padawan" holding the glued stem. The curved planks by his feet are the steam-bent planks for the false-stem which would be glued using the stem as a guide. Note that. despite steam bending and clamping the planks in a curved state for a week, the planks still straighten a bit once unclamped. The remaining bend is now the job of epoxy.

Here's the false-stem just glued. Under the polyethelene wraps is the stem which I used as a guide.

http://balarila.smugmug.com/Other/Boatbuilding/MG2384/922457692_3Z3mP-M.jpg

One lesson I learned from this process is that the wood shifts laterally from the clamp. Epoxy, when wet is a lubricant so the stips shifted and slid so I had to make sure I mallet them into place. Despite some tamping down, they shifted a bit so that edges are not completely aligned. In hindsight, I should've stuck some dowels.

No problem. Just planed the ones sticking and grout with epoxy the troughs. Good thing I ripped the planks a bit wider so I could plane down into the troughs.

Here's the finished stem attached to the boat's frame:

http://balarila.smugmug.com/Other/Boatbuilding/2011012311382807/1165208376_nhx8M-M.jpg

[jarod]

Very nice narration and pictures, these are for keeps!

[glen1234s]

Sir,

I still remember how my lolo ended up with bending wood or having a bent wood effect

first is making a pattern of the bend and cutting the wood following the pattern using a bandsaw.

second is cutting the wood to thin strips and glue each strip back to each other while clamped onto a bent frame.

I did not see him do the hot watter/steamer technique...

I guess you end up with the technique you know works best for you.

good luck...

How do you guys bend wood?

I've been pouring boiling water over the wood and then gently coaxing them.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g227/lcasambre/W17/IMG_0059_640x480.jpg
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g227/lcasambre/W17/IMG_0120_640x480.jpg

Broke one try to bend it cold
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g227/lcasambre/W17/IMG_0118_640x480.jpg

[balarila]

Sir,
I still remember how my lolo ended up with bending wood or having a bent wood effect
first is making a pattern of the bend and cutting the wood following the pattern using a bandsaw.
second is cutting the wood to thin strips and glue each strip back to each other while clamped onto a bent frame.
I did not see him do the hot watter/steamer technique...
I guess you end up with the technique you know works best for you.
good luck...

Yes, thin strip lamination works well for very thin strips and/or slight bends with flexible wood. In my case, my thicknesser can only plane down to 5mm strips, too thick for bending Lauan into the almost-90-degree bend I wanted to make so I had to steam it.

[violaine]

@balarila,

i assumed you are using the lighter white lauan..got some 2 x 4 x 14 red lauans and they are really heavy, solid wood, i dont know what to do with them yet.

[balarila]

@balarila,
i assumed you are using the lighter white lauan..got some 2 x 4 x 14 red lauans and they are really heavy, solid wood, i dont know what to do with them yet.

I used red lauan. Well, pinkish, to be exact. And, yes, they're solid. That's why, even after about an hour of steaming, still required some strenuous work to bend about a dozen strips together.

After gluing in epoxy resin, some spokeshaving, and sanding; the surprising result is that I can hardly see the strips. Unless you look really closely, you'd think the bow was carved out of a single piece of wood.

[violaine]

if you are using the red lauan i wonder now how your TS have survived the 24 feet long ripping job..i guess, you rigged it with some nice blade.
:eek:

[balarila]

On my 2nd blade before it died. Just used the TCT thin kerf blade one finds at Wilcon (can't recall brand). Couldn't wait for the Freud blades from Amazon; I have a ripping and a gen purpose blades in transit.

I'm now praying my thicknesser won't die too.