Ken Hutchins
06-27-2005, 09:56 AM
Well we have all heard that you need perfect wood to bend, but Ma Nature didn't make all perfect wood so occasionally is becomes necessary to see what can be done with less than perfect wood when bending. Actually this part had 2 knots that were only on one side and I intended to put the bad side on the inside of the radius, but I screwed up and the defects wound up on the outside, only minor easily glued splitting occured.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid174/p19caea149053951e8b37528dade18d28/f3860d28.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid174/p5cc055bbe604d124d538b758c99f2693/f3860d34.jpg
The reason why I didn't have a major failure was bending in a plastic bag rather than using a conventional steam box, therefore the part was hot, wet and under a few pounds pressure until the bending was complete.
These parts are 1-3/8 x 2-1/4 ash strips for the deck house.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid174/p3daee34ad55537646c773ff40dda5025/f3860d17.jpg
Here is a view of the bending jig, with the lines and blocks I used to pull the parts around as an assist for working single handed.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid174/pe7fc346fd695a7122348fccda85c4f9d/f3860d0d.jpg
The plywood has holes for the upright pieces which have tennons on each end. Using this method it is simple to layout the hole locations and drill both pieces of plywood at the same time. The jig will be used for an assembly jig and for bending the cockpit coaming with a different radius by simply drilling another set of holes and repositioning the uprights.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid174/p16ba2abaaffa8ab2ff433fe7266031c4/f3860d00.jpg radius
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid174/p19caea149053951e8b37528dade18d28/f3860d28.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid174/p5cc055bbe604d124d538b758c99f2693/f3860d34.jpg
The reason why I didn't have a major failure was bending in a plastic bag rather than using a conventional steam box, therefore the part was hot, wet and under a few pounds pressure until the bending was complete.
These parts are 1-3/8 x 2-1/4 ash strips for the deck house.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid174/p3daee34ad55537646c773ff40dda5025/f3860d17.jpg
Here is a view of the bending jig, with the lines and blocks I used to pull the parts around as an assist for working single handed.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid174/pe7fc346fd695a7122348fccda85c4f9d/f3860d0d.jpg
The plywood has holes for the upright pieces which have tennons on each end. Using this method it is simple to layout the hole locations and drill both pieces of plywood at the same time. The jig will be used for an assembly jig and for bending the cockpit coaming with a different radius by simply drilling another set of holes and repositioning the uprights.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid174/p16ba2abaaffa8ab2ff433fe7266031c4/f3860d00.jpg radius