1X1 WOOD STEAM BENDING

[24hacker]

I am wondering what is the easiest wood to steam bend? The will be used as a fence gate about 3.5 ft. wide and will not require to carry any load. I live in Indiana and can get truckloads of first cuttings of hardwood scraps for $25 a truckload. Any thoughts and comments would be appreicated

[nedL]

Air dried white oak. (there are some others too)

[Thad Van Gilder]

I think ash bends better than w.oak, but it's better if it was never dried at all, and cut fresh from the stump.

-Thad

[Bob Smalser]

Assuming not too much of a bend in your gate rails, then any airdried hardwood in Indiana will steam bend. For shallow bends, sometimes I just balance the part I want to bend over a large bucket of boiling water for a half hour.

I'd be looking for durable wood for a gate...WO, Black Walnut, Sassafras, Bodark (Osage Orange) or Black Locust.

[John-NY]

I am trying to steam bend some Honduras Mahogany I bought from my local lumber supplier. He couldn't tell me how they dry it... its dry!
Have I got to cook the c@#p out of it in my steamer or am i wasting my time. Should I soak it for a few days first? :confused:

I don't need to get it to bend around a radius smaller then about 18" but it twists and bends in the other axis at the same time.

The piece is 1"x1.25"x9'.

Thanks

John

[John-NY]

And just so that i'm contributing as well as begging for info here's a link to a doc that I found very interesting.

Even has some radius 'limits' for domestic hardwoods.

http://www.megspace.com/lifestyles/njmarine/Steam.html

[Bruce Hooke]

24hacker, find some nice air-dried white oak or ash and steam it up and you should be able to bend it to some very tight curves, especially if you use a backing strap.

John, it is my understanding that pretty much all of the tropical hardwoods that make it to the US (and other non-tropical markets) is kiln dried. But, I'd guess that you will still be able to make an 18" radius bend. It would sure be nice if you could use a backing strap but that is all but impossible if the piece also has to twist. Just make sure the piece of wood has nice straight grain. Don't oversteam as that can be as bad as understeaming. It helps to put a short piece of wood (with the same width and depth as the primary piece) from the same board in the steambox to pull out and check for flexibility as the steaming progresses.

[Bill Bliss]

As an experiment, I once tried steaming a piece of Honduras Mahogany along with the white oak I was using. It didn't work. I don't think the fact that it was kiln-dried had much to do with it -- mahogany just doesn't steam well. I suspect that is generally true of tropical woods.

All of the white oak I have steamed has been kiln-dried. This may be blasphemy, but I have had a lot of luck with kiln-dried oak. I would use green or air-dried if it were readily available, but it isn't.

[ssor]

Freshly cut green oak, ash, hickory, sasafras will all bend well without much steam if you are patient and not demanding too tight a bend. If you steam green wood, when it is cool it will be quite as dry as air dried steam bent wood. Last spring I bought a 1x6x16 clear white oak plank at the mill near by and just loaded it with bricks to force it into a bend for rub rails. Just stetched a line and added bricks until I got the deflection I wanted and let it dry.

[24hacker]

John NY - Thanks for the link and the information. I have never tried to steam bend - but I bought a deep fat frier - propane fired - for $25 - thought this would make a good source for steam. Looking forward to bending up some wood.

Thanks

[John-NY]

The only thing I would say about the PVC pipe steam bender set-up is it NEEDS support beneath it.
After 1 really good steaming session mine looks like a roller coaster! :eek: I'm gonna use a 2x6 strapped beneath it I think to see if that makes a difference.
If I remember i'll take a shot of it tonight, its good for a chuckle at least! :D

[Steve Miller]

I am building a Glen-L skiff using mahogany for the sheer clamps. 2 pieces 5/8 x 1-1/4 laminated in place. The first layer bent in fine but the second pieces both broke as I pulled them into place. Cut new pieces and steamed the first one for an hour. It made the bend ok but the second side bent better at an hour + 15 minutes. My first try at steaming. Not sure of the specific mahogany species but it did work.

I later added a 3rd layer from the breast hook to the forward frame to allow more wood to be left after fairing. I steamed those for the 1 hour 15 minutes and had no trouble bending the shorter pieces into place. Here is a shot of the bend. It has quite a curve at the breast hook. The wood was interesting after steaming. Soft enough to dent from the clamps but still a bit stiff to bend.

http://www.hevanet.com/kg7pv/Utility/image25.jpg