Steam bending wood....

[Daniël Bos]

My daughter wanted to build a coracle (so she did...) and needed to steam.

As it was a project to be entered in the local village show's woodworking class I wasn't allowed to help with the actual build. I was a clamp, an anvil, a waterboy and advisor only.

I'm very proud of her, she's only nine and built a boat out of one scaffold plank (with plenty spare) that she can carry, and it works!

 

We got a pressure cooker, attached a pipe (10mm poly fuel/air line), through the window to the outside.

We used tree guards for the chamber, because they're twin walled, easy to carry, easy to cut to size and when we needed a long chamber we just gaffer taped two together.

We used doubled up guards, for better heat retention, sealed the ends just with a plastic bag and a hairband.

 

Mistakes were made, lessons learned (patience, dear child...!)

[Rough Hewn]

Epic mate, congratulations.

Will be showing this to my daughter later.

[emoji106][emoji106][emoji106]

 

 

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[openspaceman]

My daughter wanted to build a coracle (so she did...)

 

Brilliant, did it float?

[stuckinthemud]

Fantastic. How did she paddle it? I could never get one to go where I wanted it to

[Daniël Bos]

Epic mate, congratulations.

Will be showing this to my daughter later.

[emoji106][emoji106][emoji106]

 

 

 

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Thanks, The child has got from her father the ambition to always want to do thing that are just beyond her skillset. It means that often the result may not be quite as good as she'd imagined but she learns so much this way!

 

Brilliant, did it float?

 

Sure did. She loves her math, so she calculated its water displacement before any wood was touched. 338 liters, so plenty of buoyancy:thumbup1:

The cover was a sheet of heavy canvas (from an old yurt) that she painted inside and out with many layers of latex glue to form an attached rubbery layer.

Worked quite well, 100% waterproof but we found it not very abrasion resistant. When rubbed against things its rubberyness grips and makes it peel. Easy to fix though:thumbup1:

 

Fantastic. How did she paddle it? I could never get one to go where I wanted it to

 

With great difficulty and dogged determination!

She can go with the wind quite well, against it not so much. It really just wants to spin.

 

 

 

I've some pictures of her using it, but she wisely decided to strip before boarding and I'm not going to post pics of my daughter naked.

[Squaredy]

Getting back to the original poster's intention, I don't mean to be negative, but is there any really good reason for using the bone Oak? I am just thinking it will be almost all sapwood so it won't be at all durable and it would be so much easier to simply use young freshly cut branch material or sapling that will be so flexible it won't need steam. Sweet Chestnut would maybe be best as it will be durable but a whole host of species would be more durable than Oak sapwood.

[Khriss]

Getting back to the original poster's intention, I don't mean to be negative, but is there any really good reason for using the bone Oak? I am just thinking it will be almost all sapwood so it won't be at all durable and it would be so much easier to simply use young freshly cut branch material or sapling that will be so flexible it won't need steam. Sweet Chestnut would maybe be best as it will be durable but a whole host of species would be more durable than Oak sapwood.

 

Coracles Were built with what ever came to hand - many varieties existed , but that Girl will grow to be fab with all this expertise k

[Daniël Bos]

Bone oak (aka stag oak) is the " skeleton" of heartwood left after all the sapwood has rotted off.

 

It is very durable, not very pliable.

I've no idea if it can be steam bent.

[Squaredy]

Totally agree about the coracle - it is a shame more kids aren't given that sort of encouragement and opportunity. I wasn't criticising the coracle at all - it is awesome. I went to a school which did woodwork from age 4 for boys, and I loved it - the same school still does woodwork from age 4 but now for girls and boys I believe.

[Mike Dempsey]

The important bit here is her self belief and can-do attitude will have soared and will stand her in good stead for the rest of her life. Tackling things which are easy doesn't broaden the horizons half as much as when she has knowledge and skills gaps to conquer. The coracle will be a testament to her achievement for a long time to come and she may wish to make improvements to it with a bit of encouragement. The hardest bit for you Daniel would have been standing back and letting her do it!