Steam bending wood....

[Rough Hewn]

Or go old Skool,

Dig a trench,

Burn a big fire in it,

Chuck in loads of fresh wet greenery, grass etc.

Chuck wood on top.

More green stuff.

Bury for 20-30 mins.

Dig up.

Wear gloves with wood!

[emoji106]

 

 

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[SteveA]

Or go old Skool,

Dig a trench,

Burn a big fire in it,

Chuck in loads of fresh wet greenery, grass etc.

Chuck wood on top.

More green stuff.

Bury for 20-30 mins.

Dig up.

Wear gloves with wood!

[emoji106]

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Arbtalk

 

Sounds smokey!

cheers, steve

[stuckinthemud]

You don't need a box, wrap the timber in a plastic bag, I use a bin bag, and run the steam hose in one end, I've seen some really big timbers boiled-in-the-bag. Biggest advantage is you can bend the timber while still steaming it. Use gloves!

[SteveA]

You don't need a box, wrap the timber in a plastic bag, I use a bin bag, and run the steam hose in one end, I've seen some really big timbers boiled-in-the-bag. Biggest advantage is you can bend the timber while still steaming it. Use gloves!

 

Not thought of that & liking the idea of being able to steam already bent pieces. Do you use a regular bin bag?

cheers, steve

[stuckinthemud]

Yes, any bit of plastic sheeting, even used carrier bags overlapped when I couldn't find a big enough bag. You get more heat if you run the pipe through the bag and then let the steam flow back along the bag so the pipe goes in the same place as the steam comes out.

Edited June 7, 2017 by stuckinthemud

[Forest2Furniture]

Green wood is best for steam bending. Bone oak won't have sufficient water content.

 

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[stuckinthemud]

Green wood is best for steam bending. Bone oak won't have sufficient water content.

 

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Never worked with bone oak, but couldn't you soak it for a couple of weeks first? I have steamed air-dried timber successfully. Equally, dry heat works just as well as steam, but, you got to be careful to avoid scorching the wood. I use a hot air gun of the type normally used for stripping paint.

[se7enthdevil]

thats sort of the point of steaming, it re-saturates the timber to a point that it will bend. could take hours though for the bone oak.

 

SteveA,

if you are interested i have a 14" bore poly pipe that i bought for steam bending during my projects at college. i never got round to using it thought and may be ideal for what you are doing.

 

i'll see if i can dig a picture out of it.

[se7enthdevil]

here they are. i'll measure them exactly later but the shorter one fits over the longer one

 

.

[se7enthdevil]

here they are. the longer one is 59" and has a 13" interior and the shorter one is 32 3/4" and has a 14 3/4" inside diameter. the pipe wall is 1/2" thick. the shorter one fits over the longer one.