Bending wood - Preferred method?

[Kmot]

I need to put a slight bend in some wood. I have read about using steam to soften it, and using ammonia (Windex) to soften it so that it can then be curved.

What is your practiced and preferred method, and why?

Thanks! :)

[Kcal]

Could you also possibly make a lamination with your preferred glue and two half thicknesses of wood and possibly a form if required?

[patmat2350]

Steam is great, if you're set up for it.
Since I'm not, I used ammonia... not Windex, too weak, but straight household ammonia. The stuff temporarily softens wood fibers... I've had varying levels of success, but it gets the job done. Just make a PVC pipe with caps, pour in ammonia and wood, and let soak for a while... 30 minutes for little strips, I gave these 1/2" strips a couple hours:
http://www.shipmodels.info/mws_forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=38687&start=45#p260798
Either will raise the grain, and ammonia will change the wood color a bit.

[retoabcr]

WOW! Depends on thickness of wood and how wide the piece of wood you want bent. I used to make riggers years ago with a spray bottle of water and a hair dryer. I have a 6 pound anvil whose surface is flat and 6" wide and a small piece of hand railing and did it in stages. I nailed railing down and used anvil to help make the curve. I had small boards on each side to keep bent wood straight like a jig. This took a long time but if i read your posting between the lines, the wood will be some what thicker, correct. Kmot, you could do like Norm Abrams does is glue pieces together and bandsaw pieces till objective is reached. I hope i didn't take up space typing this.

[tghsmith]

it all depends on the size of the piece and the amount of bend, larger pieces or tighter bends I have a steam box (4inch household sheet metal duct 4 ft long) steam source is a wagner wall paper steamer( flex tube is already there and its works great if you have to remove wallpaper or old flooring) time again depends on size, small model pieces can be set over a pot of boiling water under an aluminum foil tent, Have also soaked pieces and zapped them in the micowave...

[Kmot]

I once had to bend a wing brace, insert it into the wing, and re-straighten it because I had inadvertently left it out during construction.

IIRC, I used a steam iron and steamed it over a can or something.

I prefer not to use heat, like an iron, if possible. I like the idea of the ammonia, but I don't like the idea of it changing the color of the wood since I will be doing this to mahogany.

I actually only need a very mild bend at this time and perhaps the steam from the kettle under a tin foil roof would work.

Thanks for the replies guys! :cool:

[Kcal]

Please let us know how/what works out best for you.

[capt. spauldin]

This may not be a direct answer to Kmot's question about his current project, but my experience with making inwales conform to hulls leads me to second Kcal's idea -- laminate whenever possible.

I've tried steaming and amonia, and both methods generally were unsuccessful. I don't doubt that they work for some folks who, perhaps, know the trick(s), but, for the uninitiated, they can be very frustrating and can waste a good deal of material.

Cheers,
Capt. Spaulding

[Kmot]

What I have just done, is steam a piece of mahogany and then clamp it to a form. The steam actually made the mahogany bend on its own while holding it over the steam. It has taken the shape of the form nicely.

What I will do to next, is use the form to sand some frames, and then glue the frames to the mahogany to keep its shape.

I think this will work out well for the current project.

Again, thanks!

[tghsmith]

great deal,steaming when it works can be fun, small sections can be clamped between pieces of plywood, take a scrap mark your curve and cut giving you both an inside and outside former, this will really help with tight curves, wood selection is very important you want grain as if it was split out and not sawn (grain running the lenght of the piece). in this day and age hard to find. when neighbors cut down trees I,m eager to help with the wood removal, just scored some realy nice holly and cherry(he was going to brush pile burn it)

[Melih PEKOL]

Kmot,

I bent mahogany stripes soaked in hot water and loundry softener mixture in pvc tube for some hours (sometimes overnight) they beccome "chewable soft" after then :)

[Shaun Hendricks]

They sell those little electric hand steamers pretty cheap these days. You can build a steaming box or make one out of galv tubing. Drill a hole in the end and stick that steamer nozzle in it. A few small holes on the other end to relieve pressure and instant steam box.

Just an idea there... don't have one myself. :D

[tghsmith]

the one gallon wagner goes for around 50.00 new, has a insulated flex line, safety shut off for low water, makes lots of steam!!! duct pipe with some 1/8 rod rammed through sideways (about every 12 inches)to act as a rack to keep the wood off the bottom, foil on each end as caps, hose in one end, a few holes in the other end to get the steam moving through...

[Kmot]

It's a lot less expensive to just boil water in a kettle, isn't it?

[Pibber]

I need to put a slight bend in some wood. I have read about using steam to soften it, and using ammonia (Windex) to soften it so that it can then be curved.

What is your practiced and preferred method, and why?

Thanks! :)

There are a million ways to rig a homemade "Steambox". You need a container to hold in the steam, steam source and a safe way to hold the material to be steamed/bent. Whatever you do, Make sure the components will not melt! Steam can go well over the boiling point of water; 212F +++.

[capt. spauldin]

Yes, indeed. There are many ways to steam wood. Here's one. When I needed to steam several fairly small lengths (less than 12"), I wandered into the kitchen and took out the steamer we use for cooking. It consists of a large pot, an insert with perforated shelf, and a tight-fitting cover. I put the wood on the shelf, set the water boiling, covered the pot, and tested the wood at 10-minuted intervals. It worked fairly well.

But I still prefer laminating...

Cheers,
Capt. Spaulding

[Kmot]

Rice cooker. I have one of those.

"Honey, how long are you going to be gone shopping?" :D

[nick_75au]

A bit late to help , but I found a link that suggested its the heat and not necessarily the steam that helps to bend wood, so thy a plain old heat gun. The link is in foomans thread on luan plywood.
Nick

[craig_c]

From Fine Woodworking, Issue #30....

[Kmot]

Pretty neat apparatus.

4th paragraph, last sentence says experiments with household ammonia won't bend wood.

But you guys have done it, correct?

[capt. spauldin]

re household amonia: does it work? The answer, based on my experience, is a very qualified yes. I soaked lengths of 1/4" X 1'4" balsa in amonia, and the pieces were more flexible after I fished them out than they were before I put them in. However, I can't be sure whether the improvement in flexibility was due to the amonia itself or occurred because the wood was submerged in a liquid. Whatever the case, the results were not good -- the wood became swollen and discolored -- and I don't plan to use amonia again.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Capt. Spaulding