Bending - Steaming vs. Veneering...

[Will Blick]

Saw Norm today.....he steamed some wood and bent the wood into some interesting shapes. I watch David Marks, he Veneers woods thin enough so they all bend, re assembles them with glue, then places them in the shaping jig.

David Marks technique is much easier for the avg. ww. But I assume there is some circumstances where steaming the wood still makes more sense... what are they?

[Chris Padilla]

Good questions, Will.

I've never steam-bent wood (saw it once) and I've never glued-up veneers into a curved form either BUT, I've been resawing lot of walnut veneers for use on a flat-panel project so I've some experience to answer your question. :)

From what I've read on steam-bending wood, some wood species are better than others. I've also heard air-dried wood is better for steam-bending over kiln-dried wood. It has to do with the stress the grain goes through and it is less "bendy" when kiln-dried. Some searching will yield threads on this subject.

Now as far as slicing up veneers to make a curved form, I think doing this is only limited by how thin a slice you can get. If you want a very tight curve, this is likely the only way to go because the thinner you slice, the tighter a curve you can get. If one is careful with slicing and glue selection, the fact that the wood was sliced up for a bent-lamination might be easily hidden.

Steam-bending might be the way to go with mild curves like in a chair back or leg as it'll maintain grain flow better and may likely be faster than preparing a bent-lamination.

Well, my thoughts on the matter. :)

[Will Blick]

Interestingly enough, Norm made an "S" from the Steamed wood... I was amazed it bended so easily....

Curved wood really separates the pros....you don't see it that often, so it catches your eye....

[David North]

I've steam bent and laminated wood parts. I steamed some exterior window trim (1.5" X 1.75" pine) for about 20 archtops. It was easier and less labor to steam the molding then cut laminations and reglue. For some curved drawer fronts I used laminations (Cherry). I feel the laminations hold the shape much better w/ little springback, the steam bent molding was nailed in place around the window frame to hold its shape

[Chris Padilla]

Interestingly enough, Norm made an "S" from the Steamed wood... I was amazed it bended so easily....

Curved wood really separates the pros....you don't see it that often, so it catches your eye....

I really liked David Marks' Koa bent-lamination lamp. With that darkish wood, it is easy to hide the many glue lines. Walnut would be another great choice for such a project. Maple could be tougher but certainly there are blonde-ish colored glues out there.

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

Will,
Steam bending wood makes sense when not having glue lines is important or when you making forms for lamination is impractical. Boat builders still steam bend solid wood for boat sides. Steam bending for aesthetics is useful as long as you don't have to bend the wrong kind of wood to too tight a curve and expect it to stay there. Steam bending is not precise unless there is something mechanical to hold the curve. However, if you use a wood that likes to bend, like ash, and you cut your stock to dimensions appropriate for the radii you wish to have, steam bending can be fun. We bent runners for a human powered dog sled for a Boy Scout troop. We used ash and steamed the runners in a long wooden box connected to a steam generator (in our case the steam was produced by an steel tank suspended over an out door fire). After quite a long time in the box, we bent the runners tighter than we wanted as a finished curve and tied them into shape. After they dried we released them from bondage and the curves relaxed somewhat. Our shape was not critical. The method was crude but Boy Scout appropriate.
fmr

[James Baker SD]

I know rocking chair builders who will steam bend the back legs where a bit of differential springback is not too critical, but beauty of the wood is paramount AND make bent laminations for the rockers which will be less visible, but identical curves essential for smooth rocking. Marking the wood with a chauk V before resawing it into thin strips allows them to be glued back in the original sequence minimizing the disruption of the gain pattern.

James

[Doug Mason]

I myself am new at this and find myself in a "bending " phase and have been experimenting with both laminations and steam bending. Lot's of failures along the way but I'm getting the hang of it. You have to "stick with it."

Here is a steam bent handle (will shape it with a spokeshave and scraper) for a shaker basket along with the form and belt I used. It is kiln dried red oak:

113889113890113891

Below are pictures of a rocking chair whose rear legs I am bending.
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In the next to last picture you'll notice the chair slats--I laminated these from red oak as opposed to steaming. I chose lamination because I can get closer to the radius I want (the slats are a 26 degree radius).

Overall, from my initial observations, I would prefer to steam as it is quicker--but laminations are more precise. But take what I say with a grain of salt--I have too little experience doing this.

[Doug Mason]

One last photo:
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This is the form I made for the laminations. It is just layered MDF. I have found that the forms (for both steaming and laminating) have to be fairly precise and smooth.