Straight from steam box to glue-up?

[Charles Wiggins]

I am making some lazy susans to go into a corner cabinet out of 1/2" BB ply and I am going to wrap the edge with ~1/4" birch which will sit ~3/4" proud of the ply top to form a lip. I am planning to steam bend the strips. Originally, I was planning to make a dummy form to bend the edging around while it dried back out, like bending chair parts; but I saw this video from Matthew Kenney at Fine Woodworking (http://www.finewoodworking.com/item/30563/steam-bending-simplified) where he goes straight from the steam box to glue-up. Essentially, I would be using the actual work piece as the inner blocking and I would have outer blocking against the outside of the edging to provide even pressure while the wood and glue dries. Anyone else ever done this? Any downside?

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Thanks,
Charles

[johnny means]

Steam bending gives you very little time to actually do your bending. I wouldn't want to add the gluing to the mix.

[Steve Baumgartner]

I've used the inner piece as a form for bending, but never glued it up at the same time. I'd be worried about the heat and moisture affecting the glue. But, since I haven't tried it I can't say for sure.

[Bill White]

Don't. Steam it, tie it to dry while coiling a little tighter than the actual application.
Bill

[Charles Wiggins]

Thanks for the replies. After your advice and giving it a few seconds of real thought I've decided to bend first and glue later.

[Jay Jolliffe]

Charles...That's the way you do it....I've done my share of steam bending & lamination bending & always let the pieces dry before gluing.

[Larry Edgerton]

Another tip......

I do as the others have suggested, drying in a form before glueup but I have also found that for whatever reason the ends of the bend try to straighten out no matter what you do. For this reason I always make the piece several inches longer on each end at the steaming/drying point and cut to length when done.

Larry