Steam box steam generator

[Alan Heffernan]

I am rigging up to make a continuous arm windsor chair and need a decent steam box. The continuous arm has to be steam bent.

I have looked at the Earlex and the Rockler electric steam generators. (Both appear to adaptations from a wallpaper steamer.)

In the past I have used a large pressure cooker on an outdoor propane burner to generate the steam. This is a lot of contraption without any safety features.

So I am looking for your experiences and recommendations. Earlex or other electrical generators vs. my old method of a pot on a fire?

[Kevin Jenness]

I've used a plumber's gas ring with a 5 gallon can, and for large projects it can't be beat. I pooh-poohed when my old outfit got a Rockler setup, but it turned out to be very useful and easy to set up, got considerable steam up in 10 minutes plumbed into a 4" pvc pipe. Very handy for bending small parts.

[Garth Almgren]

I visited a boatwright's shop a little while back, and the guy had rigged up an ingenious contraption that used a 240v heating element from a water heater, a needle valve, and some copper piping to tie it all together. He'd just plug the element in to a 240v outlet and drip water onto the hot element, using the needle valve to adjust the flow to to get the amount of steam he wanted. He said it would produce as much or as little steam as he needed (He bends a LOT of wood), and if it ever burned out the heating elements are relatively cheap and easy to find. I'm not sure if he had any kind of thermostat or rheostat on the element...

[Paul F Franklin]

I've used the Wagner wallpaper remover (which works pretty well for wallpaper, BTW) for a bunch of fairly small items .75" by 2" by 4' long and it worked just fine. You have to fill it up fairly often because the reservoir isn't that big, but wasn't an issue for me, I don't do it that often.

[Bob Denges]

Alan, I worked with a windsor chair maker (Richard Grell, Ohio) last year in a week long class in making a hoop back windsor chair. The first day we steamed the 2" x 2" x 48" oak pieces for a number of hours before bending and clamping them into a form. They sat in the form drying for three days. Richard had fabricated a metal box about five feet long and one foot wide and one foot deep. He had a wire shelf inside where we laid the wood and had water in the bottom. He also rigged a hot water tank heating element which he just plugged in. Worked very well. He has made thousands of chairs so this is probably super overkill for you, but I thought you'd like the fact information. BD

[Alan Heffernan]

Alan, I worked with a windsor chair maker (Richard Grell, Ohio) last year in a week long class in making a hoop back windsor chair. The first day we steamed the 2" x 2" x 48" oak pieces for a number of hours before bending and clamping them into a form. They sat in the form drying for three days. Richard had fabricated a metal box about five feet long and one foot wide and one foot deep. He had a wire shelf inside where we laid the wood and had water in the bottom. He also rigged a hot water tank heating element which he just plugged in. Worked very well. He has made thousands of chairs so this is probably super overkill for you, but I thought you'd like the fact information. BD
Thanks Bob, I am curious about the oak you used. Was it green or dry?

[John C Bush]

My wife found a cloths steamer at a yard sale for $20 and it works great for bending fishing net hoops--1/8" x 3/4" x 48"-- and have had success with 2" square stock as well, just takes longer. I imagine it is a lot like the wallpaper steamer--small tank and 1 1/2 in. hose to a wand that detaches. I use 4" PVC pipe with a pull out rack to load/unload the stock. Don't forget to wear gloves--AMHIK.

[Chris Fournier]

I got tired of half way solutions some time ago and built my own steam generator using a 7 gallon air compressor tank and a 240V hot water heater element. I cut a hole in the tank with a hole saw and turned up an internally threaded bung to accept the heating element. I then welded this bung into the tank. This baby makes steam all day and when I have a production run I need it. If you know folks that can machine and weld it is about 1.5 to 2 hours work max.

[Bob Denges]

Alan, I'm not really sure about the state of the oak (dry or green). Richard mills most of his wood from the get-go. Very little from lumber mills and most of those are Amish owned. You can email him from his website. He is a great woodworker and loves to share his knowledge. You can use my name. BD

[Michelle Rich]

first, I don't think it matters much how you generate steam... just whatever you feel comfortable with..an old big tea kettle with a hose? heck I used that a lot 20 yrs ago..right on my kitchen stove. And I even got metal gutters and laid a 4ft piece on my gas range & on my woodstove and boiled pieces for windsors and shaker oval boxes. Just choose whatever you think will work best and go make chairs .

[Chris Fournier]

first, I don't think it matters much how you generate steam... just whatever you feel comfortable with..an old big tea kettle with a hose? heck I used that a lot 20 yrs ago..right on my kitchen stove. And I even got metal gutters and laid a 4ft piece on my gas range & on my woodstove and boiled pieces for windsors and shaker oval boxes. Just choose whatever you think will work best and go make chairs .

It may not matter how you generate steam but you need to generate a significant volume of it a on an on demand basis if you want to be productive. Small parts a kettle will work, larger parts in a larger chamber and you are now not bending anything as you don't have enough steam.

I would advise the OP to keep the hose from the generator to the chamber as short as possible and insulate it if you can.

[Paul F Franklin]

Was listening to an old FWW podcast the other day and they were talking about steam bending. FWIW, they recommended air dried wood, claiming kiln drying affects the lignin in the wood in a non-reversible way that makes it hard to steam bend. Not sure about green...I suspect it would bend fine, but I think you might get more shrinkage and warp/twist afterwards.

[Alan Heffernan]

Thanks for all the responses.

Here is a Youtube on the Earlex steam generator. It is simple and shuts down with an automatic shutdown when out of water. It has a double wall hose, connector fitting for box, and a 1500 watt heater. I want a simple approach that allows me to do small parts for chairs, instruments, etc. I am going to give this a shot. If it doesn't work well, I will drag the propane burner and pressure cooker out.

It's interesting in the video that they mention doubling the time in the steam box for kiln dried wood. They talk about choices for bending and time required at about 8:10 into the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpIUfI8qmTg

[David Utterback]

I have not set it up yet but I picked up an Oster turkey roaster at a big box and plan to run the tubing adapter through the lid. If I remember right, it cost about $40. Anyone else try this?

[Paul Saffold]

I've used the earlex which works just fine for me. I am a hobby woodworker. If you are in production or teaching where you need to steam lots of parts you might want something bigger. Curtis Buchanan uses a wallpaper steamer on his videos and he makes plenty of chairs.