bending 1/4" oak quarter round

[Jay Basen]

I need to bend a 1/4" oak quarter round into a half circle to hold a round piece of glass in place in a project I'm working on. Running a bent lamination through a router to create the quarter round and then cutting it off to 1/4" just doesn't seem practical so I'm left with bending.

I've read may other posts on the problems that some people have had with oak turning black but I just don't seem to have a choice but to risk this.

As I have never tried bending before I have a couple of questions

1) Am I correct about the problems trying to do this as a bent lamination and running a 13" diameter half circle of oak through a router bit on my router table to create the quarter round followed by cutting it off on a table saw to size?

2) If I'm going to bend this small piece of wood 1/4" x 4' long, do I have to steam it or can it simply be wetted down in hot water?

3) How long do I need to soak or steam this small piece of wood. The calculations I've seen in other posts are for much larger pieces?

Thanks in advance for the help!!!!!!!

Jay

[Lee Schierer]

Oak will turn black as a reaction to iron in the water. If you use distilled water there is no iron or other minerals. Depending on the radius you need it should be possible to boil a piece of oak trim in distilled water. Bend it on a wooden form that is slightly smaller radius than what you need. Let it dry. Don't let any steel or iron touch it while it is drying. Select a piece that has the grain running the full length and as straight grained as possible other wise it might break when bent.

[Johnny Fischer]

Jay,
Goggle "Wood Bending". Theres plently of articles out there to assist you with your project. Good luck

[Ben Grunow]

I would follow the above suggestions and also just go cut a scrap and play around with it. You will learn a great deal as bending wood is very much about the feel of it as far as knowing when something is going to break.

I have steamed larger pieces than that with great success and it is not hard at all. You could make several and steam them together (or boil) and just experiment until you get it.

[Scott Velie]

Make the moulding first in fact make several because some are going to crack. You need straight grained quarter sawn stock. You do not want grain running off the outer edge of the bend this is where it will crack. Make a bending form from some scrap MDF. with a slightly smaller radius than you want. (There will be "spring back").
Steam about 15-20min and pull it out and bend it around the form, use lots of clamps. If it cracks toss it and put another one in the steamer.
Once you get a good one and it is clamped leave it for a couple days.
Steaming works. I have 1" square piece of oak about 18" long tied in a square knot about the size of your fist as a memento.

[David DeCristoforo]

I'm not so sure bending this piece is your best option. It's small enough that you should be able to get it out of a piece of solid stock without much more trouble than trying to bend it and with far more predictable results. What I would do:

Mill a piece of oak down to 1/4".
Attach a 1/4" thick "backer" to it with some hot melt glue or a couple of brads.
Bandsaw out your inside radius.
Rout the 1/4 round (that's what you need the "backer" for, otherwise there's nothing for the bearing to ride on).
Bandsaw the "outside" radius.

If you want to get "fussy" you can glue up the "blank" so that the grain runs at a diagonal (dotted line in the sketch) which will reduce the "cross grain" effect at the horizontal "center line" of the circle.
86412
I hope I'm visualizing this correctly.....

PS Not mention the fact that it's a PITA trying to bend 1/4 round due to it's tendency to "roll".

[Peter Quinn]

Or do the same thing Mr DeCristoForo said, but using a bent lamination and the bending form as a jig for the router.

Bend the curve with thin laminations, glue it up, clean it up. make the thickness your 1/4", make the width at least 9/16", use the bending form as a jig to rout the 1/4 round on each edge and rip in half on the bandsaw. You could make the width wider and mold several pieces out of each lamination, perhaps 2" or so would likely give you 6 pieces if this is neccessary.

[Jay Basen]

Thanks to everyone that replied!!! I was traveling today and it was great to get home after being on the road, turn on my computer, and see a weath of information. I'll do some reading on google as suggested and give this a try.

Thanks again!