Curved back slats: steam bend or glue up?

[Bill Carey]

Just started working on a couple of chairs and my QSWO supplier has no 8/4 stock to band saw the curved back slats out of. And anywhere else is too far to drive and too close to crazy covid places for my taste. So would you band saw the material to thin laminations and glue them up to shape the slats or would you set up a steamer and bend them to a form? I need 10 and I'm worried that you'll be able to see the laminations if I glue them up, and worried that spring back would be inconsistent making the cutting of the tenons a one off deal on each. Which I suppose is no big deal. And there is the cost of a steamer to throw into the bargain. And the fact that I've never steamed anything but rice.

So which route would you take? Any advice on making the laminated pieces look like solid wood?

[Jamie Buxton]

I'd laminate them. My experience is that bent lamination is a more repeatable process, at least in my hands.

If your design will tolerate it, turn the quartersawn oak so that the flatsawn face is the wide dimension of the slats, and the quartersawn face is the edges of the slats. The quartersawn face has those long grain lines, and they disguise the glue seams. Also, keep track of the laminates as you cut them, and reassemble them in order when you laminate them back together. Then the colors and grain lines are continuous.

[Lee Schierer]

If you steam bend, you might have to make more than the exact number you need to get pieces that fit well together due to spring back differences between different grains.

[Bill Carey]

thx gents - I'll laminate. Was not looking forward to buying and setting up a steamer for just this project.