How to bend wood like this - Outdoor furniture project

[Mel Fulks]

Alan, that should have been “to my esteamed Friend”.

[Jim Becker]

Thanks, Jim. LOL.

Very impressive setup for steam bending wood. Best I've ever seen.

Now next question then. What are good outdoor woods that are also good for steam bending?
And how in the world to get springback to stay the same in each piece. Leave them bent in the form for a long time?

White oak (preferably air dried), Mahogany, etc. You do the bend for the layers twice; with steam first and left to dry in the form and then glued and clamped in the form to final. You need to do this as a bent lamination, not full thickness.

[John TenEyck]

True, although in the designs that OP shows in the photo that would not provide as clean a look to the furniture components because the glue lines will become a pattern as you build up layers. Those components are, my guess, 6-8" tall. Now an interesting option here would be to build the "core" of the components like you state and then bend a "thick veneer" around them, inside and out.

That technique is sometimes used for building drawers with curved fronts.

John

[John TenEyck]

Ah, hadn't seen the seam on the left chair/couch. That also might have been done to decrease the length of the board needed to make that couch.

I don't see a seam on the chair in the middle.

I thought this had to be bent lamination, but they seem to have done a very good job at the veneer seams on the top of the arms.

Not sure if I understand the 3/4" thick wood use.

This is what I meant:



The ring sits on top of the not shown inner plies. The ring is made from solid wood and preferably is made from 3 or more segments to keep the grain running roughly parallel with the curve.

John

[Alan Lightstone]

This is what I meant:



The ring sits on top of the not shown inner plies. The ring is made from solid wood and preferably is made from 3 or more segments to keep the grain running roughly parallel with the curve.

John

Really interesting. Never saw that before. Thanks, John.

[Alan Lightstone]

White oak (preferably air dried), Mahogany, etc. You do the bend for the layers twice; with steam first and left to dry in the form and then glued and clamped in the form to final. You need to do this as a bent lamination, not full thickness.

That's a great idea, Jim. Never seen that described before in any articles/posts on bending. Definitely going to try that approach.

[Alan Lightstone]

To bend solid oak like that you require a serious bending press ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_cy...ngelsCoachShop

Regards from Perth

Derek

Impressive. Petrifying, but impressive.

[Jim Becker]

That's a great idea, Jim. Never seen that described before in any articles/posts on bending. Definitely going to try that approach.

That's the method that is shown in many of the videos on the YouTube channel I referred you too. Almost all of Darren's projects involved bent lamination.

[Alan Lightstone]

LOL I fat-fingered the spelling

https://www.youtube.com/@darrenoatesfinefurniture3648

I can't find where he has listed the parts / equipment he uses for that pulley/form system. It really is the best I've ever seen. I'd love to duplicate that for furniture in the future.

[Alan Lightstone]

That's the method that is shown in many of the videos on the YouTube channel I referred you too. Almost all of Darren's projects involved bent lamination.

I've seen bent lamination. But never a combination of steam bending and bent lamination. Seems to correct a number of issues with just doing steam bending (especially springback).

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Some big manufacturers use ammonia gasification for things like that.
Lets talk about Ammonia [Archive] - Sawmill Creek Woodworking Community

Steam bending Pryor to lamination works well and is used in making banjo rims and boat ribs. These chair back legs are done that way too.

IMG_0595.jpg IMG_20160813_201356426(1).jpg IMG_0895.jpg

[John TenEyck]

Really interesting. Never saw that before. Thanks, John.

Not my idea; I've seen it done by Michael Fortune, I think.

John

[Andrew Hughes]

Have you thought about cypress for that outdoor project. Should be plenty of it in Florida the cypress we have on the west coast everyone calls cedar its pretty easy to work and bends great. Not sure about particular species out there is it Bald cypress. Ive used it once though it was interesting wood almost waxing if I remember right.
Its a nice looking design.
Good Luck

[Jim Becker]

I can't find where he has listed the parts / equipment he uses for that pulley/form system. It really is the best I've ever seen. I'd love to duplicate that for furniture in the future.

That's because he doesn't. But it you do some screen scrapes, it should be something you can figure out.

[Steve Demuth]

Steam bending and then gluing the laminations is a great technique where you need small radius bends relative to the mass of the final form. I use it to create rims for basket construction.

PXL_20240229_141532453.jpgPXL_20240229_141540189.jpground basket (2).jpg

The radius on the trug rims is only an inch and a half or so on the inside of the curves. Wood choice also matters, of course. These are made from 1/8" lams of red elm - elm is stringy, fibrous wood that takes heat bending extremely well. Not suitable for outdoor furniture, but brilliant for stuff like this.