Steam Bending wood?

[caedmon]

I plan to do some steam bending of wood this coming summer, does anyone have experience with it? (Especially using period/primitive methods?

[Ringulf]

I have done quite a bit of steam bending for wooden boat building. let me know what you are up to and I will do my best to advise you.

[Addreonynn]

The Woodwright shop did an episode on bending wood for a chair. Trying to find a link now.

[BrianGrubbs]

I did a lot of steam bending for the crib that I made for my daughter, but not so much period methods. I just used a fabric steamer with 4" PVC as the steam chamber.

As usual, it sounds like Ringulf is the person to ask

Brian

[caedmon]

What I want to make is this: (sans monkeys)

barrow.png (469.29 KiB) Viewed 11017 times

I need to steam the handles to get the proper uniform bend.

I want to use a primitive steam pit (dig a long trench/line with rocks /burn a big fire in it/smother fire with wet hay /add wood/ add more hay/cover with dirt/wait)

but if that doesn't work, I'd happily build a steam box.

The handles will be at least 10' long and 2"x3" at their widest.

[BrianGrubbs]

Sans monkeys? Why the irrational hatred of monkeys? The primitive steam pit sounds cool, though for a more sustained steam you might try having a fire heating rocks that you can put into a small tent (thinking sweat lodge on small scale). If you made a long low tent with a pit in the middle, you could replace the rocks as they cool as well as putting water on them to get the steam going. This would allow for a much longer sustained steam which you will need for a thicker piece of wood. The general rule is one hour of steam for every inch of thickness.

Just as a disclaimer, I've never seen it done this way, but it seems like it might work.

Brian

[Ringulf]

I agree with Brian...without the Monkeys it's just a dolly!

No really the method you propose is certainly more period, but I see timing and and control as major obstacles that would be lessened by a steam box.
Not all too sure how old the method is, but trapping steam from boiling water in a containment device sized to fit the piece of lumber needed does not seem all that advanced to me. The way that is accomplished might be.
However, the timing and the control is everything in steam bending. Doing it over a nice barrel-like jig will also be a key to getting both pieces uniform in the amount of time you have to form the bend in the wood before you start encountering hard spots. Making a two sided jig with the same silhouette as the intended bend minus the cross planking's thickness, with a brace at the staring end and a spot to clamp the handle ends will help. Do make sure you let the handles extend a bit past the desired length for bending then cut them off when they are dried and set, this may seem obvious, but you don't know how many times I have seen folks try to bend the exact length plank or frame they needed and did not take into account the swell of the wood as a factor in their measurement.

[BrianGrubbs]

The rig this guy uses to bend his canoe spars is pretty simple, and I'm sure would be possible in period.

http://www.bushcraft.ridgeonnet.com/sof ... anoe-3.htm

Brian

P.S. This is also just a cool article in general...

[Ringulf]

BTW for strip building I have used a tea kettle hooked up to insulated aluminum gutters. Not period, but they do a hell of a job at low cost!