Steam wood

Hows it Boet

sorry i cant help you on this one never done steaming before

Andy

-- cut it saw it scrap it

I made a steam box out of 6”PVC pipe and it is a little over seven feet long. I have a tee in the middle of the steamer and supply the steam with a radiator hose. The steam generator is a metal gas can and propane burner. I have half inch dowels about every two feet of the pipe inserted through half inch holes to keep the wood being bent from sitting in the colder condesate. The temperature in the steamer is about 210 degrees F. I usually give the item about 15 to 20 minutes in the steamer and then try to get it bent within a minute or less after it comes out. I let it cool in the jig for about the same time and then tie the ends together with twine and remove it from the jig. The jig has a slightly smaller diameter than the desired dimension built in so when the wood relaxes be the desired size.The wood I bend is relatively green douglas fir, pine and oak. Wood that has been air dried would probably require a longer time in the steamer. I have read that kiln dried wood will not bend very well, that is it will split, crack, or break. Not to say that green wood doesn’t heve issues being bent also. Good luck and if you need more detail on the steamer let me know. I did see a steamer box made out of 1/4” plywood that was about 6” square and 4 feet long and it worked well also.

first…pine dont like to bend, spruce will somewhat, and at 38mm , approx 1 1/2 it will probably be very tough, pine has alot of resin , which prevents it from getting wet enough to really soften the fiber, you would be much better lamanating the bend, you will have to get it really hot, the PVC is a great idea, one of the best steam sources I have come across is a good wallpaper steamer, they have a semi closed system , which is needed to get steam over the typical 212 degree mark, the average time is about 1 hour for each inch of thickness , pine I would go longer…..green wood bends better than dried wood , by far, but once steamed dries down very quick, as to time to keep it in clamps , several days ,on the pine, if it bends…be sure to overbend it to allow for spring back, perhaps an extra inch, ( 25mm) , this will be interesting to see how it bends….the biggest thing with the pine will be getting it as hot as possible to soften the resin, if it has been dried…pine is often heated to about 160 degrees to “set the resin”, best of luck to you…hope this helped

Ok…..... I’ll take both on.
I think I’m sort of confident. Maybe…........ Shoot…....... I should be…......... Was it like this for your first time as well?
I’m recording this for prosperity. I’ll give it a go and make it work.
Don’t hassle I will never in a million years exagerate.
Thanks for the replies

-- "Even small steps makes a distance." (Shawn Phillips, musician)

Instead of steam bending the pine can you re-saw it and glue laminate it up in a form using a urea resin glue? It would much more practical with less potential for future problems.

-- Oldworld, Fair Oaks, Ca

look in projects ,
mattd just posted a steam bender he made for $75.00

or put his name in search window to find it

-- david ,new mexico ,allheart

here’s my take http://lumberjocks.com/projects/5618

-- Tim -- http://tmuli.com

People will tell you that you can’t steam pine. Here is a contest winner in LumberJocks. This project has been viewed 124 thousand times.

Ryan has not yet posted how he did it. He posted some that failed. But it was a long process from an expert woodworker.

-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

I think I would use the laminated approach like john said. If I remember right Karson,Ryan soaked it in glycerin but still had a lot of failures.

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon

After reviewing what all of you LJ had to say I started to build my own steamer.
My first attempt melted the inlet tubes so badly they were destroyed. My second attempt is more of a copper pipe and heat proof fittings. (Photos to follow soon)
I will never be in Ryan Shervill’s legue Never!
Look. If all else fails I will have to take the resaw approach. I’ve committed to building the steam box and 90%
complete. If it does’nt work????? then what do I do with my “hi tech” steamer ?
Thanks all especially ‘tenontim’ and ‘Elksniffer’.

-- "Even small steps makes a distance." (Shawn Phillips, musician)

Regardless how the pine works out you’ll have your steam box. Hope it works great.

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon