# Bending Cypress Question



## DMIHOMECENTER (Mar 5, 2011)

I have four (4) each 1×4 sticks of cypress 16 feet in length. I bought them with the intention of bending them and laminating them together to make a curved hammock stand.

Can I soak them in my pool in order to prep them for bending ? 
How long should I leave them in the drink before removing them ? 
Can I clamp them together bent and let them dry ? 
How dry before I laminate them with Titebond 3, many brads and as many screws ?
Am I on the right track with this ?

Please don't tell me to make a pvc soaking pipe filled with water and fabric softener. lol


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## Nomad62 (Apr 20, 2010)

A lot of your desired answer is in the info you didn't provide; how much are you going to bend them? If the wood will bend dry, then create a form, spread glue on 'em and clamp them to the form. If the bend will be too sharp, I would recommend resawing them in half then do the glue/clamp thing. If you need to wet them, then wet them, clamp them bent, then let them dry; unclamp them, glue them and clamp them to your form. Cold wetting is much less useful than steam, but steaming something that long would be mighty tough.


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## DMIHOMECENTER (Mar 5, 2011)

A picture says a thousand words. I am guessing a 10' radius +/-


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## Nomad62 (Apr 20, 2010)

That looks too tight to bend such a board all right. I would attempt to resaw them, at least in half but into 3 pieces would be better. It would be a tough thing to do without the right tools, but what the heck…talk is cheap anyway. A friend of mine does crazy cool things bending wood, and he rarely bends anything that is thicker than 1/4" or so, and mostly 1/8"; but his bends are tighter. The thing to dwell on is how hard is it to bend the wood; if it is hard to bend to the point you want then it will be under too much stress once you bend it, causing spring-back and/or warpage even after the glue dries. You should be able to somewhat easily bend it by hand to your spec. I would recommend getting a 2×4 and slicing about half an inch off of its length and bending it just to get an idea of what you may be working with. Now a 2×4 is fir, but it should be close enough to get a feel for what you need to do. Good luck with your sling, it is certainly a project worth doing well!


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## AdamWood (Jan 6, 2010)

David,

Did you ever complete this project as the wife has requested exactly the same thing and I am wondering how to bend the wood to the correct shape.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.


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## chrisstef (Mar 3, 2010)

just go to home depot ive seen plenty of lumber there bent just like that.


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## DMIHOMECENTER (Mar 5, 2011)

@chrisstef: You are right about that ! lol

@Adam: I have not begun this project yet. I still have the 64 lf of cypress 1×4, but have been putting the home shop together and scads of other things. I need to just go on and DO this.

My plan: In the pool for a few days. Attach the ends to 4×4 fence posts (my fence) with stakes to control arc, let dry awhile, then glue/brad/screw.


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## LarsCA (Jul 23, 2009)

I am also interested in bending cypress in order to make outdoor patio furniture. Cypress is not readily available on the West Coast, and so I am also looking for a good source to get 1/8" slices and boards for testing.


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## DMIHOMECENTER (Mar 5, 2011)

@LarsCA,

My little stack is still out in the pile waiting for someday… I still plan to use it on the curved hammock stand, but other things keep pushing it to the back burner.

As for supply, what length and width of 1/8" boards are you wanting to test with ?


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## Sawkerf (Dec 31, 2009)

In 1977 or 1978, I made some cross country skis for my then four year old daughter. After thinning the ends of a 1x? piece of cyrpus, I soaked the front ends in a 36 cup coffee pot full of hot water. IIRC, I left them in for several hours then bent and clamped the tips around a form I had made. When they had dried, the tips were dead on the curve I wanted.


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## DS (Oct 10, 2011)

Didn't Costco used to sell this hammock base for $99.00 ?


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## LarsCA (Jul 23, 2009)

David, the boards I want to test will be 2-1/2" W x 52" long, and they will make a fairly large arc to form the arm of a lounge chair for outdoor use.


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## DMIHOMECENTER (Mar 5, 2011)

@ds251, No Costco here in the "Good Life City", so i wouldn't know… but if it had 3×3 beams made out of cypress I'd take a dozen or two. lol I'm pretty sure that is the major difference in the $128 ones on amazon and the $500 ones on Amazon and elsewhere. The mid-priced ones (some) are made from larch and are not 3×3, either. I those lesser gauge models would never tote the 275 lbs. of this Grimes boy.

BTW… If I ever do this project, my beams will be 3.5" x 3.5" and it will NOT include the words "light weight" in the description OR any reviews.


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## bruc101 (Sep 13, 2008)

We did a set of castle doors for a restaurant built out of cypress several years ago. The doors were a full 2 inch thick. We also had to build the frame for the doors which was 6 inches wide without the mouldings. The images will give you an idea of the radius we were working with. We resawed the boards and finished them off at 1/8 inches. The was the max thickness we could bend to get the radius. We would put one board at a time in a large stream behind the shop and weight it down with rocks We would do that early in the mornings and leave it over night. We would take the board out the next morning and bend it over the frame and clamp it down the next morning. We did one board at a time so each board could dry and set some before we added another board. We used Gorilla glue. This took at least a week the best I can remember. The doors and the frame still look great. We eat there sometimes and I always take a close look at the doors and frame and so far…all is well!


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