On Sun, 07 Mar 2004 03:29:04 GMT, steveJ vaguely
proposed a theory
.......and in reply I say!:

I wonder if the idea of soaking wood before steam bending comes from
trying to bend kiln dried wood by introducing some moisture back into
it. Certainly green wood bends easier than kiln dried. But I agree, it's
the heat, not the water that allows wood to bend. I've seen dry wood
bent with only heat. Water was used only to keep the wood from scorching.

Woah! New! I have seen "fire bending" of wood. But it was always
associated with Asian/African boats etc, where green wood was used
anyway. The idea of fire bending really dry timber, with water to
prevent scorching only, is a new "twist" G
************************************************** ** sorry

..........no I'm not!
remove ns from my header address to reply via email

Spike....Spike? Hello?

Well Nick, I must admit that where I saw this was not on a boat.
Musical instrument makers have been doing this for centuries to bend the
sides of guitars and such. Though the wood was thin, I've seen a guitar
maker bend honduran mahogany using a two inch iron pipe that was set up
on a stand with a propane torch burning in the middle of the pipe.
water was sprayed on the surface of the wood to prevent burning. Worked
very well. I wonder if this concept/tool cold be used for larger pieces
for bending ribs on small boats. I see no reason why it wouldn't work
when making small ribs like for a kayak or something.

Old Nick wrote:
On Sun, 07 Mar 2004 03:29:04 GMT, steveJ vaguely
proposed a theory
......and in reply I say!:


I wonder if the idea of soaking wood before steam bending comes from
trying to bend kiln dried wood by introducing some moisture back into
it. Certainly green wood bends easier than kiln dried. But I agree, it's
the heat, not the water that allows wood to bend. I've seen dry wood
bent with only heat. Water was used only to keep the wood from scorching.


Woah! New! I have seen "fire bending" of wood. But it was always
associated with Asian/African boats etc, where green wood was used
anyway. The idea of fire bending really dry timber, with water to
prevent scorching only, is a new "twist" G
************************************************** ** sorry

.........no I'm not!
remove ns from my header address to reply via email

Spike....Spike? Hello?

steveJ wrote:

Well Nick, I must admit that where I saw this was not on a boat.
Musical instrument makers have been doing this for centuries to bend the
sides of guitars and such. Though the wood was thin, I've seen a guitar
maker bend honduran mahogany using a two inch iron pipe that was set up
on a stand with a propane torch burning in the middle of the pipe.
water was sprayed on the surface of the wood to prevent burning. Worked
very well. I wonder if this concept/tool cold be used for larger pieces
for bending ribs on small boats. I see no reason why it wouldn't work
when making small ribs like for a kayak or something.

I suspect that it would be difficult to get even heating of a 1/4" thick
kayak rib, but it might be worth a try. However, steam bending is so
easy that I'm not sure if the experiment would be worth the effort.

On Thu, 11 Mar 2004 15:34:31 GMT, Brian Nystrom
wrote:

steveJ wrote:

Well Nick, I must admit that where I saw this was not on a boat.
Musical instrument makers have been doing this for centuries to bend the
sides of guitars and such. Though the wood was thin, I've seen a guitar
maker bend honduran mahogany using a two inch iron pipe that was set up
on a stand with a propane torch burning in the middle of the pipe.
water was sprayed on the surface of the wood to prevent burning. Worked
very well. I wonder if this concept/tool cold be used for larger pieces
for bending ribs on small boats. I see no reason why it wouldn't work
when making small ribs like for a kayak or something.

I suspect that it would be difficult to get even heating of a 1/4" thick
kayak rib, but it might be worth a try. However, steam bending is so
easy that I'm not sure if the experiment would be worth the effort.

How even does it have to be? As I posted earlier, the curved sides of
Flemish harpsichords were bent over a hot iron, probably the top of
the shop stove, for about 2 centuries. The bent side started over 1/2
in thick. It is a little thinner at the area of greatest curvature
because they had to scrape the charcoal off before they could paint
it.


Rodney Myrvaagnes J36 Gjo/a

Smoking in a bar is like peeing in a punchbowl.

Rodney Myrvaagnes wrote:

I suspect that it would be difficult to get even heating of a 1/4" thick
kayak rib, but it might be worth a try. However, steam bending is so
easy that I'm not sure if the experiment would be worth the effort.


How even does it have to be? As I posted earlier, the curved sides of
Flemish harpsichords were bent over a hot iron, probably the top of
the shop stove, for about 2 centuries. The bent side started over 1/2
in thick. It is a little thinner at the area of greatest curvature
because they had to scrape the charcoal off before they could paint
it.

Well, I wouldn't want to be scraping any charocal off a rib that's only
1/4" thick to start with. Burning the outside in order to get the inside
hot enough to bend seems pretty ridiculous when you can steam the part
and have it bend with no damage. Perhaps the harpsicord makers couldn't
do this for some reason or perhaps there is something about the wood
they used that precluded it?

On Fri, 12 Mar 2004 18:49:00 GMT, Brian Nystrom
wrote:

Rodney Myrvaagnes wrote:

I suspect that it would be difficult to get even heating of a 1/4" thick
kayak rib, but it might be worth a try. However, steam bending is so
easy that I'm not sure if the experiment would be worth the effort.


How even does it have to be? As I posted earlier, the curved sides of
Flemish harpsichords were bent over a hot iron, probably the top of
the shop stove, for about 2 centuries. The bent side started over 1/2
in thick. It is a little thinner at the area of greatest curvature
because they had to scrape the charcoal off before they could paint
it.

Well, I wouldn't want to be scraping any charocal off a rib that's only
1/4" thick to start with. Burning the outside in order to get the inside
hot enough to bend seems pretty ridiculous when you can steam the part
and have it bend with no damage. Perhaps the harpsicord makers couldn't
do this for some reason or perhaps there is something about the wood
they used that precluded it?

First, they started with it thick enough to end up as desired. Second,
the iron was on the inside of the curve (which is the outside of the
harpsichord. Third, what they did was probably the fastest way to do
it. They were not into spending a lot of time savoring the process.


Rodney Myrvaagnes J36 Gjo/a

Smoking in a bar is like peeing in a punchbowl.