On Dec 7, 8:23 am, Terry K wrote:
I have used castoff aluminium guttering to heat / steam wood. By
folding the ends up just so to retain the water and using two pieces,
one as a lid, sitting on a couple of camp stoves, I was able to boil
teak. Then I found out that teak does not benefit from steaming.
Still, the method was satisfactory in principal.

Terry K

Let me explain my last post. I do not think you method was
satisfactory in principal. Heat makes the wood cell walls soft so they
can be bent, but only once. Once the wall is heated soft, if the
temperature drops, even for a few seconds, it will harden, and once
that happens that's it, it will not resoften. Aluminum, with water, on
heating elements screams uneven heat to me. The water around the
elements will be a different temp than the surrounding water, aluminum
sheds heat so fast, there is probably no way to keep an even temp
throughout the box. As the different areas heat and cool, you lose the
ablility to get any benefit from the steam by the time you pull it
from the steam box. I could be wrong, but I do not think your method
was satisfactory in principal, Just my opinion. All of my steam boxes
are 3/4 inch wood panels. I drill a 1 inch hole in the end and put a
rag in to keep the steam box full and moving...