- All the parts are ready!
- Tightest radius yet. Around 2.5″.
- Prevents the wood from stretching in length, which will cause fractures during the bend.
- A little MIG welding and then ready to bend.
- CNC produced forms to hold the pieces in place as they cure. Plenty of air flow around the wood.
- Opted for a tapered lamination for the complex back leg. Must meet deadlines.
- A fairly simple bend.
- Success! 1 1/4″ white oak bent at a 3.5″ radius.
- Due to impending deadlines, I moved with the bends I was “sure” I could do. Looks like I was right. 🙂
- It definitely worked, but here you can see the Beech is still problematically squishy.
- Steel still slips. This may be the game changer.
- This is when I started considering the Beech as a possible cause for some of the issues.
- Multiple failures due to some issues with the steel strap slipping and leverage problems.
- Needed some extra force and control to make the quick bend. This might help.
- Welded some beefy Jorgenson clamps.
- Needed some stronger clamps. Twisted the angle iron.
- Get ready!
- Sewer pipe retro-fit into a steam chamber to prepare the wood for bending.
Here’s a handful of weeks of mad scientist style exploration of the steam bending process. Lots of trial and error. To say it simply, I steam the wood for a couple hours and then use around three minutes of workable time to insert the wood into a strap, fix it on the form, bend it with long pipes as levers and then fix it to the formwork with clamps. Videos to come. Enjoy!
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