Steam Bending

I've looked at steam bending wood many times, but the gear and time needed is way too much to do just one piece for fun.

I first saw steam bending almost 60 years ago in my own home. My father was a cabinet maker, and he was building a 3 foot long model cabin cruiser for radio control use. He built the boat in miniature exactly the way a real boat was. After the ribs were in place he hand cut 1/4" thick mahogany strips to the shape of the boat, and then took each one to the kitchen, where he hung the tiny plank over a large saucepan of boiling water for a half hour or so. Then took the plank to the boat and used brass pins and cascamite glue to fix it. The next day after it had dried, he then shaped the next plank. Drove my mother crazy with the steamed up kitchen day after day.

Way to fiddly for my low attention span nowadays. I still have the boat, its on top of the cabinet next to me.

The process itself really depends on the desired results. Thickness, width and type of wood pretty much narrows down the kind of bending gear you'll need. Laminated vs solid also comes into play. I think that most of the small shops out there can get away with the easily made shopmade or store bought box style benders. Relatively easy to build or affordable, a nice addition to the shop a steam bender opens alot of doors.
I use a shopmade heatgun and tube style bender. IMHO there are advantages and disadvantages to this method. It is a very hands-on process. I can control the diameter of the bends better by changing out the tube. You have constant feedback with regards to where you're at within the process. It is possible to make changes after the wood has settled in. The thinner the wood the quicker the process.. Anything over an 1/8 takes More effort and More time. More than anything else I like the heatgun method because it is so hands on. Disadvantages are (depending on your perspective)�� are very hands-on, thicker stock can be difficult to bend, need to be watchful of burning the wood (especially cherry and maple) and some woods can pretty pretty much just smell bad during the process like oak. Ive got a couple pics in my Chess table 'll thread.
All in all I think most shops would be most pleased with the steam box as opposed to the hear gun. Either way not exceptionally difficult to learn and the opportunities bending offers are pretty cool

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Well I've just tried steam bending for the first time, 2" x 0.5" section quarter sawn oak to a radius of 20" (see photos). I had to bend 14 of these to form new slats for a set of 4 folding garden chairs. I made a steam box using an old wallpaper stripper to generate the steam and it reached a consistent internal temperature of 95 deg C. 25-30 minutes was long enough to make the wood pliable. I didn't bother to use a strap, just bent the wood around a form and held it with clamps for an hour or so until the wood cooled to room temp.

The only problems I had were where there were clearly flaws in the wood, they opened up or split a bit on bending, but I didn't have any complete breakages. I guessed at how much springback there would be - I wanted a final radius of 24" and it seemed to turn out about right. Each piece of bent oak made two slats, and these were then attached to the metal frames using copper rivets. Should look nice when they've weathered. I hope they see me out after the amount of time it took, but it was a lot more fun than most household repairs!!