Wood bending question

[Toni Ciuraneta]

Hi guys.
I'm thinking about making a table that involves woodbending. Is it possible to bend an oak board of 7.8" width by 1.5" thick with the tools that most of us have at home, basically clamps and a jig?
Any help will be appreciated.

 

[Jim DeLaney]

Hi guys.
I'm thinking about making a table that involves woodbending. Is it possible to bend an oak board of 7.8" width by 1.5" thick with the tools that most of us have at home, basically clamps and a jig?
Any help will be appreciated.

Probably not, Toni.
First - For a plank that thick you'd need to steam it for several hours, then be ready to complete the bend within less than a minute.
Also - A plank that big would requite some strapping around it, and some sort of winch devise to pull it around the form. This would likely be a two, or even a three person task.

BTW, kiln dries wood is harder to bend than air dried because the heat of the kiln 'sets' some of the resins within the wood's cells.

A better (more practical?) way of getting the bend would be to laminate the wood in thin strips - somewhere between 1.5mm and 3mm depending on the radius of the bend - and using either epoxy or a resin-based glue like Unibond. Messy, and still challenging, but (hopefully) doable.

 

[Bill Satko]

Toni, check out Engles Coach Shop. I subscribe to his channel and he is always bending large and relatively thick boards for his coach building. I have included one such video and he has others. A search of his video's may give you an idea of what is possible and the necessary techniques required.

I hope all is well with you my friend.

 

[Paul Douglass]

I have done some wood bending, small projects. Looks to me like you could maybe do it in thin layers glued together. Would not be real easy but maybe.....

Great video to watch... I really enjoy it.

 

[Toni Ciuraneta]

Hi guys, thanks a lot for your inputs. I was also thinking about bending bars of 1,5 x1,5” and glue them together afterwards to,reach the desired board width. I guess that it should be easier. Now I have to build my steam generator (or buy one) and my steam tube, plus the jigs and all the rest before starting out. Great video Bill , thanks for it, I’ll watch some others as well before giving it a try.

 

[Ryan Mooney]

I think trying to get 1.5x1.5" bars aligned well enough after bending them would be super tricky. If I was going to do a glue up I'd probably cut to 1/16" or so slightly over full width sheets then glue them as bent up laminations around a form. You'll still have some spring back with that (varies depending on the glue) which you might or might not need to account for.

Folks certainly DO steam bend things that big, but it does take a fair bit of steam, speed, and force. Getting it all right on the first pass wouldn't be something I'd have a lot of confidence in

 

[Jim DeLaney]

I think trying to get 1.5x1.5" bars aligned well enough after bending them would be super tricky. If I was going to do a glue up I'd probably cut to 1/16" or so slightly over full width sheets then glue them as bent up laminations around a form. You'll still have some spring back with that (varies depending on the glue) which you might or might not need to account for.

Folks certainly DO steam bend things that big, but it does take a fair bit of steam, speed, and force. Getting it all right on the first pass wouldn't be something I'd have a lot of confidence in

As I said earlier: "A better (more practical?) way of getting the bend would be to laminate the wood in thin strips - somewhere between 1.5mm and 3mm depending on the radius of the bend - and using either epoxy or a resin-based glue like Unibond. Messy, and still challenging, but (hopefully) doable. "

I've done some that way, and it works well. You could even glue it up a few laminations at a time if you're not in a hurry. Easier that way. If you carefully stack the layers in the same order they're cut, the joints between the lams are less noticeable.

 

[Toni Ciuraneta]

As I said earlier: "A better (more practical?) way of getting the bend would be to laminate the wood in thin strips - somewhere between 1.5mm and 3mm depending on the radius of the bend - and using either epoxy or a resin-based glue like Unibond. Messy, and still challenging, but (hopefully) doable. "

I've done some that way, and it works well. You could even glue it up a few laminations at a time if you're not in a hurry. Easier that way. If you carefully stack the layers in the same order they're cut, the joints between the lams are less noticeable.

The radius (not decided yet) will be between 5 and 7, 5’ and the bent 90 degrees. My only question about laminating strips is: do I need to run them through the thicknesser to get both surfaces smooth or can it be done directly from the resawing, I guess that for a less visible joints I should run them through the thicknesser.

 

[Jim DeLaney]

The radius (not decided yet) will be between 5 and 7, 5’ and the bent 90 degrees. My only question about laminating strips is: do I need to run them through the thicknesser to get both surfaces smooth or can it be done directly from the resawing, I guess that for a less visible joints I should run them through the thicknesser.

It'll depend a lot on your resaw blade. I have a Laguna Resaw King blade that will yield a gluable surface right off the saw. Other blade may not work as well. Epoxy or Unibond will fill small sawing imperfections.

BTW, do not use an aliphatic resin glue (like Titebond or Elmers) for your laminating. They tend to 'creep' and show the joints between laminations.

 

[Paul Douglass]

I think trying to get 1.5x1.5" bars aligned well enough after bending them would be super tricky. If I was going to do a glue up I'd probably cut to 1/16" or so slightly over full width sheets then glue them as bent up laminations around a form. You'll still have some spring back with that (varies depending on the glue) which you might or might not need to account for.

Folks certainly DO steam bend things that big, but it does take a fair bit of steam, speed, and force. Getting it all right on the first pass wouldn't be something I'd have a lot of confidence in

This is what I was trying to say... You said it better... Thin strips glued to get to the thickness needed... I made the cowling for my kayak that way....