How to bend wood.

[WilliamH]

I really like this swing stand but the price is quite high. How difficult is it to bend wood? It looks like the members are 1x stock laminated together.

http://www.porchswings.com/porch-swings/classic/products.cfm?action=view&key=RM006

http://is.netshops.com/mgen/digimarc.ms?img=master:HS628.jpg&transID=7&h=400&w=400

[Too Tall]

Last months WOOD magazine had an excellent article on bending wood. See if you can find a copy or go to their website. All they used was a tea kettle and some PVC. They did had directions for bigger projects and ways to do it other than a kettle. Looked and sounded very simple.
Could be this months magazine now that I think about it.

[Harbormaster]

You can soak the wood in water then laminate thin strips to a mold and let them dry!

I made this maple snow sled some years back by doing this. I'm trying to find pics of the oak bedroom set I made out of white and red oak laminated together. Turned out pretty good

It's all in the jigs and glue up!

[Brew]

Last months WOOD magazine had an excellent article on bending wood. See if you can find a copy or go to their website. I saw that issue on the rack at Wallyworld earlier today so you should still be able to get it.

Jeff

[Pocketfisherman]

Wood is pretty easy to bend if you build a steam box. You can make a cheap easy one out of some 4" PVC pipe layed across some saw horses, a couple of end caps, a hot plate, some clothes drier vent duct, and a tea kettle. You steam the wood for 2-3 hrs prior to bending, and you'll be amazed at how far you can take it. You need some kind of form, jig, or clamp to hold it as it will want to spring back until it cools. We used to make chair back for canoes, and ribs for canoes doing this. White ash was our preferred material, but cypress, Oak, or any other straight grained wood works good too. Cut a couple of pieces the same dimensions of the piece you want, and put it in the steam box all together so you have a few to practice on first. It would be very easy to steam bend the radius you pictured, and no messy epoxy to full with either. Plus, it is a classic technique that is always good to have stashed away in your bag of tricks.

[Bobby]

Look at this site
http://www.woodcentral.com/articles/shop/articles_295.shtml

[WilliamH]

Thanks all for the info. I think the easiest for me "wood" be to build a steam box.


This sounds cool and scary at the same time.
Ammonia: Both the gas and liquid ammonium hydroxide make boards very flexible. The gas is much more effective, but much more dangerous (toxic to humans). However, in a closed ammonia chamber, wood gets so pliable that you can tie a strip of it into a knot. It "sets" almost immediately once the ammonia dissipates in air, so bending must take place in the ammonia environment. Very dangerous, but really cool to see.