I am in the proces of restoring an old bed (still trying to figure out what species of wood it’s made of) and came up against an interesting problem. The lower slat on the headboard (which is dadoed to receive a solid wood panel) was bent…to the tune of more than 2 inches over the board’s 50 inch length. I’ve not had time to construct a steaming box, which would be the proper way to proceed. The board is 4 inches wide by 3/4 thick.
Last night I had the bright idea of tossing the board into my hot tub. It’s 104 degrees and essentially chemical free. Before proceeding, I stripped the varnish off the board and cleaned it up the best I could. This morning I removed the board and have it clamped to remove the bend plus a little more for springback.
Anybody have a clue as to whether this will work?
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Probably but who knows.. When assembling plan for screwed down slats to hold it straight.. Just me...
I tried that once too, making some curved forms for a canoe carrying thwart. It worked, but the wood seemed wetter than when steaming. Under the circumstances, I think you might get away with it. BTW, because of the moisture, I used gorilla glue and that worked pretty well. Good luck.
Long ago.. 196 something.. I built a 22 foot or so in-board cabin cruiser from plans I got from straight grained fir..ALL the bending was just ALOT of wetted newpaper wrapped around the wood and a chain hoist to hold the bend.. a week or two and kept the paper wet... REALLY...Last time I saw it was about two years ago and it still floats!
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