Hey out there,
Some steam bending advice please. I plan to bend some chair rails using 1/2″ quartered white oak. The plan call out a 90″ radius on the bend and an arc length of 32″ . Questions:
1/ With an arc length of 32″ how much longer should I cut the flat stock length to allow for the bend?
2/ I normally use a trammel or string to lay out arcs on rails etc. Apart from finding a 90″+ stick or an equivalent length of string, along with the amount of room required to lay this out, is there another way to achieve this bend?
3/ How much should I reduce the radius to allow for any spring back?
Thanks.
Regards, Earl J
Replies
Earl,
1) I'd allow a couple inches extra , and cut to final length after things dry out.
2)Can you lay out the extremes of the curve, that is, locate the two end points, and the center, by other means? Then use a flexible strip (I have a piece of plexiglas about 36" X2") to fair a curve thru the points.
3) The amt of springback will vary with a number of circumstances. If you can use absolutely green stock (split from a recently felled tree) springback will be less. If the growth rings are oriented so that face grain is against the form, springback wil be less. The greater the diameter of the arc, the less springback. Try one and see, then adjust accordingly.
Regards,
Ray
That's a very gentle curve ... you may not need to steam bend it. Try just dry heating it with a heat gun and bending it that way. It saves time and you can check your system (by doing a test piece) really quickly. I made me a giant trammel compass by making a block with a sharpened piece of drill rod (for a compass point) glued into a hole and mounting it on a 1x lumber sleeve that surrounds a 1x2 bar and has a peg hole which locks it into position. I then made a groove in one end of the 1x2 and lashed a pencil into that. Now I can layout curves with radii as long as my 1x2.
You could probably just soak them in water for that bend. Steam probably not necessary.
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