Wondering if anyone has successfully steam bent strips of European Pear wood? We are trying to make a curved coffee table base that has a radius of 4″. Laminate strips are 1/16″ thick. They crack if we try to bend them dry — wondering if I might be able to steam them to make them more ‘plastic’? Everything I’ve been able to find on the web indicates that Pear does not bend well… Thank you!
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No, I haven't tried bending Pear but I am interested in the wood as an Ebony substitute.
One reference I have on Pear states " Pearwood is a tough, strong wood that is not suitable for steam bending. It machines well but can be rough to saw. Pearwood can also have a blunting effect on cutters. The wood finishes and polishes extremely well; when used for musical instruments, such as recorders, it is often stained black. Historically, pearwood has been used as a substitute for ebony."
There is some excellent steam-bending information in Veritas Steam-Bending Instruction Booklet - 05F15.01.
Most references to steam-bending wood characteristics I have seen usually use 1" thick wood as a baseline for determining the maximum bending radius. I have found other references to a general rule of thumb that you can bend to a radius between 20 - 30 times the thickness of the wood. The closer the radius is the bending limit the use of compression is required to stabilize the bend.
Hopes this helps and good luck with your project.
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