A simple and cheap steamer for bending wood can be made using a pressure cooker and some ordinary pipe fittings. Screw out the center post of a pressure cooker. A Presto brand cooker has 1/4-in. pipe threads; others may be different. Purchase adapters for this fitting so it will connect with 1/2-in. flexible (ribbed) tubing, and a pipe nipple and bell adapter to bring the other end out to fit a 2-in. pipe. A piece of 2-in. pipe about 50 in. long makes an excellent steam chamber. The length should be an inch more than the longest piece you plan to bend; you can always lengthen the chamber by adding couplings and more pipe. Use another bell reducer on the other end, then put on a faucet to regulate the amount of steam and drain excess water. I use our kitchen pressure cooker; all these fittings cost less than $15.

Cut and shape the wood the way you want it to be finished, then put it in the chamber and screw on the bell reducer and faucet assembly. Fill the pressure cooker to about 2 in. from the top, tighten all fittings, screw into the top of the cooker, and open the faucet. After it starts to steam, close this valve so the water drips out but just a small amount of steam escapes. Never close the valve all the way, or an explosion could occur. A piece of straight-grained wood 5/8 in. thick should easily bend around a form for a Winsdor chair after thirty minutes of steaming.

If you use a pressure canner that has a gauge on it, you can safely steam wood with pressurized steam. For safest operation, remove the gauge and attach your steam tube to that hole, leaving the rocker assembly in place. Fit the gauge on at the end of the steam chamber by using a pipe tee and reducing bushings. Using the end valve as a regulator and keeping an eye on the gauge, you can generate superhot steam up to 240¡ F (at 15 lb. pressure). Ten pounds will cut the steaming time approximately in half. Watch the gauge at all times and be sure that the pressure cooker’s safety valve is clean. Always let some steam escape through the end valve to keep the superheated steam flowing around the wood.

George Pilling, Elgin, Ariz.

Fine Woodworking Magazine, Spring 1978 No. 10

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