I need to bend some oak for a corner on a counter, and I was thinking about using the steam box. Will oak bend or is it to hard for this. Might have to bend pine with a glued oak verneer.
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Bag, white oak, beech and ash are three of the standard woods woodworkers use for bending, whether in the form of steam bent or as laminations.
I can't tell from the little information you provide if you're likely to have success, but if you've picked the aforementioned white oak over red oak, you've picked one of the best.
Pine, on the other hand, is a poor choice for steam or laminate bending. It can be made to bend, but it's likely to cause many more problems and much more likely to fail than oak. Slainte.
Ditto everything that Slainte said. In adition, you'll want to get white oak that has not been kiln dried. Kiln drying has the effect of hardening the fibers permanently. When you steam the stuff, it is still not nearly as flexible as you need it.
Get some air-dried stock, or better yet, some that is still quite green. Then steam it.
Ditto all the comments: Oak or ash (in general soft wood doesn't steam so well). Air dried OK, greener is better. Best if the piece is cut so there is no grain runout (which increases potential for cracking). Steam one hour per inch of thickness. A friend is doing steaming within lengths of raw plastic-bag stock. He keeps the steam flowing even as he's bending the wood.
Questions: Dimensions required and radius of bend. Obviously the tighter the radius and the larger the stock the more likely failure.
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