Replies

1. 
   byhammerandhand | Apr 24, 2002 04:23am | #1

   Drew Langsner's "Green Woodworking" p.39 has a good table of comparative bendability:

   Good

   ash, beech, birch, cedar(western), soft elm, filbert, sweetgum, hackberry, hickory, madrone, magnolia, mulberry, red oak, white oak, osage orange, pecan, walnut, willow, yew

   Fair

   alder, atlantic white cedar, northern white cedar, cherry, chestnut, douglas fir, black gum, red gum, black locust, maple, southern yellow pine, redwood

   Poor

   Butternut, most conifers, cottonwood, dogwood, black gum, linden, live oak, yellow poplar, sycamore

1. 
   CKing62 | Apr 24, 2002 04:33am | #2

   Thanks for the information that should help

2. 
   chairmake1 | Apr 25, 2002 03:07am | #3

   Lee Valley Tools - look in their catalog - they have steambending accessories and a booklet on steambending. Verrrry usefull.

   Robert

3. 
   TomS | Apr 26, 2002 04:47am | #4

   I have found the oaks and ash to be the better woods for bending in my experience.  The preferred method is to rive the stock from a log, keeping the grain intact along the entire length of your piece.I have never used an aid to bend wood, but in Fine Woodworking  (June 2001) there was an article about this very subject with some interesting ideas.

   Good luck to you,

   Tom