Replies

1. 
   dude | Oct 11, 2012 04:03am | #1

   bending wood

   Have you looked at a few of the books on bending sold by Lee Valley

   I have a number of them & they seem to be quite informative

2. 
   Westchester | Oct 11, 2012 05:36am | #2

   Failures

   Try changing the grain direction

   SA

3. 
   dustyest | Oct 11, 2012 05:47pm | #3

   compression failure

   I have built numerous chairs with steam bent back posts and have never experienced compression issues. That being said it may be you are steaming the wood too long causing the cells to collapse. Try half an hour in the box. Green wood, if straight grained, especially oak and ash, should bend like spaghetti! As your stock is thin you might try limbering it, to break the lignin bonds. Place the hot blank over your bending radius and flex it . Flip it over and flex it in the opposite direction, then quickly onto the form with strap in place to make the bend. Good luck!

1. 
   anjaleena | Oct 12, 2012 03:47am | #4

   I agree with all of them , All you need to apply is concepts of physics.

4. 
   Saville | Oct 12, 2012 10:11am | #5

   one hour per inch

   I would steam it for one hour for every inch of the smallest dimension.  Since your smallest dimension is the 1" thickness - steam it for an hour.  But NO MORE.

   Oversteaming renders the wood brittle and subject to cracking.

   Also when measuring that one hour, that should be one hour of full steam. Do not put the wood in the steam box and then light the burner....  First light the burner and then wait untill you have a full head of steam. Then put the wood in the box and start counting the hour.

   Try to avoid grain runout in the piece you are steaming.

   I wrote up a steambending FAQ, several years ago, which you can read if you like: 

   http://home.comcast.net/~saville/Steambend.htm

   best of luck!