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bending wood

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gobigblue

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how would you bend the rails for this boat looking thing? my wife found it on pinterest seems like a pretty simple project(for the winter). im really wondering how would I go about building the frame pieces top and bottom and bending them and getting them to stay all in the same shape? I was thinking I would then route a slot inside each rail and slide a piece of luan in there for the sides/and back.

 

 

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steam them or soak them in the hottest water you can get

 

this might be the dumbest question of the week, but can I build a form out of some wooden dowels drilled into a 2x8 or something like that, use a clothes iron to heat the wood and just bend them into the form, then let them cool and that's it?

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Lot easier to bend thinner pieces so you could use ripped down strips for gunwales and inwales trapping the luan in between. Should be able to bend as a unit, glue and clamp them as a unit. There will be some spring back but will hold most of the curve. You can use two strips for each gunwale/inwale if you want them thicker and then just glue 5 pieces together on a jig. You can make the jig with a slightly smaller radius to compensate for spring back.

 

If you want to make a single piece and put luan in a dado I would still bend a stack of strips, glue and clamp on a jig.

 

Steam bending is great stuff but with inch or so thick stock not so much.

 

Air dried wood bends more easily with less breaking than kiln dried and you want to find some fairly straight grained stuff or grain with tend to break out.

 

Length of pvc pipe with one end stuck over a kettle spout to steam them. Tape the strips together in the exact stack you want them in as you steam them because you have little time between steamer and the jig before you lose the window. After the strips have dried on the jig you glue them up.

 

Plywood for a base with pieces screwed to it every couple inches for the jig. Or a piece of plywood shaped to the curve you want with 2 inch holes every couple inches for the clamps

"I have ... put a lump of ice into an equal quantity of water ...  if a little sea salt be added to the water we shall produce a fluid sensibly colder than the ice was in the beginning, which has appeared a curious and puzzling thing to those unacquainted with the general fact."- Joseph Black

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But with clamps for all the holes

 

980340

"I have ... put a lump of ice into an equal quantity of water ...  if a little sea salt be added to the water we shall produce a fluid sensibly colder than the ice was in the beginning, which has appeared a curious and puzzling thing to those unacquainted with the general fact."- Joseph Black

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"I have ... put a lump of ice into an equal quantity of water ...  if a little sea salt be added to the water we shall produce a fluid sensibly colder than the ice was in the beginning, which has appeared a curious and puzzling thing to those unacquainted with the general fact."- Joseph Black

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That may be small enough to do a brick laid glue up of 2" thick stock and  cut it on a bandsaw.  Might not be super strong but it should hold together on something like that. I imagine you are not going too far offshore so....



Other than that I would laminate like Jim has pictured before bending.


That's nice Jim...what are you making there?


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years ago if we were building something curved and the house had a pool we'd throw the lumber in for 3 days then bend. A little project like your's would best be served by bending luan plywood dry. Due to the angle of the sides when you bend a square piece of wood on the side it will not be flat with the bottom so let the sides go by and trim them to the bottom after. Below is a curved desk I built for a dentist office that uses 2 layers of 1/4 luan installed one over the other. Framing was about 6 inch o/c at the curve. Single layers bend easily. The pine stiles were bent dry by cutting slits in the back 3/4's of the way thru and 1/8 inch apart. The moldings are made of 3 layers of luan applied one at a time. They hide the slots in the pine.1807406


1807407


1807404


Ed Panzella


"BAITS MOTEL" - 2450 Maycraft Pilothouse


Higganum, Ct

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That may be small enough to do a brick laid glue up of 2" thick stock and  cut it on a bandsaw.  Might not be super strong but it should hold together on something like that. I imagine you are not going too far offshore so....

Other than that I would laminate like Jim has pictured before bending.

 

That's nice Jim...what are you making there?

 

Years ago I went on a little kick building a couple cedar strip canoes and a kayak. The stems on the kayak were steam bent and laminated.

"I have ... put a lump of ice into an equal quantity of water ...  if a little sea salt be added to the water we shall produce a fluid sensibly colder than the ice was in the beginning, which has appeared a curious and puzzling thing to those unacquainted with the general fact."- Joseph Black

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