78 Woodworking Steambending wood: The wood:
Description
This article is from the Woodworking FAQ Collection 1, by multiple authors.
78 Woodworking Steambending wood: The wood:
Generally it is best if you can get green wood. I know that this
makes the cabinetmakers among us shudder. But the plain fact is that
green wood bends easier than dried wood. I can take a 6 foot
long, one inch thick piece of white oak; clamp one end to the bench
and hand bend the piece to the curvature I need - green wood is THAT
limber. However it won't stay bent, of course, so I steam it anyways.
In boatbuilding, rot is the main evil.
For those of us that have to worry about rot, the act of steaming
green wood removes the tendency
of green wood to rot. So no worries there - boat ribs are typically
made from steam bent oak and will not rot in a well cared for boat.
But i've done a lot of steaming of kiln dried oak and it works fine
too.
One thing you want to try to avoid in your selection of wood for
bending is grain runout. This will promote cracking when you bend.
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