Hi. Looking at all the ways to bend a accoustic side and watching Marks' youtube video, it appears that the fundamental thing to bending is the creation of steam. So if this is the case, would a pipe dotted with holes and connected to a wallpaper steamer do the trick. Just a thought and probably over thinking, hopefully someone has tried and was succesful. Thanks
I think I might. It seems plausible to me but I really have no idea. Hopefully someone will stop me making a catastrophic error before I jump straight in (which is what I usually tend to do). If I can get hold of some 2mm wood I'll have a go. Cheers
@powerful can’t hurt to try as long as your experiment isn’t on expensive wood, I expect your main issue might be that you won’t get an even temperature over the length of the tube.
I’ve not bent wood before but I’d always thought a bending iron was used with a spray to wet the wood as opposed to direct application of steam?
…on an elaborate journey to turn trees into music.
Yes Tej me too which led me to believe that directly introducing steam would simplify things a bit. I know people use steam boxes so maybe this would give similar results. Again I'm only guessing and it's down to trial and error I suppose. Worth a try though when I get sorted out. I'll post the results here, good or bad or destroyed
It could work however too much moisture can cause a ripple effect across the wood as the steam is absorbed differently by different parts of the grain eg flame maple where there is light and dark. Thick gloves are essential I would say as real steam is invisible and scalds are non reversible unlike flame burns which can be lessened by cooling, scalding is instant and permanent. What we can see is condensed water vapour which although close to 100 deg C isn’t quite steam. Sorry to be pedantic but I would hate to see you reporting an accident.
Some people call me a tool, others are less complimentary. Tools being useful things.
@powerful . I just used a pipe and a heat gun. I got a 1 1/2" pipe that would fit over my heat guns tip. Put a bracket on in so I could clamp it in my vice. It is pretty low tech but it worked for the first one and I'm gonna do it on the build I'm doing now. I'll use this till I can save up for the fancy one
🙂
@powerful it is a snug fit but not tight. I dont think it needs to be a tight fit though. Just set it up so the heat gun doesn't fall out of the end when you are bending it. Not that it is a big fire risk but just annoying. I did not need to block off the end. There was plenty of heat to do the job. Only tip I found out was....the way I set it up I needed to stand in front of the tube so the ol belly got a little warm.... I put on my leather apron to protect my squishy bits. 🙂
And people used to just point a torch in the end of the tube for a heat source and that would not be a tight fit. It is just directing the heat down the pipe. Also.... do not use galvanized pipe. The chemicals are nasty. I had a piece of aluminum pipe i used but regular steel would work well.
It is really not a good idea as you will fill your workshop with steam, thus causing all your precious timber to warp, and your benches, and your walls, and your mind.
Seriously thoo...There is normally enough moisture in the wood to create the tiny amount of steam needed - I used to soak my sides fro 20 mins pre bending but now I don't bother - just spritz with water from a spray bottle before using the Iron or the side bending machine.
Measure twice, cut once...
