Ha! Made you look. Steam bending wood for top bow corners today. Dont tell my wife I have her pressure cooker in the garage!

I did get excited. Stanley or White?
Let us know how it works out. I'm glad you have the courage to try it.
Rich

You got me! I'm waiting for somebody to hit the lottery or mortgage their house and buy the White steamer that is for sale on the HCCA classifieds.

This is the rare "ash" steamer. I suppose somebody will get steamed about my posting but I needed a good laugh!

I've got a 13 Stanley that I would like to go to a new home!!!

That thir be lookin like one of them fancy high doller cataerlog steameerz from Searz an' Lowbuck ......


Freighter Jim

Stop in Jim Im cookin stakes! Toothpicks are free.

Dallas, looks like an interesting setup. Please tell us more about what you used, and how it works ??

Anybody know how long I should cook these stakes? 5 psi is what Im running for 4 pieces 3/8x13 3/4 inch ash.

Dallas, what very little I know about steam-bending wood, it's kind of like cooking a turkey - depends on the weight. Depending on the species, the wood has to be heated through and through in excess of 200F in order to become pliable. What woods I've bent, I've always been amazed how "wet-noodley" they become, but they set up fast as they cool. Hope this helps a little, I'm no "ex-spurt" on this, just a tinkerer.

Thanks Rich. I cooked 2 hrs. Opened up and wood was dry to touch. I took two pieces out so they dont lay on top of each other. 360 coverage with steam . Refill cooker and more steam I guess.

Dallas,

Got me sum squirrel - taters - turneps - collered grenz - lizaerd gizerds .....

Kep' tendin to thet fire ....


FJ

Im to far north to enjoy collard greens. Tried them in Alabama last year. You have to be raised on it I guess. Tasted like soggy grass to me.I am on 3rd try at the steam. You have to cut the wood 1/8 inch narrow before steaming. Dont ask me how I know. Only steamed 1 hour last time. Hope I dont over cook the stakes.

When I steam bent my tacking strips I was advised to pre-soak the timber for a day or so. I put the strips in a PVC pipe filled with water and left them there for a couple of days. I used my steam cleaner as the steam source and steamed the timber for an hour and a half. I was advised to get the bend in within 4 minutes of extracting from the chamber. Worked like a charm. I was trying to post a picture but for some reason they keep attaching themselves upside down. Crazy.

I used to bend a lot of wood. Used a pipe with caps on both ends. Drilledholes through it for rack support rods and welded them in. Used a pressure cooker vent for the relief. Heated with a propane burner. I installed a pressure gauge to keep an eye on it. Pipe diameter varied depending on wood size. I made wood wheels for buggys.

The pieces I removed were poplar. I made 3 tries at ash. I should have soaked them Tony. I just made new ones from poplar. Giving that a try. How long before removing clamps if it is successful. The ash sprung back after 20 minutes when I removed them in preparation for poplar.

Dallas I left the whole thing clamped in place for 24 hours, then inserted the locating bolts in the the finished item before fully releasing the clamps. The timber I used was American Ash. I had only one small area of "failure" where the bend started to slightly delaminate and that was getting towards the end of the "safe" four minute period that I was told about. My tutor bends hood bows and wooden felloes for a living. He bends them and ties the bent section with wire and hangs it in his shed to "cure" for as long as possible. I should have clarified also that after soaking my steam chamber was a steel pipe, not the PVC that I soaked them in.

Finally... a picture of the steamer that didn't come through upside down

Wow! Little bigger operation than mine.

When I was young and dumb and into boating I made a steamer out of downspout on my kitchen stove to bend some oak for my rotting Lyman. It worked! I used over 60 gals. of LP & peeled all the paint off the inside of the house! It wasn't funny then but now that I'm OLD & dumb it is now!

Success! 40 minutes with poplar. Will let it stay clamped till tomorrow after work and see if it stays. Done with experimenting today.

Will soak other pieces tonight and try again.

Hurrah !!

Looks right!

Fellows, a world renowned wheel builder in NZ doesn't steam the hickory for wood felloe wheels. He boils it for a few minutes in a sheetmetal trough over a fire of kindling wood. Altogether a much simpler operation. Once the blank is pulled around his former. It is doused with cold water, removed from the former and placed in an old rim to hold it's shape overnight.

Simple!

Allan from down under.

Should work pretty well, I used ash and a double boiler to bend mine.

Allan, actually that's pretty much about how my home-made "steamer" did the trick for the oak for my boat. But it still made enough steam to peel the paint off my (rented) house walls. Had to scramble to repaint the place before the landlady caught it!