Yesterday I bent a board around my form after steaming it in my new steam box. Today I took the wood off the form to see how I did.
The Bent Wood Unclamped
The wood has a twist in it here.
The Wood Is Twisted
And there is a flat place as well. I suppose that is from the C clamps again. I need to lose those C clamps permanently.
Flat Place From the C Clamps
So as not to waste any time, I stoked up the steamer again the same day and bent another board. I won't bore you with photos of the steamer. Nothing has changed over there. Here are the specifics of the timing:
- Start the steamer at 8:26
- First Steam at 8:41 - 15 minutes
- Strong steam and insert board at 8:56 - another 15 minutes
- Turn the board over at 9:06 - 10 minutes on first side
- Turn the board over again at 9:26 - 20 minutes on second side
- Pull out and bend 9:30 - 4 minutes on third side
I turned the board over twice to see if I could even out the steam a bit better and avoid the twist in the board. The flat spots are being avoided by not using the C clamps anymore.
This time I did not have to wait a day to see the results.
The Wood Has Split
That is a pretty catastrophic failure. I suspect that there was a fault in the grain of the wood at that point, and there was nothing I could do to avoid that one. Here is a closer view
A Closer View of the Split
Looking at the other side, there is another split. I think that this split could have been avoided by using a bending strap.
Another Split In The Wood
I am not doing very well at this today. I think I will put it aside and think about what to do next.
