any body have tips on bending solid maple,prefinished rope molding?
i tried a kettle on a hotplate boiling for an hour with the piece in a chunk of abs pipe sitting over the spout(steam was coming out of the other end of the pipe)
the trim is 3/4 wide and 3/8 thick and is shaped like a piece of rope and needs to be bent to about a 12 inch radius, it is prefinished with a stain and laquer(most of which came off)
thanks
caulking is not a piece of trim
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Replies
Maple is one of the WORST woods you can try to bend. Notice I said TRY?..a 12'' radius and I bet you are bending across the 3/4 width right?
Probly won't happen. Boiling it may, do it. Steaming, uh-uh. You will also need a backing strap to do it if you can get it rubbery enough. Buy plenty extra and keep at it..
hey sphere, thanks for the quick reply
it has been done apparently using the very molding im trying to work withcaulking is not a piece of trim
boil it..or steam for a hour or more.Go Stab yourself Ya Putz! Ya think I Parked here?
thats what i'm going to try tomorrow, cant boil it its too long, so just longer steam time, unless somebody else has ideascaulking is not a piece of trim
In desperation I once sliced molding thin enough to do a bent lamination. The kerf had to be cut out of different pieces to make the profile match. With rope, very difficult I'd think. If you could get by with only one rip, might work out OK, but quite a bit of cleanup afterward. Bandsaw much better than a tablesaw.
Good luck.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Steve,
Use Holy Water and steam the hell out of it! "Don't take life too seriously, you are not getting out of it alive"
If you have a 12"r the length should fit in a turkey fryer. might be an option to boil one end of a longer length then bend it on a form with a backer.
check out this diagram for a steamer hopefully it will help.
also you cant just throw a piece of wood in for an hour, you need to steam it one hour per inch of thickness
http://www.megspace.com/lifestyles/njmarine/Steam.html
good luck" Looks good from my house!!"
hey thanks for the info, maybe my jury rig wasnt quite sophisticated enough, it was justa piece of 1 1/2 abs sitting over the spout with of course a large leak around it
the trim i need to bend is about 5 feet long with the bend near the middle with a radius of about 12 inchescaulking is not a piece of trim
i made a steam bender similar to the one at the webstire but with a few variations...
1. i used a 5 gallon gas can (never used beofore)
2. i used a burner unit from a turkey deep fryer ( gas can sits perfectly ontop)
you can get away with using a 3 gallon can. i dont fill the 5 gal all the way up but you want to make sure you dont run out of water because then you have to waiit for the water to boil again
http://www.megspace.com/lifestyles/njmarine/Steam.html
heres the website again if you need it or you can type "steam box" at yahoo" Looks good from my house!!"
hey guys thanks for all of your tips, i got it done today
used a ordinary household kettle with a round spout and a 1000 watt hotplate
put a adapter over the spout(same diameter as a tailpiece) a wye and a piece of abs pipe with caps at both ends, cut both caps to give a reasonable fit around the molding and steamed it for 2 hours(until the kettle ran out of water!!)
bent the molding to a 12 inch radius no problem
biggest thing i think was sealing the system to keep heat and moisture in
i'll post a picture when i get my cam back from my fiance!!caulking is not a piece of trim
Glad to see it worked fro you but I have one comment, I made a steam bender a while ago and one thiing to keep in mind is, you need a port for the stem to escape rather than buiding up pressure inside. Usually a 1/4 inch hole will work. In your case I think you had enough places where it could get out. Good luck with the rest of your bending. Post your pictures for us to see.
" Looks good from my house!!"
thanks, it worked perfectly, bent the 3/4 by 1/2 inch maple rope molding to a 12 inch radius
steam time was about 2 hours
i'll post a picture of the product and my steam setup tomorrowcaulking is not a piece of trim
How big is the abs chanber? For a piece that small, I wouldn't want it more than 2". Too big can leave drafts and cool spots. You need the heat as well as the humidity to drive the moisture into the wood cells.
I'm with Sphere about Maple. Love the wood but off the top of my head, I can't think of much that is harder to steam and bend. Cherry maybe.
The fact that it was sealed with stain and lacquer bounced my brain off the floor. Water can't get in to soften the wood if it is sealed against water. You need to open up the wood. Scrape and sand first so it is thirsty.
Excellence is its own reward!
have used a wallpaper steamer and metal ducting to steam and contain most of the heat, it worked well for me.
Anhydrous ammonia. See description in Bruce Hoadley's book Understanding Wood.
anhydros amonia WILL get you some SERIOUS attn. It is the Ingredient for making METH...THEY monitor that stuff real closly..around here it's JAIL if ya get caught with it!!!!!
Simple rain gutter with end caps, fill with a bit of water, heat with a camp stove or two propane torches..boil it.
Go Stab yourself Ya Putz! Ya think I Parked here?
I've never tried steam bending rope trim, but I have tried other profiles a few times and I always get pretty serious distortion in the profile as one edge compresses and the opposite stretches. You might have to bend blank stock, then machine the profile.
I'd post a photo of my steam box, but can't seem to post photos anymore. Simple box of 1x6 (whatever length you need, mine's about 12 feet) with horizontal 1/4" dowells every foot or so to support stock and allow steam to get at all sides. A few 1+1/2" holes spaced along the top with openable covers to adjust steam flow and draw, and a drain hole at the far end in the bottom to let the water out after the steam cools. Take maybe an hour to build, last you many years.
For steam source I use a propane cook type burner, about 12" square, and a big assed canning pot with a 3/4" galvanized nipple and length of automotive hose connecting to a nipple in one end of the steam box. I use lots of vise grips and stair gauges to clamp the lid on the pot tight - a pressure cooker would work better, but I couldn't find an old one at any local thrift shops that day, and I was on a mission, still got by for less than 20 bucks.
3/4" x 3/8"? At least an hour at full steam, maybe more. If you can pick it up with your bare hands, it's probably not hot enough.
I was going to suggest that , but unless you live ona farm the folks just don't let you hook a hose up to the tank any more . and they frown on selling just a small amount that would be needed. Then there is the neighbors gettin all bent out of shape from the stinky plume of vapor that you release when you pull the wood out of the chamber. Not to mention some of the side effects , Nazal pasage clearing,instant frozen fingers , taking your breath away, and may be riggermortise.
Haven't tried it yet myself, but have read reports of people using Downey Fabric Softener as a soaking agent. They claim it works great. Ask over at knots. That's where I first heard about it. Also their one contributing editor that wrote the article on "Scary Sharp" sandpaper sharpening built a steam bender that was featured on NYW that works quite well.
Dan019
Yup, I've heard that. Soaking in liquid dish-washing soap will turn the wood into a noodle too. I think there's a site that describes the method, but I don't have time to look it up right now..
Phill Giles
The Unionville Woodwright
Unionville, Ontario
looks like that would make a way cool 'tater gun..steam catapault...just need a gate valve and a sack o spuds!
I maen a ball valve..oh, good lookin trim pc. too..
Edited 2/5/2004 6:12:18 PM ET by SPHERE
thanks, its a new display set up for the Home Hardware store that hires me for installs and fabrication
we do a lot of laminated tops, and were looking for new ideas
next project is an undermounted sink in a laminated top
not everybody can afford solid surface or granitecaulking is not a piece of trim
under mount in a lam. top? now ya got my attention...I do want to how ya do that. My DW and I were just deciding on a sink..I am making the tops, and told her that rimmed sink is what to focus on..now ya got me thinkin...Thanx.
Go Stab yourself Ya Putz! Ya think I Parked here?
im working on it
cut sink hole with a router, for a nice square cut, waterproof with west system epoxy,
laminate sink edge using west system again, then apply top laminate the usual way
will be completing it sometime next week, i'll post some pics
its for my fiances place so strictly experimentalcaulking is not a piece of trim
Have you seen this for the undermount?
http://www.counter-seal.com/
View Image
"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up.
It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.
Every morning a lion wakes up.
It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.
It doesn't matter whether you are lion or a gazelle:
When the sun comes up, you'd better be running."
Sphere
another way to do the laminate top with undermount sink is to use a piece of solid surface near the edge where the sink is, laminate over the top and the solid surface will be the water proof.
Dont need to much SS, probably get some scraps if you can find the right color.
Doug
Steve,
Finewoodworking would be the place to check out for the info. They have had some good articles on steam bending in the past, and the have a separate book out on steam bending. I've been meaning to incorporate steam bending into one of my next furniture pieces, but haven't had the balls yet.
In the 1800's steam bending was very common, for furniture as well as architectural details, these days everything is gluelamed and cut with a band saw. Steam bending will always look better...especially on stained pieces. The only problem I see is that you are using pre manufactured molding. Which means it was probably manufactured from Kiln dried stock.
I have a book on bending and it mentions that air dried stock is a lot easier to bend. I don't know if the heat of the kiln has something to do with it or not, but I would be interested to hear how you make out!
I don't understand! I cut it twice and it's still too short!
thanks for the info, you can see in this post a couple of photos of the finished productcaulking is not a piece of trim
have forever felt pangs of guilt when reading your biline
beautiful dressing of edge - not very familiar w/ laminate tops * is that a radius corner or is it segmented as one might infer from your edge pieces? ( for me does your router follow substrate that is rounded or small straight runs to get to round?
hey john, thanks for your interest
the solid maple inlay was semented(hence the miter joints every 2 or so inches then routed using a template
the recess for the rope molding was routed using a dado template
next effort will use a template and a steam bent solid maple piece at the top rather than segments
how ever still working on the undermount ss sink for part of the same job
like i said before, not everybody can afford solid surface or granitecaulking is not a piece of trim
Steve,
Looks great! Did you get it right on your first attempt?I don't understand! I cut it twice and it's still too short!
no i didnt, first try, infact my first ever attempt at steam bending, split every where, but second try was perfect and the project looked great
notice the "looked" great, an electrician on a ladder over my new masterpiece, slipped, the ladder and he fell 18 feet, busted my countertop and some cabinets so now it all has to be redone
electrician is alright just a few bruises but the countertop is ruined and has to be redone, but i have some ideas about some improvements and tweeking, so all is not lostcaulking is not a piece of trim
Well, it looked good, good luck with version 2!I don't understand! I cut it twice and it's still too short!
yes its too bad, so ordered new laminate, new rope molding etc etc
sparky's back to work so no real harm done
spent three days on that top, oh well!!caulking is not a piece of trim