I've had good luck with steam-bending green timber, preferably ash. Less so
with air-dried, and very little with kiln-dried.

Cheers

Frank


"Jim Martin" wrote in message
...
Hello All;

A buddy of mine is building some chairs with steam bent arms. He is using
1/4 sawn kiln dried white oak and is having a heck of a time getting them
to
bend. I have read conflicting opinions on whether or not kiln fried wood
will bend (he does not need much of a bend). Any of you have luck steam
bending kiln dried wood? Was there a trick to it? Maybe you steam longer
than the 1 hour per inch of thickness rule of themb? In my own experience
I
have bent green oak and then years later bent wood from the same batch (I
guess by then it was air dried because I live in Utah where 20% rh is
considered muggy). The air dried behaved a little differently but not too
much.

Thanks in advance,

Jim