Anyone steam bending?
 

I'm on a path to make a small skirt for a round table about 19.5"
diameter. Laminated maple strips in the past for a corner table and
had both male & female parts to clamp the strips while the glue dried.
Now have a circular form but no counterparts to clamps laminations so
am planning on strap clamps. Googled for Gregg Germain who used to
post here and is experienced with steam bending but couldn't/didn't
find relevant material.

Anyone steam bending?
 

Hi bob,
Not sure of what your questions is but we have used the clamps below when
bending some aprons. Cheers, JG

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...73&cat=1,45866


wrote in message
...
I'm on a path to make a small skirt for a round table about 19.5"
diameter. Laminated maple strips in the past for a corner table and
had both male & female parts to clamp the strips while the glue dried.
Now have a circular form but no counterparts to clamps laminations so
am planning on strap clamps. Googled for Gregg Germain who used to
post here and is experienced with steam bending but couldn't/didn't
find relevant material.

Anyone steam bending?
 

Very good article in the last issue of Wood magazine on bending legs for a
table they had. I tried it on 3/4" thick oak and they bent very easily. I
did soak them for one week inside a pvc pipe before steaming. This was kiln
dried lumber. You steam for 1 hour for every inch. That's full steaming.
Just used a cheap tea kittle from WalMart.

Tim
wrote in message
...
I'm on a path to make a small skirt for a round table about 19.5"
diameter. Laminated maple strips in the past for a corner table and
had both male & female parts to clamp the strips while the glue dried.
Now have a circular form but no counterparts to clamps laminations so
am planning on strap clamps. Googled for Gregg Germain who used to
post here and is experienced with steam bending but couldn't/didn't
find relevant material.

Anyone steam bending?
 

On Mar 11, 5:44 am, wrote:
I'm on a path to make a small skirt for a round table about 19.5"
diameter. Laminated maple strips in the past for a corner table and
had both male & female parts to clamp the strips while the glue dried.
Now have a circular form but no counterparts to clamps laminations so
am planning on strap clamps. Googled for Gregg Germain who used to
post here and is experienced with steam bending but couldn't/didn't
find relevant material.

I recently put an edge on a similar sized round table. I cut the size
that I wanted the end product to be out of a square plywood that I was
using for the top. I then cut the circle down to the size that I
wanted the starting point to be. The edge added up to be about 1/4 of
an inch.

You now cut the outside form which is square with a hole in it into
four pieces. You can then use these pieces to push in to hold your
edge trim in on your table. I made a square frame larger than the
four pieces and two sets of wooden wedges. The frame was some 1 bye
screwed to a particle board base.

Put the circle of the table in the center of the square frame. Insert
the trim between the table top and the scrap circle holding pieces and
then use the wooden wedges to push and hold the whole sandwitch
together until everything dries.

If you want I can send you some pictures to better explain what I did.

Good luck.

Al

Anyone steam bending? - Update
 

Thanks all for the words but there has been a change in the plan. I'd
considered your approach Al but tried kerf bending a 3/4" piece of
Spruce around the form I made from OSB and it worked slick. Cut kerfs
within 1/8" from surface about 1/8" apart and it bends nicely around
the form. Have read about this in the past and in dreamland the words
returned and I thought I'd try it. Surprising how many times problems
seem to be resolved during the night while dreaming. My concern about
steaming was the tank of water would run dry prior to end time. Guess
I'll look for another use for the 10' length of 4" PVC. Thanks again
all.

On 11 Mar 2007 20:47:19 -0700, "Al Holstein" wrote:

On Mar 11, 5:44 am, wrote:
I'm on a path to make a small skirt for a round table about 19.5"
diameter. Laminated maple strips in the past for a corner table and
had both male & female parts to clamp the strips while the glue dried.
Now have a circular form but no counterparts to clamps laminations so
am planning on strap clamps. Googled for Gregg Germain who used to
post here and is experienced with steam bending but couldn't/didn't
find relevant material.

I recently put an edge on a similar sized round table. I cut the size
that I wanted the end product to be out of a square plywood that I was
using for the top. I then cut the circle down to the size that I
wanted the starting point to be. The edge added up to be about 1/4 of
an inch.

You now cut the outside form which is square with a hole in it into
four pieces. You can then use these pieces to push in to hold your
edge trim in on your table. I made a square frame larger than the
four pieces and two sets of wooden wedges. The frame was some 1 bye
screwed to a particle board base.

Put the circle of the table in the center of the square frame. Insert
the trim between the table top and the scrap circle holding pieces and
then use the wooden wedges to push and hold the whole sandwitch
together until everything dries.

If you want I can send you some pictures to better explain what I did.

Good luck.

Al

Anyone steam bending? - Update
 

When I steam bent my table legs I raised the one end of the pvc about an
inch and all the water drained back into the tea kettle. It seamed good for
almost an hour and a half without having to add any water.

Tim

wrote in message
...
Thanks all for the words but there has been a change in the plan. I'd
considered your approach Al but tried kerf bending a 3/4" piece of
Spruce around the form I made from OSB and it worked slick. Cut kerfs
within 1/8" from surface about 1/8" apart and it bends nicely around
the form. Have read about this in the past and in dreamland the words
returned and I thought I'd try it. Surprising how many times problems
seem to be resolved during the night while dreaming. My concern about
steaming was the tank of water would run dry prior to end time. Guess
I'll look for another use for the 10' length of 4" PVC. Thanks again
all.

On 11 Mar 2007 20:47:19 -0700, "Al Holstein" wrote:

On Mar 11, 5:44 am, wrote:
I'm on a path to make a small skirt for a round table about 19.5"
diameter. Laminated maple strips in the past for a corner table and
had both male & female parts to clamp the strips while the glue dried.
Now have a circular form but no counterparts to clamps laminations so
am planning on strap clamps. Googled for Gregg Germain who used to
post here and is experienced with steam bending but couldn't/didn't
find relevant material.

I recently put an edge on a similar sized round table. I cut the size
that I wanted the end product to be out of a square plywood that I was
using for the top. I then cut the circle down to the size that I
wanted the starting point to be. The edge added up to be about 1/4 of
an inch.

You now cut the outside form which is square with a hole in it into
four pieces. You can then use these pieces to push in to hold your
edge trim in on your table. I made a square frame larger than the
four pieces and two sets of wooden wedges. The frame was some 1 bye
screwed to a particle board base.

Put the circle of the table in the center of the square frame. Insert
the trim between the table top and the scrap circle holding pieces and
then use the wooden wedges to push and hold the whole sandwitch
together until everything dries.

If you want I can send you some pictures to better explain what I did.

Good luck.

Al

Anyone steam bending? - Update
 

Thanks, that's the type of tip I was hoping for when the post was
sent.

On Mon, 12 Mar 2007 19:38:11 -0400, "tdup2"
wrote:

When I steam bent my table legs I raised the one end of the pvc about an
inch and all the water drained back into the tea kettle. It seamed good for
almost an hour and a half without having to add any water.

Tim