Thread: hmmmm, pallet timber WON"T steam bend?

In case there are any impressionable young people reading, I have put the above viewer warning on this thread. After using a steam bending set-up yesterday that included

• A laundry boiler
• steam box
• bending former
• 200 x 50 x 2400mm hardwood plank
• a 5000 kg capacity 4WD winch
• 2 convenient nearby trees ( and tree protectors)
• a 2.4T Land Rover (in low range)
• spring steel strap AND
• 2 consenting adults ....( and people protectors)

...my quest to steam bend random slats from random pallets, HAS FAILED! As a sign of mourning, I will not be cleaning the shards of tortured timbers from the back window of the Land Rover for the traditional 7days.
thank you,
Fletty

The water has very little to do with it other than being a heat exchange mechanism.
It is not the hot water which bends any wood.
The hot water softens the plastic-like pectic substances in the wood.
Then the wood bends. Held in service it cools to a new shape.
Water is convenient. OIl would work well to heat the bound water in wood.
That, in turn, heats and softens the pectic substances.

The more water that there is in the wood, both the bound water and the free water,
the more heat energy holding capacity is available to heat the pectic substances.

Not hard to imagine that the concentration of those pectic substances varies from one soecies to the next.
Everything else does.

Originally Posted by fletty

In case there are any impressionable young people reading, I have put the above viewer warning on this thread. After using a steam bending set-up yesterday that included

• A laundry boiler
• steam box
• bending former
• 200 x 50 x 2400mm hardwood plank
• a 5000 kg capacity 4WD winch
• 2 convenient nearby trees ( and tree protectors)
• a 2.4T Land Rover (in low range)
• spring steel strap AND
• 2 consenting adults ....( and people protectors)

...my quest to steam bend random slats from random pallets, HAS FAILED! As a sign of mourning, I will not be cleaning the shards of tortured timbers from the back window of the Land Rover for the traditional 7days.
thank you,
Fletty

I guess that means no show today ??
Pity the safety offices didn't video it.

Originally Posted by fletty

In case there are any impressionable young people reading, I have put the above viewer warning on this thread. After using a steam bending set-up yesterday that included

• A laundry boiler
• steam box
• bending former
• 200 x 50 x 2400mm hardwood plank
• a 5000 kg capacity 4WD winch
• 2 convenient nearby trees ( and tree protectors)
• a 2.4T Land Rover (in low range)
• spring steel strap AND
• 2 consenting adults ....( and people protectors)

...my quest to steam bend random slats from random pallets, HAS FAILED! As a sign of mourning, I will not be cleaning the shards of tortured timbers from the back window of the Land Rover for the traditional 7days.
thank you,
Fletty

Fletty

At the risk of sounding defeatist, could you laminate instead of steam bending? 3mm to 4mm strips perhaps. You would need a bandsaw as a circular saw is going to cut as much wood as you end up with. (My understanding is that you can only use a single pallet.)

Regards
Paul

PS:That Spotted Gum pallet is looking very attractive .

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

PS:That Spotted Gum pallet is looking very attractive .

VERY attractive indeed!

No Paul, you are looking at a beaten man here! I have redesigned my entry, some use Sketchup, I use Sup-up (the back of a beer coaster) and it is all now VERY straight, VERY geometric and those around me, who helped with the beer coaster, have tried to console me with claims of its new beauty ....but all I see is defeat!

I will resurrect the curvy one when I find a supply of usable, recycled, nail pockmarked 4x2's .....

https://www.woodworkforums.com/showth...ghlight=fletty

fletty