Pressure cooking wood

[robert raess]

I want to bend some wood turnings i have done, and was thinking of using a pressure cooker with water and glycerin mixture.I googled it but did not get very far...any thots..Thanks Rob

[Lex Boegen]

Try it with a test piece. What's the worst that could happen? I don't know what benefit (if any) glycerin would make, but the heat from the steam is what softens the wood. Just make sure that you have enough water in the pressure cooker that it won't run dry. At 15 PSI ("high" if your pressure cooker has two pressure levels) the boiling point of water is raised to 260 degrees Fahrenheit. I would add at least one cup of water to the pressure cooker and put a steamer basket in it for your wood to sit on. Steam it on high for at least fifteen minutes and give it a try.

[Terry Beadle]

The pressure cooker "may" speed up the process but you'll have to cool it down carefully. The result of the cooling time will probably offset the benefits of the pressure cooking versus standard steaming.

There are lots of steam box designs on the net. Using a piece of 4 ~ 6 inch PVC 20 with end caps and relieve piping is the simplest. Cheap too.

Enjoy the process.