steaming and bending wood

[fred henkin]

I am steaming small strips of wood to be bent and glued into a board. Can I glue the bent piece in as it comes out of the steamer or do I need to bend it then let it dry before gluing?

[Mac McQuinn]

When I built my Canoe Yawl, for the Stems, I steamed the 3/16" thick ash strips, clamped them over forms and once dry, glued them into place. I numbered the pieces and applied hash marks on edges to keep them in order and alignment when gluing.
Good luck.
Mac

[Richard Coers]

What do you think? Think the wood will shrink over the next couple of days after being saturated with steam? Think glue likes nearly 200 degrees? No mention of wood thickness, species of wood, or what glue you are using, but seems like common sense to me.

[Sam Murdoch]

The short answer is no glue as you steam. Best to bend to a form and then glue your pieces together back on to the form after they have dried. One practical reason is that you can't possibly work fast enough to glue and clamp multiple pieces without losing the benefit of the steaming. As you write that you are using "small strips" do they really need to be steamed in order to bend to your form? Can they be bent dry or maybe add another 1 or 2 thinner strips so that you can bend to your shape without steam? This way you could glue and bend at one time.

[Mike Cutler]

I am steaming small strips of wood to be bent and glued into a board. Can I glue the bent piece in as it comes out of the steamer or do I need to bend it then let it dry before gluing?

Fred
Short answer is no As Sam pointed out you haven't enough time to glue and clamp to the form.
Steam the pieces, have the steamer right next to the bending form. Out of the steamer and onto the form as quickly as possible. Even with thin strips you only have a few minutes.
Put everything in the steam box in as exact a sequence as it comes out, you don't have a lot of time. Get a pair of welders gloves, because the wood will 200+ degrees when it comes out. It's hot.
If it's a bent lamination you're looking to achieve use a "male" and "female" form if practical. Be sure to account for the radii and thickness the lamination will take up when making the mated forms.
For example;
if your lamination is 1" thick ,and the radius is 30" inside, The male form will have a 30" outside radius and the female form will have a 31" inside radius.

[Rich Enders]

Fred,

+5 on waiting until the wood is dry. Another option on softening up the strips of wood is a hot water soak. Slower, but you don't have to deal with steam. A jacuzzi at 100F works well.