Wood Bending thickness

[alex grams]

Are there any rules of thumb on how thin you need to cut wood to bend it to a certain radius? I am making a table from cherry with a table skirt, and at the corners there is a 9" radius on the skirt. 1/8 is still pretty thick to bend the wood around. I presume 1/16th would be thin enough to be able to bend it without concern for it breaking?

This is going to go in a male/female press to form the curves, and i anticipate making it at least 1/4" (I am going to route a bead pattern along the bottom lip, so i will need some depth to the cherry so that i can do that)

Thoughts, suggestions, experiences?

Thanks in advance.

[alex grams]

bump..

anyone? Even if you dont have direct experience with what i am describing, any other knowledge or links to articles on bending would be appreciated.

[Chris Padilla]

David Marks often cuts his bending strips at 3/32" on his bandsaw and then sands them all down slightly, presumably to about 1/16" on his drum sander. He's bent stuff tighter than a 9" radius so I think you'll be fine.

[Jody Malinich]

Alex,

Have you experimented with making a bunch of saw kerfs where the radius is? That's how my table is done here at the house.

Jody

[Johnathan Bussom]

Alex,
What is the length of the piece? I have bent some pieces of wood I used as a veneer on table edges about 3/16 thickness but I used a homemade steamer before bending but the radius was much larger than 9".

I also have used about 1/8 thickness on a radius of about 4" on some lighthouses I used to build to cover the edge of plywood, again those were steamed first.

Steamer I use is made from 6" dia pvc 6' long using an old pressure cooker!

[alex grams]

9" radius, then about a 25" straight length to another 9" radius.