Steam Bending - In a BIG Way

[Don Abele]

So what do you do when you need to steam bend a hull plank for a 210 year old ship? Well, gather together 16 of your best friends and huddle around a steam unit for 8 hours then pull the 200 degree stick out and work like hades because you only have 5 minutes until it goes from jelly to stone.

The stick: 8 inches wide, 12 inches tall, 40 feet long. 9 Laminations thick and 3 high of quarter-sawn white oak with 8 inch scarf joints joining the pieces together. All glued with resourcinol glue. Oh, and it weighs 1500 pounds.

The twist: 20 degrees over 18 feet, slowly returning to zero over another 12 feet and a 5 degree camber over the last 10 feet.

First: Coming in the barn - 200 degrees.
Second: Using chain falls (5) to pull it into the form pins.
Third: Continuing the pull.
Fourth: Adding wedges.
Fifth: Hammering in dogs to add the camber (twist).
Sixth/Seventh: The results.
Eighth: This is where it goes.
Ninth: This is a similar replacement, but in a straight plank.

All in all an exciting 5 minutes. Now it will sit in the form for the next week drying and be installed about a week after that.

Ahh the joys of maintaining a wooden ship!!!

Be well,

Doc

[Don Abele]

The rest of the pics...

[Keith Starosta]

Very cool, Don!!! That is a pretty unique gig you got there...

- Keith

[Alex Shanku]

awesome don!!!

I have never seen anything like that. Very cool... I always wondered how that was done! Thanks for showing it to the forum.

[Jim Kountz]

Wow thats really cool stuff there Doc. What a sense of pride you guys must have working on such a historic project like that. Great job!

[Steve Clardy]

Looks like fun!!

[Todd Burch]

Wow! Thanks for posting Don! Where be ye shipyard, mate?

Also, how about a picture of that steamer too.

Todd

[Jamie Buxton]

The original shipwrights didn't have resourcinal glue. So how was this plank originally constructed? Did they actually have access to a 12"x8"x40' plank of quartersawn white oak??!!

[Bill Huber]

I don't guess that would be a home shop project.....

That is really neat and I would have loved to been there and see it.

Thanks for showing....

[Rob Haskell]

Do cannonballs bounce off when shot at this thick of wood?
Five minutes goes by fast when working on something like
this, good teamwork!
Thanks for the pics.
Rob

[Cary Swoveland]

Fascinating! Did you need to make any allowance for spring-back?

Cary

[Hunter Wallace]

Hey, I think I've seen that boat before!
And yes, if I recall it was a canon ball (or series
of them!) bouncing off of that white oak hull
which gave her her legendary name!
BTW, wasn't the original oak from New Hampshire?

[Carl Eyman]

A boat is something small enough to be put in a ship. Great pictures, Doc. I hope I stay well enough to make yet another trip to see your ship.

[Don Abele]

This project is for normal routine maintenance. In October however, we started a two year repair period where we will be doing major restoration to restore the ship back to it's original 1812 configuration. In particular, we are removing the entire Spar (upper) deck and replacing it so we can restore the camber (curve) to the deck that would allow water to shed off. The camber was removed during an upkeep in the 1930's when she was being used as an office building. There are many other projects going on, but that's the most significant.

Todd, if you haven't figured it out yet, I'm talking about the USS CONSTITUTION in Boston. I'm in the Navy and have been stationed on her for the last 2 years (I'm the Command Senior Chief - essentially the personnel manager for the 65 active duty Sailors). Below are some pictures of the steaming unit we used. It was self-built about 20 years ago (which is why the building is in such good repair). We don't replace curved hull planks very often (this is the first time in 2 years). The unit is powered by a steam pressure washer unit.

Jamie, no resourcinol in the 1700's. The plank we removed that the laminate is replacing was installed sometime probably in the 1920-1930 time frame. That plank, as well as ALL of the original hull planking, was 100% solid wood. The final dimensions for that stick is 7"x11" (we oversize to allow for planing to get a snug fit). To bend it in the 1700's they would have used a piece about twice the required thickness, draped it over bending supports and set fire to the top of it. The heat from the fire would essentially steam it from the inside bending it down. Then they would plane away the char and get the plank to the desired thickness.

Rob, the cannon balls often stuck into the white oak. This was not what made they bounce. It was the live oak inner ribs that did that. It's about 5 times more dense than white oak (it actually sinks in water) and was our secret "middle layer of our oreo cookie" - with white oak on either side.

Cary, we overbend by about 10% but anticipate little to no spring back. We still overbend though because it's easier to straighten that bend out a little when reinstalling it, vice trying to increase the bend.

Be well,

Doc

[Todd Burch]

So cool! (And, "duh" me in not figuring out it was 'ol Ironsides!) Man I would like to come see that. Can you get me in? And my family?

How were the original planks attached to the ship, and how will this one be attached? In that photo above with the straight plank removed from the side, it appears to be either long nails or bolts by the look of the head, and the apparent holes in the inner ribs. And, I presume that is caulking (the real stuff) between the planks?

Also, got any pics of the lamination process?

Todd