(Answered) MarinEpoxy and wet (steam Bent) pine lumber

[Capt UB]

Thanks guys.

Not doing any wood bending yet, but wanted more information on the subject.

Quote from Spira's book,
Steam Bending Longitudinals
"Once the third pot of water has been dumped on the bend area, the lumber should be quite flexible and while the wood is too hot to handle without wearing gloves, you can remove the rags and pull the stringer into place much easier than before and without breaking.
The wet wood will glue with epoxy and take fasteners just fine. It will dry in a few days to be just as strong as it was when you began."

[Jaysen]

They make PVA for just this purpose. Look for steam bending glue.

No matter what glue you use you need to use a bending frame. Personally I’d use thin strips, steamed and then bent on the frame as a unit. Let dry a week then epoxy over the frame again.

Alternatively use the PVA for bending and use that on the initial bend. You’d still need to let the glue up dry for a week or more in a low humidity environment. Then do final shaping and coat with Marin like you wild any wood part.

I’d highly recommend the first option. Strip, steam, bend, dry, epoxy over frame.

[pee wee]

I don't understand why you asked the question.

It goes against my experience, so I won't do it. If you want to or feel you need to glue wet wood with epoxy I'd recommend using comparable materials to what you plan, do one wet and one dry, and test them to failure. It sounds like other than the book you cite that you won't accept anybody's advice, so go ahead. Let us know what you discover, it ought to be of some interest.

[jacquesmm]

Instead of all that steaming, why not laminate thin layers of wood with epoxy glue? It is a proven technique.
Also, I avoid all those problems by having all the framing done with fiberglass. It's done for 50 years.

There is not wood bending in my designs but I understand that somebody may want to build something like a poling platform frame that way.
I would laminate thin layers of wood without steaming.

[Jaysen]

Jacques, some woods need steam to make sharp bends no matter how thin. I had much success with red and white oak under 1/8”. But if I wanted anything like 2” radius I needed to steam to prevent splits in 75% of the pieces.

The fiberglass approach makes more sense for most things. I can’t imagine using bent wood for anything other than show pieces these days.

[jacquesmm]

Yes, you can do what you want with veneer but 1/8" requires steaming.
In that case, I agree with those who said: steam, let dry and then glue.

[Capt UB]

Thanks guys.

Not doing any wood bending yet, but wanted more information on the subject.

I'm building a desk for my home office. I wanted more information about epoxy and hot wet pine.. That's all.

[terrulian]

I'm building a desk for my home office.

Do you plan for your desk to float? Our advice doesn't work on lubber projects.

[jacquesmm]

I'm building a desk for my home office.

Do you plan for your desk to float? Our advice doesn't work on lubber projects.

Correct but nice woodwork can be done with the products we sell for boatbuilding.
There are some woodworking websites with great tips and advice. I have seen some amazing shapes created by vacuum molding wood layers around molds but I can not offer advice about that.

[csotelo]

Hi,

The books quote said dump hot water. It´s way different than steam.

In stemming you let wood cooking for a long time (the rule is about 1 hour per square inch section) and it becomes really soft. In photo I posted earlier, I bent 1x2 inch, but using 6 strips laminate and took 40min of steam.

Dumping hot water helps, but don´t expect soft wood.

The rub rail in the photo below is 1x5 cm, I need to use a lot of hot water and screws to make it bend in the bow.



Regards,

Carlos