Steam Bending Plywood Or Sheet Bending

Plywood pre cut for kerf bending will be cut the full length of the sheet with the exception of only a small amount of plywood at each end.

Steam bending plywood or sheet bending.

Any electric kettle with a cylindrical spout for inserting a pipe or attaching a hose will do. Cut a form using multiple layers of mdf until you reach the desired thickness for the bend. Actually there s a lot of projects that you can implement th. As the bend follows the grain of the wood it eliminates the weakness issues of a band sawn curve.

It s helpful to know how either for making skateboard ramps or something bent. Plywoods are not often made from species that respond to steam bending and their laminations prevent the compression you need to force to the inside of the curve when you steam bend. Do not pressurize the steam chamber. Turn the plywood upside down so it s resting on the ends and push down on the center of the curve with your hand.

Steam bending creates a strong dependable bend. Steam won t do anything good for you with plywood. An easier option is to saturate all the layers of the plywood using warm wet towels prior to bending. Well i tried to bend 6mm plywood around my buck as described in a previous thread and after steaming it for almost an hour got absolutely no where.

You can use steam to soften plywood for bending but it isn t the best way to do it because it requires a steamer large enough to accommodate a plywood sheet which can be difficult to construct and expensive to buy. I bought my kettle from lee valley see source below. Like share and subscribe dont forget to check out our website and get to know the late. Try gently bending the ends of the plywood to see if it straightens out or holds its curve.

It s only for temperate hardwoods known to steam bend like ash oaks elm hickory maple beech and a few others. Building a steam box for bending wood only requires exterior grade plywood waterproof glue and an electric tea kettle. It came with an aluminum pipe to direct steam into the box. Bending plywood with steam you might think that steam bending plywood is the way to go for all kinds of projects but this method is best for small pieces such as model parts.

Pressurized steam is detrimental to successful wood bending and extremely dangerous. Watch how easy it is to bend a plywood to make a beautiful furniture. Use your hands to test the bent plywood.