Steam Bending Plywood Sheets

Turn on the heat source and steam your plywood for 1 hour per 24mm of plywood thickness.

Steam bending plywood sheets.

Yeah generally plywood that s flat isn t bent. 3 4 48 96 exterior plywood 8 1 1 4 flathead screws 1 2 dowel 48 long 3 gate hook 2 4 strap hinges 4 3 4 5 16 72 self adhesive rubber foam weather stripping. Steam won t do anything good for you with plywood. It s only for temperate hardwoods known to steam bend like ash oaks elm hickory maple beech and a few others.

Steam the wood for 1 hour for every 1 in 2 5 cm of thickness. Fill the steam generator s tank with water and turn it on. One useful sheet goods is called bending plywood. 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.

Pressurized steam is detrimental to successful wood bending and extremely dangerous. Clamp the plywood to the form using bar clamps. The general rule for steam bending wood is 1 hour for every 1 in 2 5 cm of thickness of the piece of wood that you are processing but since all woods are different the time can vary. So i guess it can be made to conform to my buck.

Place the piece of plywood next to the curved side of the form. It is three layer plywood whose laminate thicknesses are different from the usual stuff. The supplier says it can be rolled and shipped via ups in a mailing tube. Baltic birch 3 ply aircraft grade in 4 x 4 sheets.

My local dealers carry something they call 1 8 italian bending poplar. Instead people make bent plywood by laying up multiple layers of thinner stuff. Place one end of a bar clamp on the far side of the form and the other end of the clamp on the outside facing part of the plywood directly across from it. Immediately bend it over your form and attach with clamps to secure.

Display modes 1. Do not pressurize the steam chamber. Page 1 of 2. Leave the plywood to dry for several hours.

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. Watch how easy it is to bend a plywood to make a beautiful furniture. Using heavy duty heat resistant gloves remove your plywood from the steam box. An easier option is to saturate all the layers of the plywood using warm wet towels prior to bending.