bending wood

another method used by Harold Hahn was form bending.

he would make a jig using the hull lines for the shape of the hull. Then use thin pieces of wood soak them and press them into the forum. He did several laminations when each was dry he used glue and put the pieces in the jig and clamped it closed until the glue dries. Once the glue dried it held the shape which would lay perfectly against the hull. sometimes he used all the same wood and sometimes he used different types of wood

form bending.jpg
 
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All the methods shown are very interesting. I started out with my first build the 1799 Enterprise by Constructo with not a clue. It was a BD present, I looked at the kit and had the OMG moment. Bit by bit and with a lot of Forum help I managed to complete the build.
My wood bending skills were non-existent and I resorted to the DIY method.

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I copied the shape of the hull from the plans to a 1 X 4 board. A quick cut on the bandsaw and I had three forms. I soaked the planks overnight and clamped them to the form. I did three planks at a time since my patience is quite limited.

I used the same process for my lobster boat build.

Jan
 
I have in the past used a normal clothes Iron.
First fill with water, let it heat up to highest setting, then place the wood strip on a surface and the iron on top of part of the strip to be bent.
leave it there for a minute making sure to apply lots of steam.
Then I pull the strip away from under the iron, (leave the iron firmly over the wooden strip) and use the Iron plate/sole's edge to curve wood strip out and up. The tighter the curve the the higher it is necessary to pull the wooden strip.
 
I bought one of the wallpaper remover steamers, it comes with a long length of plastic tubing. I made a steaming box from marine ply. then added some supports
across the box it stops the wood lying on the wet wood you made the box from. Put some holes on the end this stops the pressure building up. you can get two
sizes of wallpaper steamers i should get the large one.

Regards to all JANET
 
JANET said:
I bought one of the wallpaper remover steamers, it comes with a long length of plastic tubing. I made a steaming box from marine ply. then added some supports
across the box it stops the wood lying on the wet wood you made the box from. Put some holes on the end this stops the pressure building up. you can get two
sizes of wallpaper steamers i should get the large one.

Regards to all JANET
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Hi Janet, sounds posh! I use a piece of 40mm plastic sink waste with end stops and a car boot sale kettle, pretty ugly, but effective!
 
I bought the solder iron type Back in the 90’s. It has a curved head with a radius on it. I’ll post a pic tomorrow. I don’t see the one I have listed in this post. I think it’s Italian.
I use a wallpaper soak tray, their cheap, you fill it with water. It’s long enough to soak the whole plank. And many As you like. I also have a bending form, (jig). I’ve used it to dry tight bends. Sapelly is just you know what to bend.
ive tried the vineagar soak, it works but it turned the wood purple.
 
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Pathfinder65 said:
The Pilot house on my Tug built was another bending problem. There were two pieces, an underlay and overlay that needed to be bent.

After soaking the two pieces I placed them in this jig


View attachment 117916

The end product came out fairly well.

View attachment 117917

Jan
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I see that I am not the only one who recycles old pull bottles for other hobbies uses!
 
Heres my Hot bender, it’s made by Aeropiccola, Italy, the Jig I’ve only used a couple times. It’s good to hold your pc in shape if your not going to put it on rite then. It would be easy to make one, it uses carriage bolts inside, and the plank bending plyers, I’ve never had much luck with this.image.jpg
 
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I thought I saw a plank bending jig on one of the forums in the past, but don't remember where. It was basically a metal plate with many holes spaced out and you put what I believe were metal rods into the holes that allowed you to heat or steam a plank and then put it in the jig overnight.
 
This is the one I have. Don't remember where I got it. Maybe Model Expo.
I've used it twice, but usually just soak my strips in the soaker I made of PVC pipe, with hot water, sometimes with a bit of ammonia in it for harder woods.

RAYYOce.jpg


vw6RN3h.jpg


EJ
 
I used a very well lagged copper tube and a wallpaper steam stripper on 'Natterer' - In this instance the mahogany planks were 1800mm long with
a 20 x 3mm cross section, and were clamped hot onto the temporary hull formers (or 'shadows'). Worked a treat.

Natterer - Old004resized.jpg

For 'King's Fisher', I boiled the planks in the steam stripper and clamped and bent them on a jig with a smaller radius than the bend I wanted in order to overcome 'spring-back'. I was even able to bend ebony in this way.

Ted
 
Thank you for all of this information. The ship I'm doing is at 1/8" scale so my "devits" bend is only about 1/2" radius, I don't have a wood stove but I'll try a heating a small piece of tubing and see how that works, thanks again
 
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