Plank Bender

Bob from Plano said:
Hi I am new to ship building and have a question...I have a wood burning tool that has various heat settings. Does anyone know if there is an attachment you can buy that you can use to turn the tool into an electric plank bender?
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First of all a warm welcome here on board of our forum.
Due to the fact, that you did not mention the producer of this tool, maybe you can show us a photo of this tool, so we are able to give a possible advice
 
I moved the topic to the General area, so I guess more members will be able to read and hopefully reply
 
Hi and thanks for getting back to me. It is a tool by Creative and it is called a Versa-Tool. It has a temperature guide wheel attached to the plug that helps set the temperature. My wife uses it for her wood burning projects.
 
Bob from Plano said:
Hi and thanks for getting back to me. It is a tool by Creative and it is called a Versa-Tool. It has a temperature guide wheel attached to the plug that helps set the temperature. My wife uses it for her wood burning projects.
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Clamp the hot iron in a vise. Then soak the wood. Bend the wood across the shaft of the burner slowly moving it with pressure to allow it to heat and bend. Be sure to use planks that have straight grain. There are several videos showing bending wood on a bending iron. Or - you could make 'anvil' from wood that has concaved, curved surfaces and the rub the wetted plank with the hand-held iron.
 
Kolderstock has a plank bender, i have read that the heads are available separately if you ask in an email. Check the size of the stems on their heads against what your iron uses, you might get lucky. Maybe someone here can measure their Kolderstock bender and post the size?
 
I have a draw full of electric plank benders. I have not used them in years. I do not wet my planks any more. All wood contains moisture. I use a blow dryer and wooden jigs or the actual model and bend anything with no problem. .
 
I think I have every type of plank bender gadget out there…tried them all. The one I now use for bending hull planking is a mechanical bender that is like a pair of pliers…the head has a V jaw on one side and a flat jaw on the other…pressing or pinching the plank creates an indentation on one side which curls the plank. The closer and deeper the indentations the sharper the curl. The exception to this is when I need to bend a plank that will be visible on both sides…then I use the heated iron, soaked planks, and the bending jig as noted above. Obviously the mechanical bending tool marks up one side of the plank…but when glued to the hull this does not show.
 
OOPs late to the parade.

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The Kolderstok Head mounted on a 30W soldering iron base so it can be used with USA 110/120 volt AC. I ordered the soldering iron from Walmart. You need to be sure that the original irons tip is held in by a screw and not threaded in.

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Typical bends after soaking the planks.

I hope this answers some of your questions.
 
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