Steam Bending

[Rhythm House Drums]

Thinking about trying my hand at steam bending for a few drums. I see these wall paper steamers being advertised as a good source if I build my own box. Anyone tried this route? I'm concerned that they wouldn't produce enough steam.

I really dont want to get into a burner and tank of water.. I like the idea of the wall paper remover, just wondered if anyone could chime in with experience.

The wood I'll be bending will be 3/4" thick max and about 32" long by 3" wide or so. Probably Ash, Oak, and Walnut.... The most I'd bend it along the length would be 3" out of straight.. so I'm not trying to make a U or anything.

 

[timf67]

Lee Valley has a free booklet on steam bending here:

http://www.leevalley.com/US/html/05F1501ie.pdf

They recommend a small electric kettle (like boiling water for tea) for small jobs and they also mention wallpaper steamers for bigger stuff...

 

[Phil S]

I have used the wallpaper steamers many times and they always produced plenty of steam. Many people buy these steamers, use them for a short time and then dump them on CL or Ebay. I bought my last one on Ebay for about $15. I would suggest using a short section of 4" pvc as a steam box. The large radius you are trying to bend to should be quite easy. I would suggest steaming the wood for about 50 minutes and then immediately clamp to a form.
Good luck

 

[sushinutnc]

I witnessed Phil's wallpaper steamer, and it easily put out enough steam compared to my hotplate/kettle method. If I had to build mine all over again, I would use the wallpaper steamer (no question). To hook up my kettle to the PVC pipe, I cobbled together a plastic funnel and some metal tubing I had. I REALLY would have liked to have the flexible plastic tube that comes with the wallpaper steamer.

Pics of steaming three 1/8" plys of ash for a drum shell:

 

[smallboat]

I built a steam box out of blue foam and made steam with a big pot on a Coleman camp stove.
Worked like a champ for the ribs of my boat.

Didn't cost me anything but the cost of the foam.
you can find a couple photos in my gallery

I had also read that you should avoid KD wood for steaming.
Given that the quality of the green ash I got was marginal I also tried some KD for comparison.

At least at the small dimension of my pieces, the KD worked just fine.

Good luck with your project

 

[ErnieM]

I use a wallpaper steamer by Wagner - works great - plenty of steam. It runs easily for over an hour without having to add more water.

Ernie

 

[Rhythm House Drums]

Thanks for the advice and the links/photos. I saw a video on youtube of steam bending in a PVC pipe and the pipe turned to mush from the steam.

I just picked up a wagner wallpaper steamer from craigslist (convinced the wife that the bathroom wall paper was time to go) In a few weeks I'll "remember" we have it and find a cool article on steam bending... haha..

Going to build a box sometime soon.

Anyone steam bent Kiln Dried lumber? That article above says it's not the best choice. But wont green wood shrink/warp so it wont hold it's shape after bent? This part confuses me...

Any advice here? I'm making a drum using slats, basically a wine barrel type construction. If the bend radius is large and the lumber is 5/8 to 3/4" thick, should kiln dried be ok to bend?