Message-Id: <v01510105ad23317b63d8@[199.170.68.47]>
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 1996 18:20:42 -0500
To: baidarka@imagelan.com
From: shaysnet.com!laughing_loon@imagelan.com (Rob Macks)
Subject: Re: Rib material?
>Hail Bedarker types,
>
> I've just started steam bending ribs for my Bedarker (swarthy
>Massachussetts old salt pronunciation) and am having a lot of splits.
>I'm using some 3/8" square white oak strips that I've milled from some 8
>year old flooring strips I had laying around.
> When the grain is straight the full length of the rib, it bends sweet
>enough over a form. But if there's any angle to the grain, the fibers want
>to separate around the curve.
> I'm wondering about using ash or some other wood and am looking for
>suggestions.
> Also if anyone in the New England area knows where I can buy some stock
>before its been kiln dried, that would be helpful.
> Other thoughts include completely rounding off the rib stock to a 3/8"
>diameter dowel which would provide a thinner rib (cross sectional
>area-wise) to bend and probably better heat and moisture penetration of the
>wood.
> Also, Wolfgang Brinck, in his book suggests that excess breakage could be
>due to the steam source not producing enough steam. Since I'm supporting
>the ribs at the top of the steam box giving full contact with the steam for
>the full length of the box, I'm having trouble imagining how a hotter
>steamer could create anymore exposure to the steam, but what do I know?
>
>Anyway, any suggestions, confirmations or corrections are enthusiastically
>requested, so belly up to the bar mates and lets hear it from you steam
>bending aficionados.
>
>Larry Andrus
>Ipswich, MA
I haven't done a tremendous amount of steam bending but I have worked
enough with white oak to feel confident that it should be a very good wood
for the bending application you wish to use it for. The problem with
spitting could be done to the wat the wood is cut from the log. Using wood
that is quarter sawn should produce better results in your bending. Quarter
sawn wood is wood that is cut from a log the way a piece of pie is cut.
However, you don't need to have specailly milled pieces made up. Most
lumber is not quarter sawn because this does not yeild the most lumber from
the log. You can resawn generic stock by looking at the growth rings on the
ends of your wood and simply cutting pieces as perpendicular to the rings
as possible.
Another and possibly more inportant way to improve you're bending success
is to support the outside of the bend with a strip of flexible metal that
should be clamped alone with the wood until the wood dries.
Another option is to use green willow braches as the first builders did.
There are a lot of willow trees around if you look for them.
Good luck, I hope this helps,
Rob Macks
Laughing Loon Canoes & Kayaks