Shepherds Hook Walking Cane Steam Box Bending

[Eric Abernathy]

Has anyone ever built a Steam box and jig for bending 1" Hardwoods? I build carved handle walking canes and want to expand adding crook shepherds handle canes out of hickory for large people, self defense and martial arts. Zero real world steam bending experience here, only Youtube....

 

[Tonyt]

Has anyone ever built a Steam box and jig for bending 1" Hardwoods? I build carved handle walking canes and want to expand adding crook shepherds handle canes out of hickory for large people, self defense and martial arts. Zero real world steam bending experience here, only Youtube....

Built a steam box out of 1x6 pine. Have a steam machine I bought in Raleigh. Was able to bend some thin cherry for a mantle clock. I think you would need a strong jig for bending hickory. But it would be nice to do that. Keep us updated on your progress.

 

[Wiley's Woodworks]

We know it can be done because there are bent hardwood canes everywhere. Are you choosing hickory because that's the wood of choice for the bent handle design? I had an "educational" experience with white oak. The piece to be bent was 1 1/2" thick, and there was a compound curve in the design. When we got to the sharpest bend in the clamping the board just blew out--splintered along the long grain the entire width of the board. If it's possible get someone to help you. You don't have much time between taking the piece out of the steam box and bending/clamping it in the jig before the working piece loses its plasticity. Also, you might experiment with milling the blank into an octagon before steaming to remove excess wood that would resist the bending.

 

[cyclopentadiene]

Are ypu using green wood that has been split along the grain using a froe? Danmqrt taught a chairmaking class and recommended this for the back which is a much larger bend. This approach is also used in all of the chairmaking videos.
otherwise, I suspect kiln dried will crack under the pressure during bending. You could potentially use 1/16 thick bent laminations with plastic resin glue but I have only made rockers this way and the bend is gentle

 

[Cuthriell]

I bend 1-7/8" chair back legs using steam. The box is plywood but could be anything. I cover it in cold weather with an old sleeping bag to help keep in the heat. The bending jig uses quite a bit of mechanical advantage to complete the bend. The steamer is a five gallon pot using an outdoor propane cooker. Most of my chairs are cherry, but I have bent other woods including hickory for other uses. The chairs are Boggs style and a search there will likely show pictures of the setups people use. Most of what I have seen used successfully uses a steel backstrap for bending. I have tried to get by without it in the past and had little success.

 

[Phil S]

Very doable. Many good suggestions already mentioned. Straight grain, green wood split with a froe plus the use of a metal compression strap on the outside of the bend. 30 minutes in the steam and quickly into the form

 

[Cuthriell]

FYI. I use mostly kiln dried wood and soak it in a PVC pipe container for a week before bending. I add fabric softener (one cap per gallon water). Not sure if the softener is required but I still use it. I have never had a complete outer radius blowout. I have seen a thumb rule of one hour per inch thickness.

 

[cyclopentadiene]

FYI. I use mostly kiln dried wood and soak it in a PVC pipe container for a week before bending. I add fabric softener (one cap per gallon water). Not sure if the softener is required but I still use it. I have never had a complete outer radius blowout. I have seen a thumb rule of one hour per inch thickness.

I have wanted to build some windsor type chairs but access to equipment to handle green logs has kept me from attempting one. If I can use kiln dried wood, I may try it. I have a couple of questions
) Does Soak refer to using a steam generator to expose to steam for 1 week or do you actually place the wood in water for 1 week?
2) if you soak with water/fabric softener, does it impact finish application? These are typically polydimethylsilicone which is generally hydrophobic and can impact finishes.

 

[walnutjerry]

I have bent a lot of 1" diameter red oak, white oak, and hickory with success. Any wood with good bending properties should work reasonably well. Selection of the material is a huge part of the success. Straight grained, green, riven material is the goal. I do not think any wood has 100% success----white oak has a 97% success rate according to the millwork book I have. In addition to those already mentioned, ash and hackberry are noted for good bending properties. My steam bending experience is limited to windsor chair parts such as the back bow, continuous arm, and crest for combbacks. I use a propane burner with a 5 gallon metal gas can (new never used for gas) with a radiator hose to carry the steam to a 6" PVC steam chamber. Each end of the chamber is plugged with 4" thick foam so it does not build pressure. Usually 20 minutes steaming after getting up a full head of steam is enough with green wood to allow me to bend successfully. I have not bent anything with as tight a radius as I picture a walking stick to be. Good luck with whatever you try .

Jerry

 

[Cuthriell]

I have wanted to build some windsor type chairs but access to equipment to handle green logs has kept me from attempting one. If I can use kiln dried wood, I may try it. I have a couple of questions
) Does Soak refer to using a steam generator to expose to steam for 1 week or do you actually place the wood in water for 1 week?
2) if you soak with water/fabric softener, does it impact finish application? These are typically polydimethylsilicone which is generally hydrophobic and can impact finishes.

I guess I was not clear. One week soak in the fabric softener/water solution and one hour per inch in the steam. I tested wood samples for glue up and ability to hold finish before I went with the fabric softener in the solution and found no appreciable difference in my ability to break face glued joints apart using both hide glue and yellow (TB II). I finish the chairs with several coats of shellac followed by a final wipe on poly coat and have experienced no issues. I can take photos of the equipment, etc. if you like. I headed in this direction due to the difficulty I had finding air dried material with satisfactory grain orientation for bending legs, and with kiln dried lumber you can usually find material with the grain you want. Quarter or riff sawn being preferred.

 

[KenOfCary]

Phil S actually had a workshop class where he did this several years ago that I attended. He had some successes and some failures, so my advice is to have multiple pieces to use. Things may not work out the very first time.

 

[Tonyt]

Practice practice

 

[mdbuntyn]

You can effectively make "riven" stock from a flatsawn board by choosing boards that don't have any edge grain runout, and sawing your blanks parallel to the grain lines on the face.

That's how Chris Schwarz gets material for his stick chairs

 

[danmart77]

I have wanted to build some windsor type chairs but access to equipment to handle green logs has kept me from attempting one. If I can use kiln dried wood, I may try it. I have a couple of questions
) Does Soak refer to using a steam generator to expose to steam for 1 week or do you actually place the wood in water for 1 week?
2) if you soak with water/fabric softener, does it impact finish application? These are typically polydimethylsilicone which is generally hydrophobic and can impact finishes.

If you are interested in coming to Durham, I am getting ready to bend some red and whire oak. My strong recomendation on hickory: ignore it if you are going to use a drill to bore holes for your chairs.

 

[old and in the way]

Eric:

You might want to look at this before you set yourself up to steam and bend. I never used them, as the curves that I dealt with were much larger than those for a cane, or even a chair, and easier to produce by other methods. A bit pricey for raw stock, but maybe you would rather spend more time carving than steaming.

Pure Timber

Maybe not so expensive if you are not doing mass production canes, considering the initial outlay costs of steaming, the learning curve, and the high failure rate of steam bending for low single-digit radius curves, even with bending straps. For tight curves like a cane, overcoming exterior curve expansion failure (cracking and splintering), overcoming interior curve compression failure (fiber separation and wrinkling), and learning to compensate for springback can make for a frustrating experience, and a lot of wasted time and lumber, when all you really want to do is make a cane.

Hope this helps. Good luck with your bending adventure.
Tone

 

[danmart77]

Very doable. Many good suggestions already mentioned. Straight grain, green wood split with a froe plus the use of a metal compression strap on the outside of the bend. 30 minutes in the steam and quickly into the form

My only input for steam bending is 1 hour of steaming for each inch of thickness. Using 30 minutes can have troubles.