Steamed back chairs?

[SwampDonkey]

Anyone steam wood for chairs? Care to share pictures?

I have enough on the plate right now with the sled and later the table, hopefully the stove wood will last me through. :D

But, I have always wanted to make a chair with steam bending the back. 

[pigman]

No, I haven't and I was going to ask you, the resident steamed wood bender a question. Do you think that I can steam bend a 14" raidius in the top and bottom back piecies of this chair.




Thing is, the wood is old recycled yellow pine. In the chair pictured, I laminated 3/16" strips and and cold bent. I have to build two more chairs and wanted to try steam bending if possible to bend old pine that way.

[Jasperfield]

Yes, I steam bend several different pieces such as posts, back slats, bows, etc., when making chairs. I make primarily traditional Southern Appalachian post and rung chairs. Usually I'm bending red oak.

I'd love to post photo's but have thus far been unable to do so. Only one of the reasons is because the image size of my camera is too large. I've got several photo's of different subjects that I've wanted to post.

Pine is a wood that I've not used for bending. I don't think it would bend well. But, yes, if you use a wood like red or white oak (and there are others) and of a suitable size, bending to a radius of 14" shouldn't be a problem.

[SwampDonkey]

Jasperfield, have you tried the Java Uploader under the posting window or resizing and cropping manually? Make a backup of the original and work with a copy to upload.

Pigman, softwood doesn't bend as good as hardwood. But, if the bend isn't too sharp, like I see in your chair, I don't know why it wouldn't work. What is the radius of the arc? Try soaking the pine for 24 hours before steaming. Be sure to bend it a little extra in your former setup ( an inch inward on each end) because the wood will relax some. Make your former with smooth curves so you don't get marring of the wood. For my sled it doesn't matter, I'm not making furniture. ;D