From wood boat building experience, I highly recommend steam bending only air-dried wood as opposed to kiln-dried. Once wood cellulose is heated, it doesn’t like to be reheated and bent. Steamed air-dried wood usually bends like rubber.
PVC itself will bend when it gets hot (even schedule 40) so be sure to support your steam box. Or better yet, if you want to reuse it many times, build it out of 3/4 inch plywood... I made a steam box out of plywood several years ago and it's still going strong. (I use it 5-6 times a year making snaths for scythes.) I also go old school and stuff an old towel in the end to hold the steam in, then stuff the hose in the open end under the towel. No fancy fittings needed.
@@1947wdxI just had that same thought. There are also small cannister steamers for cleaning floors, kitchens, etc; I find them in thrift stores for cheap. 👍🏼
Big boat builder, we use a turkey cooker, and visqueen, and metal gas can to boil water in. Works great and is much cheaper and easier. We make our bags out of the visqueen and seal the edges with a lighter. Holds the steam and releases enough pressure that there's no hazard from being burned. Great idea on the PVC though..... Might try that on my next bending adventure. Luv you man !
Years ago I needed a steam box for a project. I had some 5" heating duct and sheet metal elbow on hand so I used that to make something similar. I just wrapped it with a couple of old blankets to hold the heat inside. The 90, instead of the end cap you used, just sat down on the lid of a cheap old pot on a camp stove so the steam off the water inside went up and into the tube. The only thing is to keep an eye on it to avoid boiling dry. But it all went along just fine and I got my bent wood. And the condensed water dribbled back and into the pot to be boiled again since the hole was big enough to take the whole 5 inch end of the elbow. The steam generator is nice and all. But for a once every 10 years use I'd be fine with the pot and cutout lid and the elbow. And just keep an eye on the water level to avoid running dry.
I love the honesty about forgetting to bring the return item on your trip back. I got a bag of stuff that missed two trips! Hopefully third time is the charm since I'm leaving it in the trunk now.
The steam generator is exactly the same as my wallpaper steamer I’ve had for years. I’m pretty sure buying it as a wallpaper steamer is cheaper than a specialist steam box component
I used some 1 1/2" pipe and fittings when I was steam bending ribs for a model boat, as well as for the planking, the worst part was making a laminated steam bent section for the bow of the boat, the bend was about a 1" diameter, I used plywood formers to bend the parts around, with an inner and outer part to clamp the parts between
So, unfortunately, people grab stuff and put it back wherever, pipe fittings and electrical are the ABSOLUTE WORST, you can spend a whole 8-hour shift trying to fix it, but it's a losing battle (ex home-depot employee).
Thanks for the clarification. I was going to make a fool of myself and possibly post they got a cap that matched the inside diameter. Yeah, that's probably not a thing for caps, but I am the person screwing up the aisle while dry fitting because the inside and outside sizes are messing me up.
I worked at Home Depot for a summer in the hardware department. Sadly when it came to nuts, bolts, and screws not only did customers put them back wherever but the other shift just kinda threw them on the shelf when restocking. I don't exaggerate when I say I spent 70-80% of my shifts helping customers find the correct sizes in the mess, and trying to straighten it out myself.
Over this summer, i have become a self taught expert in wood bending for prototyping my organic form cigar and whiskey sets. Making male and female form pieces was fun too. I simply use a large plastic tub with plenty of kettle boiled water, going back and forth to the sink 😂. I would love to show off my hilarious set up. Good news is that its payed off and im not accepted by a makers market as well as a couple offers to sell my products in local shops/bars.
always wanted to get into steam bending. always thought I needed a fancy bit of kit to do it though. very cool seeing how easy it is to make one. thanks for this video.
This video came along at the perfect time for me. I am looking into learning lutherie and I want to build violins. There are electric bending irons that you can use for violin and guitar sides, but I suspect steaming and form bending might make more sense, and be less expensive. When you consider luthiers from hundred of years ago, they must have bent wood this way, a lot more than using some heated iron.
That is one way to do it. I like using urushi lacquer as my final top coats when I do my finishing. Urushi requires a very warm and humid environment to cure properly, and due to the space required for the pieces, I end up turning my spare bedroom into a walk in humidor. Namely pushing 90F and 80+ humidity. Towards the end of the day, its like a walk in cloud chamber.
This looks a lot more refined than my jimmy rigged steam box. I used an 8" piece of HVAC duct pipe, and had it rigged to a pot of water with tinfoil, then put the whole thing on the grill. I'm playing with the idea of rigging something similar to my maple syrup evaporator. Making some furniture would make some good use of all the down time on that job.
Perfectly timed, I've been thinking about this recently myself. A much smaller scale in my case, lanes to inlay into a cribbage board, but I was interested in seeing modern DIY wood steamers
The fun thing about gasses, they can reach a higher temperature than the boiling point of the liquid phase. So while it’s probably close to 100°c/212°F, it could be higher.
Seeing you guys bend the wood in a U-shape makes me want to make that into a chair back joined with scarf joints at the ends with progressively shorter boards.
Thats awesome, now i can make a new , thinner snath for my scythe! I thought it would be way too complicated and expensive to get set up to do this sort of thing at home. Thanks guys! You are the man Rex !
European snaths are easy and don't require much of a bend. (I've made about 30.) You will definitely enjoy a lighter snath. Along the same lines, if you have an American/English style snath, just take a spoke shave to it and thin it down.
@1947wdx honestly, i do see the appeal of a European styled snath, mainly the ease of production, but there is just something way more badass about an American snath imo. Probably as simple as they're just more aesthetically pleasing. Yeah , thats got to be it. EU snaths are ugly lol. Anyways, i have a big ol thick snath, im assuming its one of those mass-produced ones railroad workers used to use for clearing brush. My blade is slightly thicker than a grass blade. Im using one of those 24" weed blades. Oh yeah, one last advantage that eu snaths have, easier to make a nib for them. I practically cannot find any that have been made in the last century for mine. So i hollowed out a broken hatchet handle and ran a bolt through it with a few washers to grip the galvanized steel wire i braided and wrapped around it to make due lol. I couldnt think of anything else. But, i will give an eu snath a shot one day just for the heck of it since you recommend and stand by them. Thanks bud
@1947wdx oh also, i had considered using my spokeshave to thin it down some, but decided against it since you i wouldn't be able to undo it in the event i needed to clear some brush. But it certainly does get quite heavy after awhile, and im no little dude so, i could only imagine how hard it might be for a smaller statue person
@@majinkakashi20 That's the beauty of making your own. You can put as much, or as little bend into the snath as you like. Some of mine are almost straight because that is what the customer wanted, others have as much or more bend as an American snath.
@@majinkakashi20 Look around at flea markets and garage sales. American snaths (here in New England anyway) are cheap. Find one and shave it down and keep your current one as is. Sorry Rex for hijacking your comment section...
Great idea! PVC pipe makes so much more sense than wood for a steam box. The condensation collects on the bottom and can easily be drained out, the humidity won't cause it to swell and shrink, and the threaded end caps make finishing one out a piece of cake. I would have gone with an eight inch pipe, though, and built a rack for the inside.
You guys are having too much fun there... I don't know if the government allows that, Rex... But, either way, how about making some bows? 😃 Anyway, stay safe there with your families! 🖖😊
In the colder climates we cover the steam box with blankets to help retain the heat. I actually prefer a wooden steam box, with a hole just big enough to easily remove the wood strips. I then cover this hole with the blanket, again to retain the heat.
Steam burns START at around 212F but can go far higher. Depending on atmospheric pressure, it can be slightly lower, but not much. When pressure is involved, even water can be above 212F without boiling, but when pressure drops, it flashes to steam Schedule 40 or schedule 80 pvc will take pressure, schedule 20 will not ; I don’t know about the green SDR pipe.
Excellent! Relevant to a series of current projects ( always nice). Question: anything special about the gloves? I know from cooking that wet gloves offer little or no protection.
Note there's no need to build a permanent steam box for a one off or large pc of wood. Clear plastic poly tarp with some battens to hold a shape or continuous bag stock works fine as does foil backed foamboard and duct tape. An old metal gas can with a metal spout on a turkey fryer then a hose can crank out some serious steam 🙂
i've done some steam bending, interesting process! the most extreme was some stirrup "straps" for riding saddles, quite the extreme bends with reversing curves on the ends. i have also done a few shaker oval boxes. the earlex steam generator is a great device, my earlier steam generator was a kettle on a hotplate which worked ok b ut the earlex is a huge improvemement
I might have missed it, but is there a time table for how long you steam/thickness? I may have to try one some time. I have a friend who makes big hollow forms/vases out of madrone which defies all shrinkage ratios, and he steams his pieces. I do know for boiling madrone, it is 1 hour per inch of thickness, and allow to come to room temp in the water before removing the piece. I am also curious about the methods used for bending guitar sides. I am fairly sure that they use dry heat and a form, Not sure if that is one you have tackled or not.
Question: How the heck do you get the Earlex dry for storage? The fill port is small and the cap connected, so you can't easily just open it up to dry. The body looks like it could separate into two pieces but it seemed like they were bonded together. I think I rigged up something with a paper clip to kinda keep it open but I'm not sure how effective it is.
I made a steam tube once out of 4" sch-40 PVC to bend banjo hoops. The PVC pipe melted and sagged in the middle and became unusable. So I built a box out of 3/4" plywood, and that worked. I don't know how other people keep their PVC steamers from melting like mine did.
When working with green wood (or even air dried lumber), how do you deal with the possibility that there's bugs in it? Do you kiln dry the whole project when it's done, or do you just have to live with the fact that it might have mites in it?
Nice! I just realized I already have a very similar wall-paper steamer, just need to get a fitting with the right thread and some pipe. I wonder how hard it would be to come up with a steam box for steaming largish flat panels, say 600 * 300 mm or so... Plywood is out I think, the bonded layers would never bend like that, but you could make your own lamination stack. I'm thinking curved floor standing speaker cabinets and similar. (Criss-crossing the layers should make for a similarly acoustically "dead" and sturdy end product as normal plywood.)
Theres another comment pointing out that you can just bung the steam hose into the end and hold it in with a towel. This avoids having a threaded cap or any fittings for the steam pipe
Ducting is better, put enough pieces together for the length you are working for at the time. Couple end caps and gas hose for the steam feed. Slight up angle so water drains out. Wood will sit on side of circle. PVC gets soft and deforms with heat. Do you wear glasses and gloves in the kitchen?
Any reason besides backflow getting crud into your steamer hoses why you shouldn’t just stick the steam inlet at the lowest point in the tube? Curious if it’s just a cleanup/maintenance issue if it’s worth having the water last longer or if it would cause other problems
A question: does the direction of the grain (eg quartersawn or the like) affect the result? I did some bending once and while it dried it curved all over the place.
Off topic: I just watched a film called War Dogs, was convinced you were playing the guitar, now after some googling I'm not convinced, and disappointed....
Test pieces are a great idea. Don't improvise with steel instead of dowels, you'll get black marks on the wood. A compression strap helps a lot. Look at the kink developing in the first test piece, it's about to snap right there.
Jigs out of oak.. eh i should get some wood. Also, how much better is it to get some oak, in not massive quantities, from a sawmill vs a big box store? Northeast usa for me.
for serious bending you will need a metal strap firmly attached to the *outside* of the curve - or the wood will probably fracture. you will want to have dead straight grain -- split from a log with a mallet and froe. Bad news ... some woods just don't like to be bent. Read a book. Finally, build your steam box from ¾ exterior (water proof glue) plywood ... not pvc or abs.
I built a steam box just like that several years ago and immediately discovered that some woods just don’t respond to steaming the same way. Like Poplar. Don’t steam Poplar.
I would remove these plans for this steam box. PVC pipe is only rated to 140 degrees. The walls of the pipe will soften, deform, and eventually blow out. Even ABS pipe is only rated to 160 degrees. The only pipe that is rated for the temperature of steam is CPVC, and for 6-inch pipe it carries a cost of approximately 39.00 / foot and is sold in 10-foot sections. Take the extra time and for a few dollars more build a proper steam box out of plywood. In the video you can see the pipe rating in red written right on the pipe.
regarding explosion, probably not, too much leakage on the holes you drilled, wet steam is what 15 psi and common drain pvc can hold like 100+ PSI according to google (they make higher pressure stuff but the basic white stuff)
A friend uses a metal pipe, with a right angle bend, fills the bottom of the bend with water and heats it with propane torches to steam bend replacement planks for boats
A tea kettle wouldn't be enough for this big, but it is enough for smaller items. I made toast tongs with a tea kettle, just holding the wood in the steam.
some youtubers need to steam a few strips and make a contraption dang near a scientific thermal chamber (looking at you bourbon moth) you need a steam generator with some volume and a container, thanks for keeping it simple its a project... not a factory
@@brag0001 and there's a lot of options to rig something up to make steam. I'd use an old electric slow cooker to generate some consistent steam with a decent sized reservoir.
@brag0001 at the local big box fence pickets are $2 each, a 4' section of 6" schedule 40 pvc is $35 add in the cost of end caps and plugs and a wooden box is far cheaper here in NC. As well the wooden box acts as insulation requiring less steam and the outside of the box stays cooler. So with nails the wooden box runs under $20 while the pvc box is at least $50, at least those are the prices where I live.
Sooo. You bought drain pvc. And plumbing pvc parts? Thats the only way i can see that oopsie. Some stuff is od listed and others are id listed. Which makes it even more annoying
Sorry Rex. Your channel used to put out videos and now it's mostly shorts which I can't stand. This later series hasn't really caught my attention either. I'm sure this is the way that works for you in order to pull income in as a content creator but I'll be unsubbing as it's not for me. Good luck and hope the best for you.
Build your own steam box! Get the plans: www.rexkrueger.com/store/p/steam-box
Hey I can't see the link to Xyla's channel you promised to put in the description
From wood boat building experience, I highly recommend steam bending only air-dried wood as opposed to kiln-dried. Once wood cellulose is heated, it doesn’t like to be reheated and bent. Steamed air-dried wood usually bends like rubber.
PVC itself will bend when it gets hot (even schedule 40) so be sure to support your steam box. Or better yet, if you want to reuse it many times, build it out of 3/4 inch plywood... I made a steam box out of plywood several years ago and it's still going strong. (I use it 5-6 times a year making snaths for scythes.) I also go old school and stuff an old towel in the end to hold the steam in, then stuff the hose in the open end under the towel. No fancy fittings needed.
Oh, and you can buy that steamer from one of the big box stores. They sell it as a wallpaper steamer. Made by Wagner.
@@1947wdxI just had that same thought. There are also small cannister steamers for cleaning floors, kitchens, etc; I find them in thrift stores for cheap. 👍🏼
Better to just make a wood steam box
Appreciate the extra tips bro. I'm trying to get a setup as quickly but cheaply as possible.
Wooow.... ol Rex has a table saw in his shop....love it.
You two fine gents give the best practical advices that are still grounded to reality and affordable for common folks. Thanks!
Big boat builder, we use a turkey cooker, and visqueen, and metal gas can to boil water in. Works great and is much cheaper and easier. We make our bags out of the visqueen and seal the edges with a lighter. Holds the steam and releases enough pressure that there's no hazard from being burned. Great idea on the PVC though..... Might try that on my next bending adventure. Luv you man !
Years ago I needed a steam box for a project. I had some 5" heating duct and sheet metal elbow on hand so I used that to make something similar. I just wrapped it with a couple of old blankets to hold the heat inside. The 90, instead of the end cap you used, just sat down on the lid of a cheap old pot on a camp stove so the steam off the water inside went up and into the tube. The only thing is to keep an eye on it to avoid boiling dry. But it all went along just fine and I got my bent wood. And the condensed water dribbled back and into the pot to be boiled again since the hole was big enough to take the whole 5 inch end of the elbow.
The steam generator is nice and all. But for a once every 10 years use I'd be fine with the pot and cutout lid and the elbow. And just keep an eye on the water level to avoid running dry.
I love the honesty about forgetting to bring the return item on your trip back. I got a bag of stuff that missed two trips! Hopefully third time is the charm since I'm leaving it in the trunk now.
The steam generator is exactly the same as my wallpaper steamer I’ve had for years. I’m pretty sure buying it as a wallpaper steamer is cheaper than a specialist steam box component
This company makes both machines. The cost is similar.
I used some 1 1/2" pipe and fittings when I was steam bending ribs for a model boat, as well as for the planking, the worst part was making a laminated steam bent section for the bow of the boat, the bend was about a 1" diameter, I used plywood formers to bend the parts around, with an inner and outer part to clamp the parts between
Great to see a new non-short video from you Rex!
So, unfortunately, people grab stuff and put it back wherever, pipe fittings and electrical are the ABSOLUTE WORST, you can spend a whole 8-hour shift trying to fix it, but it's a losing battle (ex home-depot employee).
Thanks for the clarification. I was going to make a fool of myself and possibly post they got a cap that matched the inside diameter. Yeah, that's probably not a thing for caps, but I am the person screwing up the aisle while dry fitting because the inside and outside sizes are messing me up.
I worked at Home Depot for a summer in the hardware department. Sadly when it came to nuts, bolts, and screws not only did customers put them back wherever but the other shift just kinda threw them on the shelf when restocking.
I don't exaggerate when I say I spent 70-80% of my shifts helping customers find the correct sizes in the mess, and trying to straighten it out myself.
Over this summer, i have become a self taught expert in wood bending for prototyping my organic form cigar and whiskey sets. Making male and female form pieces was fun too. I simply use a large plastic tub with plenty of kettle boiled water, going back and forth to the sink 😂. I would love to show off my hilarious set up. Good news is that its payed off and im not accepted by a makers market as well as a couple offers to sell my products in local shops/bars.
always wanted to get into steam bending. always thought I needed a fancy bit of kit to do it though. very cool seeing how easy it is to make one. thanks for this video.
In Mike Dunbar's class we used a compression strap on the outside of the curve to reduce splitting.
This video came along at the perfect time for me. I am looking into learning lutherie and I want to build violins. There are electric bending irons that you can use for violin and guitar sides, but I suspect steaming and form bending might make more sense, and be less expensive. When you consider luthiers from hundred of years ago, they must have bent wood this way, a lot more than using some heated iron.
Love this!
I have no need for it at the moment but surely someday.
That is one way to do it. I like using urushi lacquer as my final top coats when I do my finishing. Urushi requires a very warm and humid environment to cure properly, and due to the space required for the pieces, I end up turning my spare bedroom into a walk in humidor. Namely pushing 90F and 80+ humidity. Towards the end of the day, its like a walk in cloud chamber.
This looks a lot more refined than my jimmy rigged steam box. I used an 8" piece of HVAC duct pipe, and had it rigged to a pot of water with tinfoil, then put the whole thing on the grill. I'm playing with the idea of rigging something similar to my maple syrup evaporator. Making some furniture would make some good use of all the down time on that job.
I have a steam box I use to bend Hazel when making walking sticks
Perfectly timed, I've been thinking about this recently myself. A much smaller scale in my case, lanes to inlay into a cribbage board, but I was interested in seeing modern DIY wood steamers
This might be the solution to many of my issues
The fun thing about gasses, they can reach a higher temperature than the boiling point of the liquid phase. So while it’s probably close to 100°c/212°F, it could be higher.
Seeing you guys bend the wood in a U-shape makes me want to make that into a chair back joined with scarf joints at the ends with progressively shorter boards.
@xylafoxlin getting the shout out! Another favorite RUclips content creator!
Wow that's so cool how much it bends.
Thats awesome, now i can make a new , thinner snath for my scythe! I thought it would be way too complicated and expensive to get set up to do this sort of thing at home. Thanks guys! You are the man Rex !
European snaths are easy and don't require much of a bend. (I've made about 30.) You will definitely enjoy a lighter snath. Along the same lines, if you have an American/English style snath, just take a spoke shave to it and thin it down.
@1947wdx honestly, i do see the appeal of a European styled snath, mainly the ease of production, but there is just something way more badass about an American snath imo. Probably as simple as they're just more aesthetically pleasing. Yeah , thats got to be it. EU snaths are ugly lol. Anyways, i have a big ol thick snath, im assuming its one of those mass-produced ones railroad workers used to use for clearing brush. My blade is slightly thicker than a grass blade. Im using one of those 24" weed blades. Oh yeah, one last advantage that eu snaths have, easier to make a nib for them. I practically cannot find any that have been made in the last century for mine. So i hollowed out a broken hatchet handle and ran a bolt through it with a few washers to grip the galvanized steel wire i braided and wrapped around it to make due lol. I couldnt think of anything else. But, i will give an eu snath a shot one day just for the heck of it since you recommend and stand by them. Thanks bud
@1947wdx oh also, i had considered using my spokeshave to thin it down some, but decided against it since you i wouldn't be able to undo it in the event i needed to clear some brush. But it certainly does get quite heavy after awhile, and im no little dude so, i could only imagine how hard it might be for a smaller statue person
@@majinkakashi20 That's the beauty of making your own. You can put as much, or as little bend into the snath as you like. Some of mine are almost straight because that is what the customer wanted, others have as much or more bend as an American snath.
@@majinkakashi20 Look around at flea markets and garage sales. American snaths (here in New England anyway) are cheap. Find one and shave it down and keep your current one as is. Sorry Rex for hijacking your comment section...
Great idea! PVC pipe makes so much more sense than wood for a steam box. The condensation collects on the bottom and can easily be drained out, the humidity won't cause it to swell and shrink, and the threaded end caps make finishing one out a piece of cake. I would have gone with an eight inch pipe, though, and built a rack for the inside.
Just what the doctor ordered. Thanks Rex and Rob.
Interesting fact: steam /condensing/ onto a surface is what causes the burn - the phase change from gas to liquid is what imparts the heat!
Don't worry about it Rob, we've all ran the drill in reverse from time to time.😂😂 Great build, awesome video! Keep up the great work and stay safe!💯😁
You guys are having too much fun there... I don't know if the government allows that, Rex...
But, either way, how about making some bows? 😃
Anyway, stay safe there with your families! 🖖😊
I need some rex style bows!!!! That would be so fun!
In the colder climates we cover the steam box with blankets to help retain the heat.
I actually prefer a wooden steam box, with a hole just big enough to easily remove the wood strips. I then cover this hole with the blanket, again to retain the heat.
Steam burns START at around 212F but can go far higher. Depending on atmospheric pressure, it can be slightly lower, but not much. When pressure is involved, even water can be above 212F without boiling, but when pressure drops, it flashes to steam
Schedule 40 or schedule 80 pvc will take pressure, schedule 20 will not ; I don’t know about the green SDR pipe.
I made my first steamer out of stainless for a welding project. After using it I want just a plywood box with racks in it.
I read somewhere that if you first twist to each side a steamed piece of wood it will bend much easier.
Excellent! Relevant to a series of current projects ( always nice). Question: anything special about the gloves? I know from cooking that wet gloves offer little or no protection.
Xyla Foxlin is the channel (though her steambox is on her offcuts/second channel) Rex mentions
ruclips.net/video/55eIkfR0UYY/видео.html
Note there's no need to build a permanent steam box for a one off or large pc of wood. Clear plastic poly tarp with some battens to hold a shape or continuous bag stock works fine as does foil backed foamboard and duct tape. An old metal gas can with a metal spout on a turkey fryer then a hose can crank out some serious steam 🙂
Drill the holes along the printing on the pipe...
i've done some steam bending, interesting process! the most extreme was some stirrup "straps" for riding saddles, quite the extreme bends with reversing curves on the ends. i have also done a few shaker oval boxes.
the earlex steam generator is a great device, my earlier steam generator was a kettle on a hotplate which worked ok b ut the earlex is a huge improvemement
Steam box can help straighten. Walking sticks!
I might have missed it, but is there a time table for how long you steam/thickness? I may have to try one some time. I have a friend who makes big hollow forms/vases out of madrone which defies all shrinkage ratios, and he steams his pieces. I do know for boiling madrone, it is 1 hour per inch of thickness, and allow to come to room temp in the water before removing the piece. I am also curious about the methods used for bending guitar sides. I am fairly sure that they use dry heat and a form, Not sure if that is one you have tackled or not.
I first did this ages ago to bend shoe moulding to fit against a fancy tub after a floating floor.
Question: How the heck do you get the Earlex dry for storage?
The fill port is small and the cap connected, so you can't easily just open it up to dry. The body looks like it could separate into two pieces but it seemed like they were bonded together. I think I rigged up something with a paper clip to kinda keep it open but I'm not sure how effective it is.
I made a steam tube once out of 4" sch-40 PVC to bend banjo hoops. The PVC pipe melted and sagged in the middle and became unusable. So I built a box out of 3/4" plywood, and that worked. I don't know how other people keep their PVC steamers from melting like mine did.
Thank you very much for your helpful videos.
If I would buy just one plane ( or plain?) which one should it be?
When working with green wood (or even air dried lumber), how do you deal with the possibility that there's bugs in it? Do you kiln dry the whole project when it's done, or do you just have to live with the fact that it might have mites in it?
I been wanting to stream bend for YRS!!!
I was hoping to see Xyla Foxlin tagged or in the comments here. She is an awesome creator.
Nice!
I just realized I already have a very similar wall-paper steamer, just need to get a fitting with the right thread and some pipe.
I wonder how hard it would be to come up with a steam box for steaming largish flat panels, say 600 * 300 mm or so...
Plywood is out I think, the bonded layers would never bend like that, but you could make your own lamination stack.
I'm thinking curved floor standing speaker cabinets and similar.
(Criss-crossing the layers should make for a similarly acoustically "dead" and sturdy end product as normal plywood.)
Theres another comment pointing out that you can just bung the steam hose into the end and hold it in with a towel. This avoids having a threaded cap or any fittings for the steam pipe
Ducting is better, put enough pieces together for the length you are working for at the time. Couple end caps and gas hose for the steam feed. Slight up angle so water drains out. Wood will sit on side of circle. PVC gets soft and deforms with heat. Do you wear glasses and gloves in the kitchen?
Any reason besides backflow getting crud into your steamer hoses why you shouldn’t just stick the steam inlet at the lowest point in the tube? Curious if it’s just a cleanup/maintenance issue if it’s worth having the water last longer or if it would cause other problems
A question: does the direction of the grain (eg quartersawn or the like) affect the result?
I did some bending once and while it dried it curved all over the place.
Off topic: I just watched a film called War Dogs, was convinced you were playing the guitar, now after some googling I'm not convinced, and disappointed....
I wonder about discoloration. This may be a very cost effective way to sterilize turning blanks, as opposed to boiling them
Test pieces are a great idea. Don't improvise with steel instead of dowels, you'll get black marks on the wood. A compression strap helps a lot. Look at the kink developing in the first test piece, it's about to snap right there.
I use something very similar for bluing gun barrels
Cool music
Jigs out of oak.. eh i should get some wood. Also, how much better is it to get some oak, in not massive quantities, from a sawmill vs a big box store? Northeast usa for me.
for serious bending you will need a metal strap firmly attached to the *outside* of the curve - or the wood will probably fracture. you will want to have dead straight grain -- split from a log with a mallet and froe. Bad news ... some woods just don't like to be bent. Read a book.
Finally, build your steam box from ¾ exterior (water proof glue) plywood ... not pvc or abs.
You could also you a plastic bag made from 5mil and duck tape.
The Steam Box needs a Steam Controller...😂 All the steam, and half the toxicity.
You shouted out Xyla, but forgot to link to her page
I built a steam box just like that several years ago and immediately discovered that some woods just don’t respond to steaming the same way. Like Poplar. Don’t steam Poplar.
I would remove these plans for this steam box. PVC pipe is only rated to 140 degrees. The walls of the pipe will soften, deform, and eventually blow out. Even ABS pipe is only rated to 160 degrees. The only pipe that is rated for the temperature of steam is CPVC, and for 6-inch pipe it carries a cost of approximately 39.00 / foot and is sold in 10-foot sections. Take the extra time and for a few dollars more build a proper steam box out of plywood. In the video you can see the pipe rating in red written right on the pipe.
The drilling you did at 6:40 in the video looked kind of dangerous. Just kept thinking the drill was going to go into your hand.
just saw this on wranglerstar's channel
regarding explosion, probably not, too much leakage on the holes you drilled, wet steam is what 15 psi and common drain pvc can hold like 100+ PSI according to google (they make higher pressure stuff but the basic white stuff)
PROBABLY not...
But if you got extremely unlucky, theoretically COULD
You get a like just for the drill being in reverse😂
thanks for mentioning xyla (one of my other favoured creators) but where's the link :O
l wonder, what kind of thing you would attach to kettle. Attaching a pipe to a pot is easy., but l like to have non electric options.
A friend uses a metal pipe, with a right angle bend, fills the bottom of the bend with water and heats it with propane torches to steam bend replacement planks for boats
A tea kettle wouldn't be enough for this big, but it is enough for smaller items. I made toast tongs with a tea kettle, just holding the wood in the steam.
What about another plain build
some youtubers need to steam a few strips and make a contraption dang near a scientific thermal chamber (looking at you bourbon moth) you need a steam generator with some volume and a container, thanks for keeping it simple its a project... not a factory
Hey mister, those power tools aren't made out of wood... 😁🤔
Steam will burn you. Sure will, spent five years in Navy boiler rooms, after fifty years, still have the scars. We called them BT tattoos.
What happened to your elbow?
It's not a project unless you've been to Home Depot 3 times.
Four 6 foot fence pickets and some nails make a fine steambox, probably a lot less expensively
I doubt that. PVC pipe is so cheap ...
The only somewhat expensive part is the thing that creates the steam ...
@@brag0001 and there's a lot of options to rig something up to make steam. I'd use an old electric slow cooker to generate some consistent steam with a decent sized reservoir.
@@guppyitsallgood true. But then the project starts to grow again because now you need to create all the fittings yourself 😉
@brag0001 at the local big box fence pickets are $2 each, a 4' section of 6" schedule 40 pvc is $35 add in the cost of end caps and plugs and a wooden box is far cheaper here in NC. As well the wooden box acts as insulation requiring less steam and the outside of the box stays cooler. So with nails the wooden box runs under $20 while the pvc box is at least $50, at least those are the prices where I live.
Sooo. You bought drain pvc. And plumbing pvc parts?
Thats the only way i can see that oopsie.
Some stuff is od listed and others are id listed. Which makes it even more annoying
Also possible that other customers mixed stuff in the bins or something
Sorry Rex. Your channel used to put out videos and now it's mostly shorts which I can't stand. This later series hasn't really caught my attention either. I'm sure this is the way that works for you in order to pull income in as a content creator but I'll be unsubbing as it's not for me. Good luck and hope the best for you.