Bending a board round a fireplace

[nickliv]

Hi all, a bit unusual this. Our woodburner stands on a plinth, which is curved, and is at present unfinished brick. I'd like to put a nice piece of wood (pref 1/2 inch thick Oak) round the front of it, thing is, it's a pretty tight bend. I don't want to cut into it, as the cuts will be visible. I could steam it, if I built a steamer, but does anyone know another way?

TIA

Nick

 

[JohnC]

on a yurt building course we bent steamed oak staves about 1" square(ish) round an iron wheel. The steamer was a series of oildrums long enough to take the staves with a steam supply from IIRC an old radiator in a fire supplying the steam... A fairly big setup to build for one piece.

 

[Ogri the trog]

Is it imperative that it is "One piece"? Could you bend a series of thinner sheets to form the main part and then "cap" the top edge with a single (and hence easier to bend) oak stave?

Ogri the trog

 

[Mesquite]

Making a steamer for something like this is fairly simple.

All you need is a section of drainage piping, a wall paper steam stripper. Put the wood in the pipe, put the hose from the stripper in and plug both ends with rags. Make sure you leave a small outlet at the opposite end so you don't get a pressure build up.

Then leave it for 30 -45 minutes and then bend round your former

 

[charleslockerbie]

Hi, not really experienced, but can you not achieve the same result as steaming by pouring boiling water over the wood. If im wrong please just ignore me.

 

[nickliv]

Is it imperative that it is "One piece"? Could you bend a series of thinner sheets to form the main part and then "cap" the top edge with a single (and hence easier to bend) oak stave?

Ogri the trog

I have considered using several sheets of thin ply, laminating it round the curve and then veneering it for the face, then an oak stave for the cap piece, yes. Cheers. (The rise overall is about 150mm, otherwise I'd have broken out the steam stripper and drainpipe.) Will report back (Might be a while before I get it done though)

 

[Robbi]

go the easy option, bendy MDF with a venier face and a capping piece. ( you can buy special MDF for bending around curves )

 

[robin wood]

depending on the curve you could do like they did when making the bend in the side of coffin boards, lots of saw cuts at the bend points 1/2 or 2/3 of the way through this means you are now bending half the thickness of oak which is much easier. Might be able to do it dry or with a gentle steam or if you have a hot air gun as used for paint stripping you can use that, apply heat until you feel the spring of the wood to give way to plasticity then bend and hold or clamp in position. Bend it a couple of cm past where you want it because when you take the clamps off it will give back a little.