Now that the Mesquite sides are trimmed and ready for prime time, I have gone back to bending wood. Before I started, I took one last look at the thickness and evenness of the Mesquite boards.
I Measured the Thickness at Several Points
It mostly looked good.
This Location is Right On At 1/16"
There were a few spots that were thicker than I wanted, so I did do a few corrections with the card scraper to take down some high points.
There Were Still a Few Thicker Sections
Then, it was on to the bending. My plan is to bend some more oak before I jump into the Mesquite in order to get more practice on the iron. I set everything up.
The Setup is Ready
I tried something different to see if the wood will bend a bit easier with more water. I have also seen this trick used to minimize the scorching of the wood by the hot iron. I wet the cloth you see in the photo using the bucket of water sitting next to it.
This Is an Old T-Shirt Rag
I wet the cloth in the bucket, then draped it over the wood between the wood and the iron. In the photo, the cloth is dry, but it will be wet when I am bending. The theory is that the wet cloth will generate more steam and the heat will penetrate into the wood faster and deeper.
The Cloth Will Be Wet When I Am Bending
I set up the template and marked the inflection points on one of the oak blanks.
The Lines Tell Me Where to Bend the Wood
I turned on the iron at 9:10 a.m.
I Got an Early Start This Time
I turned the heat gun to its highest setting and waited for ten minutes to let the pipe heat up.
The Initial Heating Is Done On Max Heat
After 10 minutes,
Ten Minutes Have Gone By
I turned the head down one notch to maintain the heat on the pipe.
The Heat Gun is Set to One Below Max, 800° F
Then, I started bending. I don't have any photos of the bending because I was using both hands to juggle the board and the wet cloth and the iron... But I can tell you that the wood did not bend well under the wet cloth.
It just would not bend. So I put the cloth aside and spritzed the wood with the spray bottle like I did the other times. That worked better. But then I thought that since the bending improved going from wet cloth to spritzed wood, maybe it would get even better if I bent the wood dry. So I tried that.
Bending the wood dry actually made the wood bend easier. There was no steam at all, just the dry heat of the iron. I wouldn't have guessed that bending dry would work better.
I bent the wood until it was close to the shape of the template.
This Is Pretty Close
By the time I got the board into that shape, it was 9:53.
So It Took Me Only 33 Minutes This Time
The last times I bent sides, each one took about an hour. Bending it dry took me only 33 minutes. I think I am on to something.
I got another piece, marked it up and bent it to match the other one. And when I got done, the time was...
It Was 11:08 - 25 Minutes
Bening totally dry and without fooling around with the water, I got done in 25 minutes. I turned everything off.
Letting The Iron Cool Down
Here are the two boards butted against each other.
This Looks Sort of Like a Dulcimer
When the boards are spooned together in the template, they are fairly close in shape.
Not Bad, But There Are Some Rough Places
This end could be a closer match.
Doesn't Really Match the Form Either
The other end is worse.
These Pieces are Quite A Bit Different
Here are the two boards, spooned together.
Roughly The Same, But Needs Improvement
I put the boards on end to see their shape from a different aspect. The board on the left has a bit of wind in it. You can see it leaning to the right.
The Board On The Right is not Right
There isn't a lot of charring and marring from the iron.
The Wood Looks Pretty Clean
This part looks OK too.
Not Damaged
There are a few marks on the inside curve.
A Few Char Marks On the Wood
There are some marks on the inside of the end too. I think that the upper board is the one I bend first, the one using the water.
More Charring
This bend was not perfect, but it went quicker and better than previous efforts. I have two more oak boards to bend before I take on the Mesquite. That will have to wait until next time.
