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Another Steam Bending Question

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Aerowerx

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2011
Messages
6,092
Location
Marion, Ohio
I know steam bending has been discussed many times, but I have not seen an answer to my specific questions.

1. If you bend a piece of wood when it is dry, and then do the glue up, you are "building in" a certain amount of stress. This will take away from the maximum allowable stress that the wood can handle, not to mention the stress on the glue joints (and yes, the glue is stronger than the wood).

2. It has been said that steam bending damages the wood somehow. So if you steam bend before the glue up, the wood looses strength. Then again, there will be no residual stress on the glue joints.

Which is worse? Steam bending or bending dry?

There are a lot of builders that steam bend, and a lot that don't. Have there been any failures that can be attributed to either method?
 
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