Bending
Wood
by Fine Woodworking
Softcover
210 x 280mm
121pp
Published by The Taunton Press, Connecticut, USA.
R.R.P.$16.90
ISBN 0-918804-29-9
As reviewed in The Australian Woodworker Issue 90
Bending timber is one of woodworking's 'Holy Grails', a challenge that - when faced - prompts many to assume an unnecessary reverence for the solutions. Most of them are simple and almost commonsense.
Perhaps it is the prevalence of working kiln dried timber, with its less-than-plastic qualities, that has us all stumped. Few remember the old ways of working timber, when it was still fresh, green, pliable and more forgiving.
Techniques for bending, projects using bent timber, and projects which only appear to be made from it (such as a coopered bucket), are the subject of the 37 articles in Bending Wood. These are all reprints, originally published in Fine Woodworking, from the classic early issues (1975-'84).
The projects are varied. They range from a hand basket made with sections of wood rived from a tree (which are then split and bent using age old techniques), to the more sophisticated techniques employed when making a lapstrake boat (with its planks curved gently and fastened to a skeleton).
Studies in riving timber from green logs are carried out in projects like the Firewood Tote, which is simple to make and applies all the basic principles of working green wood. The plastic character of the timber is largely a result of its freshness.
Timber can be made pliable by a variety of means. One of the more extreme measures detailed in the book is immersion in gaseous anhydrous ammonia. More commonly, steambending is employed, and a number of facilities for this are described.
Hot pipe bending, a method that requires a bit of care and experience, is used with particular skill in the musical instrument making trades. Several articles describe the application of the technique in detail. One particularly simple and ingenious method employed to produce bent shapes is known as kerf bending. Kerfbent boxes - boxes produced by cutting three kerfs in a plank, and then bending it to produce the corners - is the subject of a particularly interesting article. It examines this method as it is practised by the Indians of the Pacific Northwest of North America. Several different applications of kerf bending are presented in other stories.
The pinnacle of the bent form - Thonet chairs - is included. Originating from Vienna and popularised at the turn of the century, Thonet and his factory produced a range of seating which became iconic, and influenced a number of designers in the decades that followed.
Bent laminations - thin sections of timber joined face to face in a jig to form a curved shape - is a popular method that lends itself most readily to common workshop equipment. The scope of work which can be produced is virtually limitless, from cross-country skis to boomerangs.
Readers will learn how to create jigs for bending and laminating, including tapered bent laminations and compound curves. A wide range of related subjects are covered in the articles. Information on producing a home-made vacuum press, building a lapstrake boat, the technology involved in producing a chair from a single board of plywood, circular staircase construction, white cooperage from Switzerland, and many more ideas are included. This publication is a wealth of knowledge, in a very affordable and easily accessible package.
Photos: Black & White
Units of Measurement: Imperial
Contents
Introduction
Making a Basket from a Tree
Splitting Out a Firewood Tote
Plans for a Swiss Shaving Horse
Making Wooden Buckets
Bending with Ammonia
Steambending
Fixtures for Steambending
A Time and Motion Study
Oval Boxes
Shaker Carrier
Kerf-Bent Boxes
Hot-Pipe Bending
Bending Irons
An Adaptable Instrument Form
The Shape of a Violin
Plywood
Michael Thonet
Bent Laminations
Tapered Lamination
Bending Compound Curves
The Wood's Own Way of Bending
A Platform Fixture
Bending with Steel Hands
Questions & Answers
Cross-Country Skis, the Easy Way
Cross-country Skis, Norwegian Style
Bending a Tray
Boomerang
Throwing the Boomerang
Shop-Built Vacuum Press
A One-Piece Chair
A Glue Press
Circular Stairway
Lapstrake Boatbuilding
Building a Lapstrake Boat
Controlling the Boat's Shape
Laminated Fishing Net
Index