Hi everyone,

I need to bend some oak for a project. I've done it before but it was a long time ago...

Two questions :

1. my plan is to bend a 40x70 mm (1,5" x 2,75") section of oak to a 500mm (20") internal radius, is that realistic?

2. do I have to steam the whole piece or can I build a smaller steam box to only accept the end that needs to be bent?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Edit: added measurements in inches for universal convenience

Oak would be a good species to try and bend but other than that I can only say good luck!

If the curve is ultimately not manageable with steam bending consider taking a look at kerf cut bending. I've never attempted it but when using a tapered router bit the kerf cuts should almost disappear when the curve is glued.

https://www.blocklayer.com/kerf-spacingeng

Thanks, I'll try my best!

Also thank you for the kerf cut idea, i'll keep it in mind as a backup solution.
That website is going straight into my bookmarks!

Cheers

Oak doesn't like to bend. It can be done, but maple would be a better choice if that would work for you. You only need to steam the section that needs to bend - luthiers often bend around an a "hot pipe" instead of making a steam box, look at what they do for inspiration of a different way.

I steamed some mahogany about 20 years ago so I don't remember much except: keep the wood off the bottom of the steam chamber, water will collect there. I tried thicker, but it didn't work until my piece was only about 1/2 thick.

Block layer is the absolute tits

BluGill gave advice on only steaming the bend portion. My only comment would be steam slightly past what you consider the bend start/stop because the material on the other side of that line still has to compress or stretch a bit also.

Right! Now that you mention it I remember seeing that in videos before (bending around hot pipe).
Thanks that means I can build a much smaller steam box, very good news.

Unfortunately the choice of wood is settled.

I'm thinking of maybe splitting the thickness into 2 or 3 layers if it doesn't want to bend as is.
Then steam bend them and once they've cooled down and settled, glue those layers together. I'd rather not have glue involved though, as I will later stain it and don't want to see glue lines.

Good point, noted. Thanks!