For Casper

First published in Great Britain in 2019 by Kyle Books, an imprint of Kyle Cathie Ltd, Carmelite House, 50 Victoria Embankment, London EC4Y 0DZ, www.kylebooks.co.uk

This version published by Fox Chapel Publishing Company, Inc., 903 Square Street, Mount Joy, PA 17552, www.FoxChapelPublishing.com.

Text copyright 2019 © Charlie Whinney

Photography copyright 2019 © Andrew Montgomery

Design and layout copyright 2019 © Kyle Cathie Ltd

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Free downloads for all templates and jigs mentioned in the book are available at www.learnsteambending.com/shop – just enter code “Wood & Steam.”

ISBN 978-1-56523-999-9

eISBN 9781607656883

Publisher: Joanna Copestick

Project editor: Tara O’Sullivan

Photography: Andrew Montgomery

Design: Laura Woussen

Illustrations: Esther Coombs

Copyeditor: Sian Parkhouse

Editorial assistant: Sarah Kyle

Production: Lisa Pinnell

The Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file with the Library of Congress.

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Safety notice: Working with wood, tools, steam, and heat sources can be dangerous. Always follow the manufacturer’s instructions and take appropriate safety precautions. The author and publisher cannot accept responsibility for any accident, loss, or injury that may result from material presented in this publication.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

The science of steam bending

Glossary

1 OVER THE CAMPFIRE

Coat hanger

Garden pyramid

Dome

2 IN THE KITCHEN

Wooden rings and bracelets

Festive decorations

Kitchen spiral light

3 THE MINIATURE WORKSHOP

Trivet

Unfired vase

Unfired bowl

Algae light

Nest chair

4 THE MAIN WORKSHOP

Sleigh table

Continuous arm Windsor rocker

Escape boat

RESOURCES

INTRODUCTION

THE DOORS, FLOORS, AND STAIRCASE in your house – maybe even the walls and roof – they hold a secret, and it goes right to the top of the trees outside and back millennia in time. Deep in the fibers, bound up in the very molecules of the wood, is the hidden secret. It’s been there all along, a potential known only to the initiated. When the conditions are right, the grain aligned and hot mist rising, you can take each end of a plank and bend it, twist it, tie it in a knot – with just your hands.

This book is all about the ability of wood to soften and become malleable when heated to boiling point. In these pages you will find a wide variety of intriguing and fun projects that make use of this little-known but very useful aspect of the material. There are 18 new designs created to help people of all abilities discover this amazing process in different ways, most made for the first time in this book. I have tried to show the designs and prototypes in their simplest possible form so you can understand the essence of each work and then develop it in your own way.

I believe that as we move through this century it will become ever more vital in design to use appropriate materials as we try to meet our needs and maintain our level of lifestyle in the context of climate change, pollution, species loss, and our ever-increasing population. In many industries, such as engineering and medicine, highly processed materials such as plastic and metal will always be essential; however, in the spheres of “homewares” and “luxury goods” almost any material can be used as long as the end result is desirable. Given that these items only exist to make us happier and more comfortable, it is clearly counterintuitive to use materials that are energy intensive or polluting; the net benefit to the customer will be negative in the long-term. As you explore different techniques using wood and steam, I hope to give you options – simple and beautiful ways of meeting our needs directly using branches and simple, unseasoned wood. Crucially, by investing your time and skills into the work, the objects you make will be personal. They will be items to keep that will transcend the fickle fashions of the decades to become treasures for you and your family in the future.

We start this book in the forest, bending wood with fire, and we finish in a workshop steam bending wood for a boat that you can make in a weekend. Designing new work to be made by people I will never meet, and whose level of experience I don’t know, has been a delightful challenge. I have tried to make the projects as easy to achieve as possible, with plenty of opportunity to elaborate and improve the designs to make them your own. The different projects offer a variety of scenarios that you can recreate in your garden, kitchen, school, and home workshop, and will enable you to enjoy experimenting with this process in different ways. Many of the techniques, in particular methods of heating the wood, are interchangeable between some of the projects. Please feel free to make this work your own: chop, change, or invent your own new designs and ways of doing things as it pleases you.

Above all, experiment: make mistakes and learn. It is curiosity, innovation, and our collective creations in the world that set us apart from the other animals, and quick thinking and action, and an understanding of how to use our local environment in a sustainable way may be what helps us get through the next chapter in our history.

THE SCIENCE OF STEAM BENDING

When I started steam bending, the day after a talk by designer David Colwell at my college, I did not fully understand what I was doing. Wood would often break and I did not know why. I was coming to the process as a metalworker and tried to do to wood what I was already doing to metal; heating the material to bend, twist, and squash it into a wide range of shapes. I had a lot of interestingly shaped pieces of wood on my workbench, but also at least as many broken pieces under it. It was only when I took the time to read about wood, to understand in my own terms about how trees grow, what wood is, and what actually happens when we heat the wood and bend it, that things became easier.

THE STRUCTURE OF WOOD

Trees grow outwards, adding a thick veneer of wood over the whole surface of the tree every year. If we zoom in to look at the tiny molecules that make up the cell walls of wood, we see that about 50 percent of wood is cellulose, a very regular polymer chain made of hexagons of carbon linked together with hydrogen and oxygen. Filling the voids between the cellulose molecules is lignin, which makes up about 30 percent of wood. Lignin is a hard-to-pin-down molecule; there will be many types existing together and they share a hydra-like structure, with their limbs wrapped around the adjacent cellulose, binding them together with weak bonds. A popular analogy for wood is to think of it as a composite material like fiberglass. The cellulose chains are like the glass fibers and the lignin like the resin that binds it all together. When we heat wood, electrons speed up, everything is energized, and the bonds between the lignin molecules weaken. When it reaches boiling point, the wood is soft and ready to bend.

If we zoom out now to look at the whole individual cells, the first things you will notice are the shapes. The cells are like long, hollow tubes, all packed together, and they have little holes in the sides that link each cell to the next. Next, you may notice the cells are empty. Living plant cells contain the full complement of organelles for life, but these are long gone here, evacuated only a few weeks after the cell was fully grown, and now even the water and sap that filled the voids prior to heating are mostly gone as the heat has turned it to steam – the heat has actually already partly dried out and seasoned the wood.

If we zoom out again, we will see how the alignment of the cells parallel to the edge of the tree make up the grain of the wood, and that the cells that grow every spring are huge compared to the rest of the year. As we bend the wood, the softened cells start to completely change shape. The cells on the inside of the bend are squashed, the grain zigzags as the wood crumples and compresses. On the outside of the bend, the cells flatten and stretch. When they start to rupture, we learn that we can squash the wood a lot more than we can stretch it. Keep bending and we can see the weak points are the “run-out,” where grain does not run parallel to the surface of the wood and threatens to peel away as we keep bending – better not bend the wood any more in case it breaks! If we had been using a compression strap, we could have kept going, as the steel band on the outside of the bend would have ensured almost all the wood would have been compressed and crinkled. The wood is now cooling. If we release the wood while it is still hot, we will see it unbend until almost straight again, but if we wait for the wood to fully cool, the lignin will have re-set around the cellulose molecules and the “spring back” will be about 25 percent of the bend we have created. The porous plant cells of the wood will still be slightly wet and soft; we need to let dry air circulate around the surface of the wood to allow the cells to set hard. When the wood is dry (less than about 15 percent moisture content) and we release the clamps, the spring back will be only about 5 percent of the bend, and we can call ourselves steam benders!

WORKING WITH STEAM

It typically takes less than a tenth of the energy, fuel, and effort to make something from local green wood compared to using imported kiln-dried wood bought in a lumberyard, and over fifty and often hundreds of times less energy, fuel, and pollution compared to metal and plastics. Even after we count the energy consumed making steam, working unseasoned wood in this way is massively efficient and the objects you make will have a much lower embodied energy, carbon footprint, and pollution quotient, and so on, compared to almost anything you can buy from a shop. A large part of my interest in steam bending is the alternative route to making that the process offers. The starting point can be fresh local wood (sometimes actual branches from your garden, as you will see in this book), and the final results are useful, beautiful curved shapes with a moisture content the same as kiln-dried wood.

SELECTING & STORING WOOD

All types of wood, indeed all vascular plants, are made from cells with cell walls of cellulose and lignin, and all wood no matter the species, age, and moisture content can be bent to some extent using a heat/steam process. If you are after extreme results (anything tighter than about a 1:20 thickness to radius ratio), you need to take note of the individual species, consider how dry the wood is, and look carefully at how straight the grain of the wood is. Very generally, ring-porous temperate hardwoods (broad-leafed trees from a temperate climate where you can see the growth rings easily) are normally good for steam bending, but there are plenty of exceptions. Very roughly in order of how “extreme you can go,” my top ten favorites from the woods near my workshop in Cumbria in the UK are ash, oak, elm, yew, walnut, beech, willow, birch, sycamore, and larch. If the wood is fairly low-density, such as pine, larch, and poplar, it tends to crinkle and buckle on the inside of tight bends, but gentle bends are still possible with softer timbers and softwoods. I use almost exclusively local wood, so I am not in a position to comment on every species, but I have had some really interesting and unexpectedly promising results twisting eucalyptus and free-bending softwoods. Rattan is a joy to work with – it’s impossible to break – but it shrinks along the length after bending, which took some getting used to!

I find my success rate for bends goes up if the wood is fresh or properly air-dried. If the wood has been kiln-dried or is reclaimed, I normally soak it in water first for a day or two. The worst results come when the wood has been stored incorrectly and allowed to rot or “spalt” too much; this is not always obvious until you start to bend, and then find the wood is very brittle. Tiny microorganisms have been feasting on the lignin that holds the wood together.

THE GRAIN

The grain is the most important factor in the science of successful steam bending, especially for a maker without access to industrial bending tools. As you will discover, wood is not a consistent material – there will be weaker and stronger parts of every plank. The strongest part is where the grain is straightest and runs parallel with the edge of the board, and the weakest is where there is most “run-out” (when the grain runs least parallel to the edge of the board because that part of the tree was not straight or there were branches there). For most woodworkers these subtle changes do not matter and give wood its character, but for us it is vital information. The hot wood will offer least resistance where there is most run-out, and we must notice and act to support and clamp the wood during the bending process to prevent the weakest parts of the plank developing kinks, which can then develop into cracks. We can also plan ahead to employ the straightest grain over the tightest part of the bend.

You may also want to use a steel compression strap if the bend is too tight to achieve safely, for example any bend tighter than 1:10 thickness to radius ratio, or if there is any doubt about the quality of the wood. Results of about 1:5 thickness to radius ratio is the limit I normally recommend; however, with very straight-grained ash, oak, elm, or yew, results of 1:2 thickness to radius ratio, or even tighter, are possible with the right setup.

Working with wood in this way is an art as well as a science, and I find the process addictively interesting. In my workshop if wood breaks this is rarely a bad thing, as amid the drama there is always an opportunity to learn something, and it is the continual learning process as well as the opportunity to make wonderful things that keeps me hooked.

GLOSSARY

Here’s a glossary of useful terms and equipment for steam bending that will be referred to throughout the book.

CLAMP

This is something to secure the wood into place while you are working. We will be focusing on using wedges to do this task where possible as they are powerful, fast, and inexpensive; however, metal clamps are also invaluable. G-clamps, F-clamps, J-clamps, and good-quality Quick-clamps are all suitable for steam bending. We have two types of metal clamps in our workshop; “good clamps” and “cheap clamps.” The “good clamps” (heavy-duty square-threaded F-clamps, often very expensive) are used for the actual bending/working tasks. The “cheap clamps” (budget G-clamps or Quick-clamps) are used for holding the wood in place only or more light-duty tasks.

COMPRESSION FAILURE

When the wood buckles and shears on the inside of the bend. If using a compression strap, often tiny little crinkles are visible on the inside of the bend. These can be sanded or machined off to leave a smooth surface. This is not a failure, as the overall structural integrity of the wood is intact. A failure is when part of the wood has actually sheared off the rest, often resulting in the bend not having the desired shape. The solution to compression failure is normally using different wood, the addition of clamps across the width of the wood prior to bending, reducing the tightness of the strap during the bend, or making the bend more gentle in your design.

GRAIN

The longitudinal arrangement of wood fibers or the pattern that results from this. For easy steam bending you want the grain as straight as possible, so the lines you can see on the surface of the wood should be as parallel to the edge of the board as possible. If the grain is not parallel to the edge of the board, this is known as runout.

JIG

An object that does some useful work, for example something to bend the hot wood over to give you a particular sized bend. In steam bending, a wide variety of familiar objects (e.g., cups, car tires, pots, pillars, etc.) can temporarily become “jigs” to bend wood over, and wooden and metal forms are often specially made for specific tasks. If you can imagine a piece of finished work which “could” exist, the design of the jig (or what you use to help you make the work happen) is a result of working backwards to do whatever is needed to make this possible. Jigs come in all shapes and sizes. They are used for bending, twisting, and clamping wood in steam bending. Some trial and error is normally required to get it right!

RUN-OUT

Run-out is a term used to describe when the angles of the wood fibers are not parallel to the edge of the board. Almost every plank will have some run-out. “Lots of run-out” is when a lot of the plank has the grain running off at an angle (the plank is not cut correctly for steam bending or that part of the tree was curved, twisted, or has branches or knots). “Really bad run-out” is when the angle of grain is over about 20 degrees, which will make it harder to bend without it breaking, limiting the tightness of the bend possible.

STEAM CHAMBER

A box/pipe/container which can be filled with steam to heat wood. There are a wide variety of steam chambers used. Materials include foam panels, plastic sheet, plywood, stainless steel, aluminium, and almost every type of insulation is suitable. If the wood can’t fit into your chamber, a “steam bag” can be made to heat large planks, ready-bent awkward shapes, or even just sections of the wood. We will use a variety of steam chambers in this book; boiling in a pan or using a microwave works too. As long as the wood inside gets to boiling point, your steam chamber is good.

STEAMER

This is a steam generator, a device to boil water to make steam for your steam chamber. Pans of water, pressure cookers, teapots, and camping kettles can all be adapted, and an electric wallpaper stripper is a ready-made solution that is very convenient although not necessarily the most efficient. Adjustable steam generators (e.g., a pressure cooker over a gas stove) offer great savings of energy as a well-insulated steam chamber does not need very much energy and steam to keep up to temperature between bends; however, when you open the lid you will need to turn up the power to replace the steam and heat that is lost.

STRAP

This is a compression strap, which is normally a thin piece of steel fixed to the “outer radius side” of the wood before bending, stopping the wood fibers from stretching during the bend. All the straps in this book use 1/32″ (1mm) thick stainless steel that we buy ready-cut from our steel supplier (you normally have to buy a whole or half sheet and they will cut it into your desired-width strips with a guillotine, or you can buy online). Spring steel, mild steel, and galvanized steel are all good too, in thicknesses of up to about ⅛″ (3mm), and thin composite straps of fiberglass or woven stainless steel mesh are good for thinner bends. The purpose of the compression strap is to force the wood fibers to squash and compress during the bend, so materials that can stretch, even a tiny bit, are not suitable. Do not use nylon rachet straps or aluminium as these can stretch. There are several ways to secure the wood into the strap, using wedges, clamps, threaded “adjustable end-stops,” and hydraulic methods. In this book we will be using variations on the wedged compression strap.

TENSION FAILURE

When the wood breaks on the outside of the bend, in tension where the wood is being stretched. The solution for tension failure is normally using cleaner wood, a compression strap, making your existing compression strap tighter, or making the bend gentler in your design.

OVER THE CAMPFIRE

THINK OF GOING BACK in time, back before people lived in towns, before people worked with metal. I imagine a time when people lived in small groups, when we were a special type of animal who made fire to burn wood. In a world of fierce creatures, we made our own claws and teeth, hunting with sharp stones, and knowledge was power. The very act of making was what separated humans from the other animals, and fire would have been at the heart of humanity. If you have ever had a campfire, you will know how irresistible it is to poke sticks in, to listen to them hiss and crackle, and watch the bark blister before erupting into flame. I think early humans, with their budding creativity and intimate knowledge of fire, would have known about “fire bending,” the process of heating small branches to boil the sap inside the bark before quickly bending them into a desired form. A wide range of useful and decorative items could have been made for daily life.

I think the campfire is a great place to start your steam-bending journey. It will give you a unique insight into wood you may have been unaware of, and best of all, like early humans, you really don’t need many tools!

CAMPFIRE SAFETY
Use a shovel to manage and contain the fire. It will also allow you to heap embers over the wood to be shaped. And always keep a full bucket of water nearby just in case.

COAT HANGER

This is based on an installation I made for a show called Civilised Man. In the corner of the gallery was a group of small hazel trees surrounding a white plinth, on which was a campfire, all charred black and ashen. In the campfire you could see someone had been at work; there were bent sticks in the charcoal and others drying. On a nearby branch was a perfect row of coat hangers; it was intended to be perverse and funny that in the fictional scenario presented, the person felt the need to hang their clothes neatly. I felt this scene presented something of the crux of what it is to be civilized. The hangers themselves only take about five minutes each to make once you get going, are very useful, and last well. Afterwards you can paint them, whittle them, or leave them raw before they go into service in your closet.

You will need

Images Wood, as described below

Images Saw or pruning shears

Images A tree stump or flat surface (such as a piece of plywood) to nail or screw into

Images Hammer and nails, or screwdriver and screws

Images Fire gauntlets (leather gloves)

Images String, twine, or wire

Images Pliers

Images Paint or oil to finish

COLLECT YOUR WOOD

Wood for the fire We need a fire of small sticks that will burn down to charcoal-like embers in about half an hour. If the pieces are too large, they will take a long time to be ready, and ideally they shouldn’t be too wet. You could also buy normal charcoal, which works just as well and will stay hotter for longer.

Wood for the jig You need one round branch about 2″ (5cm) in diameter. I used hazel since the pith (middle) is hollow, so there was no need to drill a hole for the nails. Dowel or plywood that is cut specially will also work well.

Wood for the hangers Choose live stems no thicker than your thumb, about 3’ (1m) long. It is best to use straight stems. Regrowth (coppiced wood that can grow like giant grass on the forest floor) of ash, hazel, willow, beech, sycamore, Cornus (dogwood), and alder is great for this. Some branches work, too. If in doubt, try just one stem in the fire to test it.

MAKE YOUR FIRE

Light a fairly big pile of small branches, which will give a decent heap of embers to use. Here we are using the barbecue from my workshop, but a normal campfire is fine.

MAKE YOUR JIG

Cut five pieces of hazel about 2″ (5cm) thick and 1″ (3cm) long. If your round pieces are solid or you are using dowel or plywood, it saves a lot of time to drill a hole slightly bigger than your nails or screws in the center.

On your flat surface arrange the five pieces to make a “template” of the inside of the curves to make the coat hanger, and nail or screw them down. The exact proportions can differ from the example; however, it is essential that the hanger is symmetrical so that it hangs straight.

MAKE YOUR HANGERS

1 Start with the thicker end of your stem and put the part to be heated in the fire–gloves are essential. Use the shovel to heap some coals over it.

Now listen. You cannot see the wood since it is buried in hot charcoals, so the best way to get this right is by sound. You want the sap inside the fresh stem to boil, but you do not want it to catch fire. When you hear a crackle, a hiss, or even a high-pitched whistle, that is the sound of the sap escaping through the blistering bark as steam. Once it has started, count 10 seconds for a thicker stem, or 5 seconds for a thinner one, and then bring it out and immediately put it into the jig to make the top bend. This will form the hook.

2 Bend, pulling fairly hard as it goes round to ensure the wood hugs the jig and is a smooth curve that is not able to buckle. It is good for the crisp, charred bark to peel off as you bend, revealing the white wood underneath.

3 Secure the bend with wire, leaving about 4″ (10cm) extra (this will be needed later), and peel off the bark with your fingers when it is cool enough to touch but still warm.

4 Return the wood to the fire, this time heating the next section, and repeat the steps above using the next part of the jig. Keep repeating to form the rest of the hanger, each time fitting the emerging hanger over the jig to make sure it is the correct shape. The first few hangers may take 15 minutes or more before you get the knack of it. I find the trickiest part of the operation to be getting the second wire on tight enough to ensure it does not slip. The rest of the steps are quite simple.

5 Allow to dry before the wire can be removed. Ensure all the bark has been peeled away from the bend, as bark is waterproof and it takes a long time for the wood to dry if it is left on. Bend the extra bits of wire to make “legs” so the hanger can be put over the fire without risk of it touching the coals and catching fire. After 20 minutes or so, remove and allow to cool, before removing the wire and trimming. You will be amazed how rigid and strong it feels. The wire can be reused. If you are making one hanger every 5 minutes, it makes sense to have perhaps four sets of wire so you can always have three hangers drying.

The final finishing is really up to you. I used wire to secure the end, but decorative thread or twine also looks lovely, and if the wood is thick enough you could use a little wooden dowel. The body can be carved, sanded, painted, or oiled. I like defining the bark and bare woods parts crisply with a knife or dipping parts in water-based emulsion paint for a contemporary feel.

This is a very eco- friendly way of making a hanger. Even with the fire, it still has a massively lower embodied energy and carbon footprint than a wire or plastic hanger.

GARDEN PYRAMID

I was in a big hardware store recently and could not believe how much people pay for a “Natural Garden Obelisk”–a structure of thin metal and plastic formed to look like branches, made in China. The gardening year has a natural cycle, a rhythm, and our making skills can splice into this, creating timely works in harmony with what is already happening, in the spirit of good gardening. In early spring gardeners plan and prepare, often pruning and clearing away large numbers of woody stems and branches that they then dispose of in a bonfire. And it is in springtime when gardeners need their “Natural Garden Obelisk” and other structures ready to support beans, clematis, and sweet peas as they reach for the sky. This project sees the opportunity in the bundles of old growth and the flames of the bonfire, and is fun to make, giving license to pyromaniacs! A lot of variation is obviously possible to make this your own using the wood you have available; the fire-bending process makes it possible to use thick wood, for a more contemporary look, and thinner wood can also be bent easily with no fire.

You will need

Images Wood, as described below

Images Saw or pruning shears

Images Fire gauntlets (leather gloves)

Images Old towel or cloth

Images String, twine, or wire

COLLECT YOUR WOOD

Wood for the bonfire This is a good chance to get rid of unwanted growth and waste from the previous year if you are doing this in the garden. The fire must be a decent size, at least 32″ (80cm) in length.

Wood for the structure Save the best bits from the fire. They must be fresh, live hardwood; ash, hazel, and willow are all perfect for this. You want pieces as long as possible. Some thin, bendy pieces about 7’ (2m) or longer are good for the hoops, and two slightly thicker pieces for the uprights, ideally 13’ (4m). After bending you can add pieces on to make them longer if needed.

FIND YOUR JIG

A medium-sized tree is ideal for this. It is a good idea to cover the bark in an old towel or thick cloth in case the heat from the bend damages it. Anything circular and about the right size, such as a pillar or a round planter will also do.

LIGHT YOUR FIRE

A large pile of smaller branches will burn down faster into suitable embers than fewer large logs.

MAKE THE HOOPS

Coil a thin piece of wood into a large knot, forming a ring, and then keep winding it around itself until it is used up. You want one ring a little bigger than the diameter of the jig you will bend around, and another about 3’ (1m) in diameter.

MAKE THE STRUCTURE

1 Use the shovel to make a ditch in your fire to lay the branch into, so it heats easily. Wearing gloves, place one of the thicker pieces of wood for bending in the fire. You may need to use the shovel to hold it in.

2 Listen for the hissing/crackling sound and then count about 20 seconds before removing.

3 Quickly bend around your tree or jig. Make sure you pull hard to ensure it does not kink as it bends, and keep going until you have made a 180° bend. This is easier with two people.

4 Put the bend into the smaller hoop to cool; this will keep it in a bent position.

5 Repeat all of the steps above with a second piece of wood and put into the hoop at right angles to the other bend so you have made a pyramid shape. Put the big hoop over the whole thing and trim the legs so it stands straight.

To finish, you can secure the hoops in place with twine. I think it looks nice to peel the bark and clean up just the top of the bend neatly. Push the ends of the sticks into the ground and plant beans, peas, clematis, or other climbing plants around this beautiful framework.

DOME

This is a “forest” version of a steam-bent sphere we make for design fairs, and we have also used it for after-school clubs and instant shelters outside the workshop; it is our go-to easy structure. The structure is so simple to make and customize, and great for making a quick den, a giant ball, or an arbor for growing plants on. We will be pre-bending the pieces before assembly; it is useful to know that once you have steam-bent wood into a shape, you can allow it to straighten and then, as long as it has not dried out too much, you can bend it back into the same shape again without it breaking. For this project we use a “fire-pipe” steamer for heating the wood–this is just a metal pipe with one end sealed up. It is one of the simplest ways of heating wood and much easier than the “direct fire” method previously described, as you do not need to worry about the wood catching fire. The diameter of the pipe should be at least 2″ (50mm) wider than your thickest piece of wood, and remember to allow for any knots or curves. The process is easiest if you make sure all your pieces of wood are the same length, a little longer than your pipe. The fire-pipe method could also be used for the previous two projects, and indeed many other projects in this book.

You will need

Images Wood, as described below

Images Metal pipe about 5′ (1.5m) long and about 4″ (10cm) in diameter with the end sealed up (this can be done at most steel suppliers, fabricators, and garages–they just need some sort of welder)

COLLECT YOUR WOOD

Wood for the fire A mix of sizes including some bigger branches will keep the fire going a long time.

Wood for the sphere Select 30 straight pieces, 4″ (10cm) longer than your metal pipe.

Wood for the steamer Find 2 forked branches the same size, about 3′ (1m) long.

Wood for the bending jig Cut 4 short sturdy posts about 3′ (1m) long and 1 about 12″ (30cm) long.

SET UP THE STEAMER

Light your fire and set up your pipe steamer as shown, using the two forked branches to make a tripod. The pipe should be at about a 45° angle. It is vital that you use the wire and pliers to make this structure really safe, sturdy, and stable, so there is no chance of it moving while you are working. Do not use string or rope as it may melt or burn next to your fire.

Pour 1–2 cups of water into the steamer and add your first piece of wood. Immediately put the towel or cloth over the mouth of the pipe at the wood to seal it.

SAFETY NOTE

When the water comes to a boil, it can spit out of the end. This is normal, but it is vital to keep the cloth over the end to prevent it from shooting out and burning anybody.

MAKE THE JIG

Hammer the 3′ (1-m) posts into the ground in a line about 12″ (30cm) apart – you can sharpen the ends to make this easier. Position the 12″ (30cm)-long piece between the middle two posts and secure. Tie loops of twine that can easily be removed between the two pairs of posts as shown.

MAKE THE STRUCTURE

1 When the wood has been steaming for 10 minutes, remove it and weave it around the two middle posts. The wood will bend very easily. You will have to unhook one of the loops each time you do a bend; just hook it back on each time to keep everything in place. You can test how much water is left in your tube using the next piece of wood as a dipstick. Top up the water so there is about 8″ (20cm) of water at the bottom, and repeat. If you can top up with hot water from a kettle, this will speed up the process.

2 The next piece should weave from the opposite side: this will keep the assembly even and keep the jig together. Keep going until the you have 10 or more pieces in your jig. You can continue this process as you make the sphere, so your jig doesn’t need to hold 30 pieces at once.

3 Cut two pieces of strong twine 3′ (1m) long and tie a small loop at the end of each one. When you remove from the drying jig, these are then simply looped and tied onto the wood to divide it exactly into thirds. I made a template “measuring stick” to simplify this process and get them all the same.

4 Arrange three branches on the ground in the triangle pattern shown, making sure the ends are always on top, and wrap twine around and around to secure. Repeat the pattern again exactly. Keep going until you have made a pentagon. Make the triangles around the edge, keeping the pattern going. After making five triangles you will have created a large bowl/plate form in the shape of a star. Keep making the pattern until you have made five pentagon shapes round the edge too, and you are now almost finished. You can either turn the structure upside down to create a large dome or continue to make a sphere.

5 Complete the final five triangles, and you have a sphere! If you want a stronger or more heavy-duty structure, you can reinforce the pattern, weaving extra pieces or adding extra branches to fill in the gaps and create a den.

IN THE KITCHEN

I AM ON THE TRAIN, laptop open, thinking of ways to bring the benefits and secrets of wood to you. The train lurches from side to side as I sway down to the buffet. “A cup of tea, please.” In the bag with packets of sugar and creamers are some stirrers, those little sticks made from Norwegian birch trees cut with enormous lathes that unravel entire trees. The thick veneer is passed through a special roller that stamps out thousands of stirrers every minute. The quality is often pretty good and, like popsicle sticks, they are perfect for steam bending. Under the subterfuge that I am dealing with the teabag and sugar, I place the stirrers in my tea, wait about a minute and then bend one around the round pole there to grab onto if the train suddenly stops, holding it there for 10 seconds. The end that was sticking out of the cup now goes in and gets the same treatment, and I repeat the process with the other stick. To keep them bent I fit them into the underside of my cup; the curves snap into the rim, expanding to fit. Now I burn my fingers discarding the teabag, and return to my seat feeling foolish. By the time I have drunk my tea, the bent stirrers have dried and fall out easily. There is a lady watching something on her phone opposite, headphones in. I think she has noticed the bits of wood. I superglue the two bends together at right angles to make a phone stand, and pass it over. It is an ice-breaker. She thinks I am strange, but likes the phone stand.

At home there are plenty of opportunities to use your knowledge of steam bending to make a variety of useful and/or decorative objects. There are many sources of heat in a kitchen. If you have a kettle, microwave, or stove then you can heat wood to make great work. Look around and there may also be sources of wood nearby. Small branches and twigs from the yard can be used as long as they are fresh, thin, and straight. Lollipop or popsicle sticks, stirrers, and wood from fruit crates are good – you are looking for straight-grained hardwood. Bamboo barbecue skewers will not bend easily, as bamboo does not bend well when no longer green. But you may find some old wooden spoons that are suitable! You can also buy wood and veneers online from craft suppliers.

HEATING THE WOOD

The next section of this book details a selection of mini-making projects you can do in the kitchen, parts of which kids can help with. We will be using a 12″ (30cm) casserole pan as our steamer for all these exercises.

Simply fill the pan with water, bring to a boil, then simmer over low heat. Add your pieces of wood directly to the water and leave them to soften and steam. Remember to top up the water from time to time as you work so that it doesn’t boil dry.

As with all the projects in this book, specific techniques, ideas and designs are interchangeable to suit your needs. For example, if you only have a microwave, you can still make versions of all these projects, or use the “stovetop steamer” on page.

SAFETY

Please be very careful when working with hot water, that part is not for kids! Make sure the water never runs out, wear gloves, and use tongs to remove the wood from the pan.

WOODEN RINGS AND BRACELETS

Sometimes people arrive at my classes wanting to make a ring or bracelet to take home. Then as we go through the basics, they learn that it is not as simple as just “bending it into shape” as steam-bent solid wood, especially when it is thin, has a tendency to un-bend when it gets wet or pulled out of shape. There is also a limit to how tight you can bend a piece of wood before it breaks! For these tasks we learn about laminating and making structures.

You will need

Images Wood for the jigs – one plank or piece large enough to drill holes into, and one short branch about 4″ (10cm) long and roughly the same circumference as the ring you want to make

Images Wood for bending – you can use thin, fresh woody stems, stirrers, and popsicle sticks

Images 12″ (30cm) casserole pan, for heating the wood

Images Sticky tape

Images Saw (we used a fine Japanese saw)

Images Knife (whittling knife or Stanley knife)

Images Gloves and tongs

Images Glue (waterproof “super-fast″ PVA or superglue)

Images Sandpaper (120 grit and 240 grit)

Images Danish oil or varnish

Images Mugs

Images Stacking plastic beakers (e.g., plastic cups)

Images Little wooden balls or similar (optional for bracelet)

MAKE A LAMINATED RING

Make the jig

Drill a hole in a piece of wood a little bigger than the finger the ring is for. As you can see, we have drilled four holes of slightly different sizes. Cover the inside of the hole with sticky tape. Take your short branch and whittle this to a taper so one end is a little smaller than the size of the ring desired. Cover this with sticky tape as well.

Prepare the wood

This can be a popsicle stick or coffee stirrer, if you are lucky enough to have one with a very straight grain. For guaranteed success, split a fresh 2 ¾″ (7cm) twig down its length and whittle this to a uniform thickness of about 1/32″ (1mm). Taper the ends to a point. I find it easiest to hold the knife facing away from me on the edge of a table and then pulling the wood toward me, skimming thin shavings from the surface of the wood sandwiched between the sharp blade and table surface.

Make your ring

1 eat the wood in your pan for 1 minute (see page). When ready, quickly bend the wood around your tapered branch, coiling it into the size of ring you want. If some of the grain peels away, don’t worry. You may still be able to rescue it by peeling away the part that comes off, whittling it thinner still and repeating the above.

2 Coil your wood into the hole. Drip some glue onto the edges of the ring and quickly force the tapered stick into the ring. As it goes in, it will force the ring to expand a little, sandwiching it against the edges of the hole.

3 When the glue is dry, gently tap the ring out of the hole and carefully sand/whittle into your desired final form.

MAKE A KNOT BRACELET

SAFETY
Always take care when working with knives. Positioning your thumbs as shown in the image on the right gives you more control over the movement of the knife and can prevent slips.

1 Select your wood. It is easiest to make this from a thin branch about 18″ (45cm) long, especially if you have split it lengthways and whittled it into a tactile, flat section, leaving the ends a little thicker than the rest. You can also use popsicle sticks glued together, which could create a sentimental keepsake of a special sunny afternoon, but remember the grain must be very straight.

Heat the wood in your pan for 5 minutes (see page). You will need to gently bend it into a half-moon shape to fit it into the pan.

2 Bend the wood around a part of the plastic beaker or cup that is smaller than your wrist. The strongest part is the base of the cup, so use that if the size is right. While the wood is hot we are breaking the lignin bonds, to give you freedom to unbend and bend the wood to get it the right shape before it dries. If you are using popsicle sticks, you can get a fairly good bend right to the ends by sandwiching the hot wood between two stacked cups.

3 Tie a knot. This needs to be the final size of your bracelet. If you are using the popsicle sticks, you can superglue them together now while the wood is slightly damp and then tie your knot.

4 Dry the wood. This can be on a sunny windowsill for the day, or a radiator overnight. If you want the bracelet to be a simple bangle, glue the knot to make it permanent. If you would like to be able to unclasp the bracelet, be sure to glue some wooden balls or other detail to the ends of the wood so the bracelet does not come undone during use.

If you want to add small wooden balls to the ends of the bracelet, they’re easy to find online. Carefully drill a hole into each ball and secure it to the ends of the bracelet.

FESTIVE DECORATIONS

These decorations are easy to make and a huge amount of variation in design is possible – these are a few ideas to get you started, including a star, a tree, a heart, and wooden chains. These designs represent a masterclass in sculptural steam bending, but on a tiny scale, as many of the advanced techniques we apply for making large commissions can be learned here. These decorations can be painted or finished however you like – and maybe there will be space on the stove for a pan of hot chocolate too, to keep you going.

You will need

Images Wood for bending – thin, fresh woody stems of hardwoods such as ash, hazel, sycamore, and beech are all great for this

Images 12″ (30cm) casserole pan, for heating the wood

Images Saw (we used a fine Japanese saw) or pruning shears

Images Knife (whittling knife or Stanley Knife)

Images Gloves and tongs

Images Glue (waterproof “super-fast” PVA or superglue)

Images Fine sandpaper 120 grit and 240 grit

Images Danish oil or varnish

Images Mugs

Images Decorative thread, wool, or florist’s wire

Images Scissors

Images A selection of non-precious mugs, cups, and plastic beakers

MAKE A STAR DECORATION

1 Cut your wood. You need thin, straight sticks about 8″ (20cm) long and about ½″ (1cm) thick. You can try making stars of different sizes using different lengths, with different numbers of points. There will be two points of your star per one stick, so for example here we used two and a half sticks to make a five-pointed star. Split the sticks down the middle stopping about 2″ (5cm) from the end. Don’t worry if they go all the way, as you can still probably use them.

Heat the wood in your pan for about 2 minutes (see page). Bend each piece around a mug with the bark side inwards; you will end up with a Y-shaped piece.

2 Repeat and tie the two together as shown, wrapping with your choice of thread or wire to keep securely together.

3 You can now bend a half-piece stick and wire this to the two remaining ends to create a star. Add a loop for hanging. You are a star, well done!

MAKE A CHRISTMAS TREE

1 Select your wood carefully. You need lengths about 6″ (15cm) long and ½″ (1cm) thick, with little branches on one end making an L shape. Ash, hazel, and sycamore are especially suitable for this. Cleave the sticks lengthways down the center at the right angles of the little branches.

2 Heat the wood in your pan for 1 minute (see page). Bend two pieces around a mug with the bark facing outwards.

3 Fix the two parts of the top of your tree together with your choice of decorative thread, wool, or wire, wrapping around and around for about ½″ (1cm).

4 Put the whole assembly back into the pan for 30 seconds. Carefully twist the little branches together and down to make the stem and base of your tree, and tie. You can also zig-zag it around to decorate. Add a loop for hanging.

You could think of the two parts of the tree as representing people coming together at Christmas.

MAKE A HEART

1 Select your wood. You are looking for very straight branches about ½″ (1cm) thick cut into lengths of 10″–12″ (25–30cm). Cleave in half lengthways, stopping about 2″ (5cm) from the end. Wrap a little wire around so the split cannot go any further. Whittle carefully so the wood is only about 1/16″ (2mm) thick from where the split starts.

2 Heat the wood for about two minutes (see page). Bend both sides around a small cup to make a wide Y shape, and then secure the ends together with a little wire to make your heart.

3 Dry the wood held flat between two books or blocks of wood. If desired, cover or replace your wire with some decorative thread or wool and make a loop for hanging. The heart symbol is a universal symbol of love and positive emotions!

MAKE WOODEN CHAINS

1 Select your wood. This can be thin branches under ½″ (1cm) thick, from most trees – the thinner they are, the easier they will be to bend. Cut them as long as you can while still fitting into your pan – 12″ (30cm) is fine. Heat the wood for one minute (see page). While the wood is hot, you can quickly and easily remove the bark from some of the pieces.

2 Bend the wood into the inside of a sturdy, straight-sided cup, forcing the wood into a coil at the bottom of the cup. You may be able to get three or four pieces into each cup. Dry the wood. This can be on a sunny windowsill for a few days, or on a radiator or stove until ready.

3 Make a chain, slotting the rings together like putting together a series of wooden key rings. I like alternating the rings with and without the bark, or you could paint and decorate the rings before assembly and add thread joining the ends for strength and color. We made chains of about 30 links, which was easily long and strong enough to make it across our living room. These can also be used for hanging light fixtures, a rustic curtain pole, and other utility objects. It is also very easy to make different sizes. Let your imagination run wild.

KITCHEN SPIRAL LIGHT

Design and good cooking exist to do the same two things: improve your life and make you happier. While writing this book, I kept coming back to this idea that cooking and making are basically the same process; the main difference is that the results of cooking are eaten, whereas the products of making stay in your life as a permanent testament to the time you spent on it. Here we are going to create a simple spiralling form that will make a stunning lampshade. While stripping the bark from thin pieces of ash and hazel, I was really reminded of peeling vegetables – and this piece was first created in our kitchen using temporarily repurposed pots and pans and wood cut from hedges adjacent to the garden where I would normally go in search of something to eat.

You will need

Images 36 × fresh pieces of wood about 10″ (25cm) long × ½″ (1cm) thick, plus spares

Images Saw (fine Japanese saw ideally) or pruning shears

Images Tongs and gloves

Images Large mug or small saucepan for bending around

Images Drying rack

Images Lampshade plate fitting (optional, buy online) or piece of 6″ × 6″ (15cm × 15cm) thin ply

Images Cordless drill and 1/16″ (1.5mm) drill bit

Images Glue (superglue or hot glue gun)

Images Wool and large sewing needle

MAKE YOUR LIGHT

1 Prepare your wood, trim to exactly 10″ (25cm) and peel the bark from half of the pieces using a sharp knife. Prepare your drying rack. We made two from plywood about 8″ × 12″ (20cm × 30cm), with two straight pieces of round wood screwed to the edges. You may have some cake cooling racks that work just as well – the gap between should be about 6″ (16cm).

2 Heat your wood. We were able to get most of ours in the pan at once if laid in a cross pattern, but more than one batch may be needed. They will need a minimum of 2 minutes of steam before you can get started. Remove one piece carefully with tongs, and wearing gloves immediately bend over your mug or small saucepan and store in the drying rack. Repeat this for all your wood.

3 Dry the wood. It takes longer to dry the wood with bark on, so give it at least two days on a warm, sunny windowsill. We allowed the pieces with bark to unbend a little to give us two sizes of curve. If you’re in a hurry, you could put the drying rack in a fan-assisted oven for about 1 hour on the lowest setting. Prepare your wood. You may want to carve the ends so they are slightly rounded, or sand or paint them for a decorative effect. You could sand and stain the peeled wood, if desired.

4 Prepare your light fitting. You need a thin piece of plywood cut into a disk about 6″ (15cm) in diameter with a hole for your light – this will probably be 1 ⅛″ (28mm) or 1 10/16″ (42mm), depending on the type of fitting. We drew around a plastic school protractor, marking a line every 10 degrees to mark the positions of the bent wood pieces before cutting. We cut all parts with a coping saw. Alternatively, you can buy purpose-made stainless steel fittings online.

5 Assemble your lamp. You need to support your light fitting about 6″ (15cm) from the surface of the table by resting it on a glass or mug. Sparingly glue the bent pieces onto the plate, allowing the ends to touch the surface of the table so they are all at a similar angle, giving you a spiral effect. You can vary pieces with and without bark to get a nice effect. To get all 36 pieces in, you might need to whittle/taper many of the pieces to fit, and I alternated from three working places so it did not get too heavy on one side as I was working.

6 For extra strength we drilled a neat ring of 1/16″ (1.5mm) holes, one in each piece of bent wood and into the fitting, then threaded strong thread through each one, stitching them together to ensure this shade will last a long time.

Experiment with different bends and shapes to create your own unique lamp.

THE MINIATURE WORKSHOP

THE MINIATURE WORKSHOP uses simple jigs to make steam bending easy. It is small, useful, and enables even my five-year-old to make really tight, high-pressure bends in our kitchen. I love making jigs – the process of thinking of what is possible and creating some means to achieve it is something I really enjoy. This is an easy system for making useful, small-scale works at home, at school, or in the studio – the idea being you fulfill your needs using local, eco-friendly materials, and invest your time in the object so it becomes something you will hopefully keep for forever. The jigs use ¾″ (18mm) plywood, and the designs are based on the approximate footprint of a letter-size piece of paper, including all the wood, which is only 12″ (297mm) long. This makes these projects perfect for doing at home; the wood will fit in your microwave or steamer over the stove. The limitation of designing work made from only 12″ (297mm)-long pieces of wood has resulted in some new ideas I was not expecting – it has been a lot of fun. As with all the exercises in this book, this may be just a starting point for you. You can mix what you learn here with other techniques in other sections and your own experiments and experiences further afield to create something new!

JIGS

You can buy ready-to-go kits, wood, and parts for this section online at www.learnsteambending.com, or make them yourself by downloading the templates on the website.

Free downloads for all templates and jigs mentioned in the book are available at www.learnsteambending.com/shop – just enter code “Wood & Steam.”

JIG510

This is a smaller bending jig. It has a 2″ (5cm) and 4″ (10cm) diameter curve to bend over and also has the option of a compression strap if needed.

JIG1520

This is the basic bending jig. It has a 6″ (15cm) and 8″ (20cm) diameter curve to bend over and also provides a handy place to keep your two clamps.

JIGdry

This is your basic drying jig. You may want a few of these!

To make your basic jig you will need

Images ¾″ (18mm) plywood (ideally marine ply, which lasts longest, but other types are fine)

Images Hardwood ⅜″ × 11/16″ × 4″ (10mm × 18mm × 100mm)

Images Workbench

Images Jigsaw, bandsaw, scroll saw or coping saw

Images Drill with 3/16″ (4mm), 5/16″ (8.5mm), and ⅜″ (10mm) drill bits

Images Belt sander and router with circle cutter and straight cutter or bearing cutter (not essential)

Images M8 4-pronged T-nuts and selection of M8 nuts and bolts

Images Hammer

Images Computer and printer

Images PVA glue

OR

Images 11/16″ (18mm) plywood

Images A CNC router (CNC routers are relatively inexpensive, easy to source on the internet, and they produce consistent and very fast results) – download the files from www.learnsteambending.com.

MAKE YOUR BASIC JIGS

Go online and print out the sheets for the jigs you want. Glue the printouts onto the wood. Spread a very thin layer of PVA and use a credit card to smooth out any excess glue as you stick the paper down.

Clamp the wood onto a bench for safety, then cut out the shapes with your saw, being very careful to follow the lines. (Tip: Take your time and really watch what you are doing.) You will need to drill out holes in the wood to get the jigsaw started in the middle bits. If you have a router with a circle cutter, you can use the marked center radius. It will be quick to cut JIGdry with a ½″ (12mm) cutter and fence.

Smooth the edges with a belt sander. (This is optional but is normally needed unless you used a router or are a jigsaw Jedi!)

Square the cuts with a router and flush-cutter. (This is also optional and may not be needed but saves a lot of time, especially if you used a jigsaw, which has a tendency to not cut square.)

JIG1520

This is finished now, check that your H-shaped clamps nest nicely.

JIG1510

Make the compression strap. You will need a piece of galvanized or stainless steel 11/16″ × 14″ × 1/32″ (18mm × 350mm × 1mm) and 6 × 9/16″ (15mm) screws. Insert the strap folded over at the ends into the end-stop parts and secure with screws. Cut a wedge from your wood for bending.

JIGdry

This is complete.

USING THE JIGS

This family of jigs is designed to enable you to achieve almost any possible shape using wood 11/16″ (18mm) wide, 12″ (297mm) long and a thickness from 1/16″ (2mm) up to about ⅜″ (10mm). The following instructions explain how we use these tools – you may find other or better ways. I feel we have still only scratched the surface of what is possible using this process.

JIG1520

Called “1520” because you have a 15cm (6″) and 20cm (8″) diameter curve to bend over. You also have two H-shaped clamps nested in the jig for storage.

Hook the wood into the “waist” of the jig on either side and bend over the size you want. Push your H clamp onto wood to let it cool. Transfer into the drying jig.

JIG510

Called “510” because it has a 5cm (2″) and 10cm (4″) diameter bending surface. This works with or without a compression strap. The compression strap allows you to do tighter bends with thicker wood.

If you are using the compression strap, put the wood into this and tighten using the wedge.

Put the wood and strap into the “mouth” of the jig, starting the bend where you choose, and bend with the compression strap on the outside surface of the curve.

Push your H clamp onto wood to let it cool.

Transfer into the drying jig.

SOURCING AND CUTTING WOOD

One of the main drivers for me in developing this system was the opportunity to use quality pieces of wood from local trees that would normally only be used for firewood. Trees, as you may have noticed, have branches; this is good for the trees but the run-out in the grain often results in wood with grain not parallel with the edge of the board. This makes it more prone to breaking and splitting, especially if you are just starting steam bending. What I have found, however, is that even the most unsuitable-looking tree will normally have short sections of perfectly clean, straight wood between the branches. By using pieces that are fairly short, we are able to create perfect A-grade timber from almost any piece of wood, and because we are steam bending, the wood can be fresh and it does not need to be dried out. You can make use of unused cuts and planks from local sawmills or a small tree or branch, and cut it yourself. Use local materials to fulfill local needs!

Porous, temperate hardwoods, including ash, oak, elm, beech, sycamore, walnut, hazel, etc., are great for steam bending, and ring-porous woods (hardwoods where the growth rings are easy to see, such as ash and oak) tend to be the easiest. Yew is an exception to this rule – even though it isn’t officially a hardwood as the tree has needles, it’s fantastic for steam bending.

You will need

Images Froe and/or ax

Images Draw knife or carving tool

Images A good-quality bandsaw or table saw (a table saw can be fitted with an extra-thin blade for more efficient cutting, but this is not essential)

Images Planer/thicknesser or sharp handplane (optional, but invaluable for making smooth, good-quality planks)

Images Straight-grained hardwood (a plank or log not too big to work with confidently)

MAKING A SMALL PLANK FROM A LOG

Cut the log into lengths you feel confident working with, making sure the grain and surface parts of the log are completely straight and smooth if possible. I find multiples of 13″ (33cm) work well to reduce wastage, so lengths of 13″ (33cm), 26″ (66cm), and 39″ (99cm) all work well.

Split the log along its length into workable, safe sections that will fit on your bandsaw or under the guard of your table saw, for example 2″ (5cm) thick slabs. If the wood is not splitting cleanly, it may not be ideal for steam bending. You may need to carve with a draw knife or other tool to make a reasonably flat surface.

Set the fence to ¾″ (2cm) and cut. You have planks!

Plane the wood to ¾″ (18mm) using your thicknesser or plane. If you would prefer to work from existing planks rather than making your own, just cut and plane them to ¾″ (18mm) before moving on to the next stage.

CUTTING PLANKS INTO PERFECT PIECES FOR EXTREME STEAM BENDING

Look very carefully at your planks. The direction of the grain may not be completely in line with the edge of the board. Mark a clear line with a straight edge following the grain. If the grain curves along your board, you can cut your board into lengths as short as 13″ (33cm) to get the best possible result. If your designs only use gentle bends, you will not need to be so careful about following the grain. Cut freehand, following the line as closely as you can.

Look at the end of the wood. Ideally the growth rings pass more or less through the top and bottom of the planks. If they don’t, set your fence a little bit less than the maximum depth cut of your saw and cut the wood into planks that width.

Look again at your planks. If needed and not too wasteful, you can mark a new line with the straightedge following the grain and cut freehand.

Cut ¼″ (6mm) planks, or 1/32″ (1mm) more than you need, unless you are hand planning, in which case cut as close to the finished size as you dare!

Plane the wood to 3/16″ (5mm). When you are done, trim your pieces to exactly 11 11/16″ (297mm) long. You have made perfect mini-planks!

HEATING THE WOOD

The two easiest methods for heating wood for the Miniature Workshop are using the microwave or a tray steamer, which you can learn to make below.

HEATING WITH THE MICROWAVE

You will need

Images Microwave with a 12″ (30cm)-wide plate

Images Plastic plate to fit the wood

Images Tongs and gloves

1 Soak the wood in water for 24 hours minimum and store in water before use.

2 Heat on full power for about 20 seconds. You will need to experiment to find the optimum time for your particular microwave. As soon as you see steam, it is a few seconds from being ready! You may find as the microwave heats up you need a slightly shorter heating time so do keep watching the wood as it heats.

3 Remove the wood with gloves on and bend immediately. When you have finished, wipe out the inside of your microwave to remove any risk of residue tainting your food.

SAFETY NOTE
Never ever leave the wood unattended in the microwave. If it dries out, it will be useless for your work and can catch on fire.

HEATING WITH A TRAY STEAMER

You will need

Images 2 foil trays (these may be sold in supermarkets as disposable baking sheets or roasting trays)

Images Scissors

Images Leather or rubber gloves

Images Sturdy saucepan, the right size to fit under the tray

Images Tongs

MAKE YOUR STOVETOP STEAMER

1 Cut a 2″ (5cm) cross in the middle of one of the trays using scissors and fold under to make a square hole.

2 Flatten the other tray and put on top of the first one to make a box. Fold over the edges on two long sides and one short side to crimp and secure, and bend the other edge to make a small opening.

3 Simmer half a pan of water, using your foil steamer as a lid. You can position the wood you want to bend poking a little out way of the opening, for the perfect mini-steam chamber.

4 Put the wood in the steamer. For 3/16″ (5mm) wood you will need between 5 and 10 minutes, depending on the amount of steam you are making.

5 Remove the wood with tongs and gloves and bend immediately.

IMPORTANT SAFETY NOTE
The edges of the cut trays can be very sharp so care and gloves are needed. Also, keep checking the water level – do not let it boil dry.

TRIVET

This is one of the simplest objects to make in this book. It looks great, especially hung on the wall, and is surprisingly useful in the kitchen, enabling you to protect surfaces and serve hot food directly at the table.

You will need

Images 3 pieces of wood 3/16″ × 11/16″ × 12″ (5mm × 18mm × 297mm), plus some spares (they can be all the same species or could all be different)

Images JIG510

Images JIGdry

Images Compression strap

Images Pencil

Images Dowels ⅛″–5/16″ (3–8mm) (you can buy bamboo barbecue skewers that are often ⅛″ (3mm), or most sizes of softwood and hardwood dowel available, or you can make your own dowels, which can be a lot of fun and normally stronger, too)

Images Drill and sharp drill bits (the same size as your dowel)

Images Workbench or table

Images Small saw

Images Glue (PVA or superglue)

Images Shaping tool, optional (e.g., Spokeshave, chisel or powered sander)

Images Sandpaper (120 and 240 grit)

Images Finishing oil or Danish oil

MAKE THE TRIVET

1 Heat the wood using your chosen method.

2 Bend around your JIG510 and put into JIGdry. You can choose what sizes to use – I like to do a 2″ (5cm) bend and two 4″ (10cm) bends and use the different slots of JIGdry to keep them in shape, but you can also make them all the same, maybe three 4″ (10cm) bends. It is up to you! If the wood is very straight grain, you may not need to use the compression strap.

3 Dry the wood. This can be on a warm, sunny windowsill or above a radiator overnight.

4 Place the bends on a flat surface and lay out how you want it to look. Mark where the surfaces touch with a pencil (this is important). Drill the holes for the dowels. I find it easiest to do this by holding or clamping the two pieces together off the edge of a table so I know they will definitely line up. Once you’ve finished drilling, clean up and sand. If wanted, this is your opportunity to shape the ends or edges if you are feeling sculptural. Sanding should be “through the grades and with the grain,” working from 120 grit to 240 grit and even finer if wanted.

5 Glue together with dowels. Make sure the pieces are really pushed together so there is no gap. If you are feeling extra expert, you can saw your dowels in half lengthways and hammer in little wedges, aligned at right angles to the grain of your bends – this will make your fixing even stronger.

6 Trim the dowels. It is up to you how you do this – they can either all be cut the same length or cut off flush. You can make a feature of the dowels, painting their ends or gluing wooden balls or other details over them. If you decide to paint the dowels, painting the ends of the wood also looks nice.

7 Finally, sand and oil to finish. If you are going to hang the trivet on the wall, you can use a little more dowel for this, for extra design points!

UNFIRED VASE

This is a low-embodied energy, eco-friendly pot, perfect for pencils, or it can hold a water container to make a vase for flowers. As with all the projects in this book, you really can make it your own, and versions of this can also make a brilliant lampshade. We created a vase for flowers, making everything including the bottom bit of plywood. You can buy ready-cut ply in different designs online to save time.

You will need

Images About 10 pieces of wood 3/16″ × 11/16″ × 12″ (5mm × 18mm × 297mm) ready for bending, plus spares (they can all be the same species or different)

Images Water container, such as a drinking glass, jam jar, or small plastic bottle

Images Dowels, any size between 3/16″ (4mm) to ⅜″ (10mm), about 1 3/16″ (30mm) long

Images Drill, drill bits, and drill collar correct size for the dowels

Images Fast-drying glue (superglue, 5-minute PVA, or miter bond)

Images 11/16″ (18mm) ply, 4″ × 8″ (100mm × 200mm) or bigger

Images JIG510

Images JIGdry

Images Saw (bandsaw, jigsaw, scroll saw or coping saw)

Images Belt sander, small handplane, or sanding block (or CNC router)

Images Sandpaper (120 grit and 240 grit)

Images Japanese saw

Images Clamps

Images Spokeshave

Images Hammer

BEFORE YOU START

Plan your design. The wooden part of this vase is the exterior – you need an interior vessel to hold the water. We used an old jar, but a water glass, cut-off plastic bottle, or any other waterproof container will work. You should also plan your bends. How tall do you want your vase to be and where will it bend? You want the bends to start well above the height of the water container, so it is hidden.

For this project we are making lovely freehand organic twists, but if you want to experiment, you can try making your own jig to achieve more regular results or play around with some more extreme twists.

MAKE THE VASE

1 When you’re ready, draw around the base of your chosen container on the plywood and draw a shape around it with as many 11/16″ (18mm)-long flat sides as are needed to complete the shape This will show you how many pieces of wood you’ll need to bend. Cut out your plywood shape and make sure the flat sides really are flat using a belt sander or small plane – or you can use a CNC router.

Trim, shape, and sand the wood. We used the full length of wood and did minimal shaping, but this is another chance to make the vase your own. Sand through the grades and with the grain, working from 120 grit to 240 grit and even finer if wanted.

2 Heat the wood using your chosen method.

Bend the wood using JIG510, JIG1520, or JIGdry. There is no wrong way of doing this: bends can be as gentle or extreme as you like. If you are making a small pot, you may plan to get two pieces from each bend by cutting them in half after they are dry. For this vase, I twisted the pieces and held each for 20 seconds to cool.

Dry the wood – this can be on a radiator overnight, a sunny windowsill, or a drying room with dehumidifier if you are making a lot of these.

3 Glue the bends onto your plywood using a fast glue. Miter bond or superglue with an activator are good for this, or if you are using PVA, you may be able to clamp the pieces in pairs. If you find the pieces of wood do not quite fit, don’t worry. You can just trim a little bit off the edge with a knife or other tool so the flat surfaces of the plywood meet exactly. Keep going until you have gone all the way around and you have a beautiful vessel. Be aware that it is not maximum strength yet so do not drop it!

4 Drill the holes for the dowels. They need to be about 1″ (25mm) deep. Glue in the dowels using a little hammer to get them all the way in. (If you wanted to make this even stronger and make this exercise harder, you can use wedged dowels with pins – use 5/16″ [8mm] dowels cut with a Japanese saw about halfway down the length, glue them in the holes with the cuts at right angles to the grain, and drill another ⅛″ [3mm] hole from the bottom of the pot through the plywood into the dowel and glue in a ⅛″ [3mm] dowel. Then hammer in your wedge and clamp if needed.)

Trim and sand the dowels. If the pot does not sit flat, you may want to trim with a Japanese saw or carefully flatten with a belt sander or sanding block. Oil your unfired vase and put in the jar for flowers. You have finished!

UNFIRED BOWL

This is similar to the vase but has a different base and crucially is a lot stronger so you can load it to the brim with fruit or other objects. If you have never made anything before, this one is for you. You can buy all the bits online if you don’t want to use a router and you (almost) can’t go wrong! The basic concept here – cutting a 3/16″ (5mm) groove in one bit of wood so you can stick pieces of steam-bent wood in – can be a starting point for other interesting pieces and great designs. If you happen to have a small CNC hobby router, you may also notice that 3/16″ (5mm) is a standard cutter, so really anything is possible now.

You will need

Images Pieces of 3/16″ × 11/16″ × 12″ (5mm × 18mm × 297mm) wood (you can go for one species or a mix, and the exact number you use will depend on the size and design of your bowl – between 10 and 30 pieces work well)

Images Wooden base at least 9/16″ (15mm) thick

Images Router or CNC router with 3/16″ (5mm) cutter OR a wooden base bought online at www.learnsteambending.com

Images JIG1520

Images JIGdry

Images Non-foaming PVA glue or superglue

Images Sandpaper (120 and 240 grit)

Images Oil or varnish

1 Prepare your base. I prefer to use solid wood but other materials, including plywood, MDF, and Corian, will also work. Either draw circles or other shapes with your router and 3/16″ (5mm) cutter, or you can buy ready-to-go bases or download files for your CNC cutter online. If you are using a router or CNC router, you have complete freedom to make any shape, and you can even go freehand for very sculptural and unusual designs. If making a circle, it is possible to use some really simple math to make the perfect size. The formula is circumference divided by 3.14 = inside diameter of your circle. So, for example, if you are using 10 pieces of wood that are 11/16″ (18mm) wide, then all the way round your circumference is 7″ (180mm), so divide 7″ (180mm) by the magic number 3.14 and you get a diameter of 2 ¼″ (57.3mm) and inside radius of 1″ (28.6mm). For a head start please see the table opposite.

2 Heat the wood using your chosen method.

Bend the wood. Gentle bends are good: either size on JIG1520 will work well. After bending, you can choose exactly what angle you want by relaxing it into JIGdry – bends between 45 degrees and 90 degrees look great. The key to a neat result is to get them all the same, so put them into the drying jig quickly in the same way each time.

Dry the wood – this can be on a radiator overnight or a sunny windowsill. If you want to do any shaping, this is your chance. Sand through the grades, 120 grit and 240 grit. Be careful not to remove too much wood at the end that will fit into the base, as this needs to be a tight fit.

3 Glue the wood into the base. It is easiest to put the glue into the 3/16″ (5mm) routed channel in the base. It should be a tight fit so you may have to push hard to get the edges in. If they are too difficult, you can make them slightly tapered with a sharp chisel, plane, or sandpaper. Clean away any glue.

4 Give a final sanding and finish. Lemon oil gives a lovely matte sheen and smells gorgeous. If this is for a commercial setting, it may be desirable to use a surface finish – a varnish rather than an oil. Take your time and follow the instructions. Enjoy your bowl, but do not put in the dishwasher!

To make a more shallow bowl, trim the pieces of wood to your chosen length after bending.

ALGAE LIGHT

If you type “microscopic algae” into Google Images, you will see a dazzling variety of beautiful, intricate structures and forms, often composed of repeating units and structures. There are symmetrical single-celled masterpieces and colonies of diatoms that create sophisticated snowflake or star patterns. I find this type of research enormously inspiring. We can find beauty in repetition, symmetry, and complexity. Life is code manifested into physical form, and sometimes in these tiny organisms we can almost see it happening before our eyes. DNA says “do this and repeat” and then evolution keeps the best. It’s possible in design to emulate this process in a small way, which is what we will do here.

Using the 3/16″ (5mm) thick wood plus any other parts you choose, you will be making a “sculptural unit.” There is almost no wrong way of doing this, it just needs to be a shape you enjoy making and like the look of. It can be as simple or complicated as you like, the only stipulation being that it is something that will give you satisfaction and pleasure to create many times. Here we used two pieces of wood in ash and oak, and thin plastic from a fizzy water bottle to make each “sculptural unit”–I genuinely did not know exactly what design I would end up with; I just went though the process and was delighted with the result. You may need to fine-tune the exact design to help it fit nicely, and at this stage you can also decide how many “sculptural units” you need. You will hopefully be amazed by how naturalistic and beautiful the results can be with even the simplest and easy-to-make designs.

You will need

Images Pieces of 3/16″ × 11/16″ × 12″ (5mm × 18mm × 297mm) wood, plus spares for experimenting (you can go for one species or a mix, and the exact number you use will depend on the exact design)

Images Other materials (not essential, but I like incorporating other eco-friendly materials including recycled parts from plastic bottles and cans and veneer scraps – all work well with this method of construction)

Images Lampshade plate (you can make this yourself from 1/32″–1/16″ (1–2mm) aluminium sheet, a drill, jewellery saw and file, or you can buy a wide range of stainless-steel designs online)

Images Japanese saw or small dovetail saw

Images Jigs (we used JIG510 and JIGdry, but pans, cups, or your own jigs will also work, depending on your design)

Images PVA glue or superglue

Images M4 bolts and M4 dome nuts for the lampshade plate

Images Drill and drill bits the correct size for the bolts

Images Sandpaper (120 and 240 grit)

Images Varnish or oil

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Choose the lampshade plate. You might want to plan how many “units″ or sections you want to include in your light and choose the best plate for this. Our design has six units bolted onto the plate. If you are making your own plate, draw this onto the aluminium sheet with a permanent marker and carefully cut out the shape using a jewellery saw.

MAKE THE ALGAE LIGHT

1 Heat the wood using your chosen method. Bend the wood. This can be done by any means described already; it is fun to experiment to see what is possible. The “unit” for our example used two pieces bent over the 6″ (15cm) diameter bend of JIG1520, then while it was still warm put into JIGdry in two different ways, twisting the wood to create a pleasing 3D shape.

2 Dry the wood. A radiator overnight works well, as does a sunny windowsill. If you need your pieces to meet exactly, you can unbend/twist/manipulate the wood quite a lot before it dries and then clamp the pieces so they fit together as they dry.

3 Prepare your other materials. This is a chance to experiment to see what works. I find found/reclaimed materials out of context or given a new form and finish can give them new life. We used a green plastic water bottle, cut into a cylinder and then cut vertically to make a big rectangle. Cut long, tapered strips about 2″ (5cm) wide at one end and ¾″ (2cm) at the other and rub with 240 grit sandpaper on both sides to give it a frosted matte finish. You will be amazed how unlike a plastic bottle it then looks.

4 Sand the wood along the grain with 120 grit and then 240 grit paper until smooth. Now take one of each type of bend and secure the pieces together at one end. Glue will be sufficient if the surfaces meet perfectly together. I used a dowel. Saw a slit in the wood at one end – this is for the plastic to slot into. Doing this after securing the pieces together means you can see exactly where the best place is to cut for best effect and shape. Cut with a very fine-bladed Japanese saw and give a light sanding to neaten.

5 Slot in your plastic, and glue into place at each end.

6 Make the remaining units needed, repeating the same process again but this time working in a batch.

7 Assemble your Algae Light. You may be able to adjust the exact proportions by bending the lampshade plate into different shapes. You made it, unique and by you!

NEST CHAIR

The chair is the quintessential design object. In the design world they straddle architecture, industrial design, and fashion, and for many designers creating the perfect chair is the ultimate challenge, their personal testament, weighing up form and function, aesthetics, ergonomics, and their own personal values. I am not saying this is the perfect chair, but it has been such a great challenge developing this design, the instructions being for a chair made using wood only 12″ (297mm) long that is something you can make at home and customize easily. After many wildly different options, I kept coming back to this design. It’s very comfortable, easy and fun to make, and is called “nest” because it is made by gathering sticks to make the perfect resting perch. The process is very simple and your bending form is reusable, so you can make a whole set if you want. For this version we upcycled a broken Robin Day plastic chair, copying the basic form of the old polypropylene shell and reusing the legs.

You will need

Images 3/8″ (10mm) plywood (about half a sheet, 4′ × 4′ [1.2 × 1.2m])

Images Reusable zip ties ⅛″ × 4″ (3mm × 100mm)

Images At least 50 pieces of 3/16″ × 11/16″ × 12″ (5mm × 18mm × 297mm) wood (ash is really good for this design as it is such a tough wood, but if the chair is going outside use oak)

Images Saw for cutting curves (jigsaw, bandsaw, scroll saw) or CNC cutter

Images Dowels (⅛″ [3mm] dowels made from barbecue skewers are fine for inside use; for outside use, use 3/16″ [5mm] oak dowels)

Images Drill and drill bits correct size for the dowels

Images Legs for the chair – we used metal legs from an old chair here, but you can try anything you like

Images Hammer

Images Japanese saw

Images Miter bond glue

As with the other projects in this book, this is a chance to get creative and play around with different shapes and designs to create your own unique pieces.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Make the cross-section profiles of the chair seat from the plywood. You can get the profile we used by printing our template pieces (see page), gluing these to your plywood, and cutting out. Or download the files for your CNC router, or draw your own profiles based on the size and shape of chair you want. Once the parts are cut out, you need to create a series of slots along the edge of the surfaces of the jig that will touch the chair. These slots can be about 1 9/16″ (40mm) long and 3/16″ (5mm) wide as shown. When it is all cut out, slot the pieces together and your chair jig is ready!

Prepare your wood. For your first chair, I recommend just going for it. However, if you become a connoisseur of the process, you may want to sand the wood before steaming, which will require you to “raise the grain″ with hot water and then gently sand back the surface to a smooth finish. This will save you a lot of time later on. You could also round the end of the pieces before you start.

Make a plan: are you going for a symmetrical shape or abstract? You can draw lines or stick masking tape on your form to mark how you will start, and remember you can trim the edges. If you are doing this for the first time, I recommend an abstract form as this really cannot go wrong!

1 Heat the wood using your chosen method.

Bend your first layer of wood onto the form. You can bend the wood straight onto the form, pushing down with your hands and securing the ends with the reusable zip ties. The first layer is the part you will sit on. If it is going to be a dining chair with no cushion, it is good idea for them not to overlap, but for a more informal design go crazy!

2 Bend your second layer directly on top of the first layer, using the zip ties to ensure the two layers are touching where they cross. Continue to add a third layer in a full chair shape. This will take at least 2 or 3 hours.

3 Drill holes where the layers meet. Try to avoid drilling into the jig if you can. Glue and gently hammer dowels into each drilled hole.

4 When the glue is dry, undo the zip ties. Trim the dowels with a Japanese saw or wire flush cutters and sand.

5 Carefully lift the chair shell off the jig and turn it over.

6 Trim the dowels on the inside of the chair and sand in the same way.

7 Trim away excess wood to give your chair an inviting profile. Attach the chair to your chosen legs. We bolted on the legs from an old Robin Day chair, but you could use the base of old office chairs, or make your own from wood or steel. Sit on the chair: does it feel comfortable and strong enough? You can trim away more wood or add more layers on the back if it needs more strength.

Finally, sand and finish. Several coats of oil applied thinly with a small brush and then buffed with a large, dry brush is the easiest way to do this. Sit back and relax!

As you grow in confidence with this technique, you can experiment with making chairs in different shapes and forms.

THE MAIN WORKSHOP

IT WAS ONE OF THE MOST AMAZING EXPERIENCES OF MY LIFE.
A power socket caked with dust and wood shavings had caught fire. A freak accident and my workbench, my tools, my colleague’s tools, and all of my work were gone. The floor was on fire and the oak beams high above my head were on fire. The party I had come from next door now became a rescue party, passing a chain of buckets, and as we put the fire out bit by bit, I could see in the sweltering black rubble that it really had all gone. I had lost over 100 hand tools and the machines accumulated over a 10-year period. Going to bed that night, I felt oddly invincible, liberated in some way. I had only recently moved from a 164′ (50m)-long space, where we made sculpture so big we had bicycles to get around to different parts, and now I had nothing. I was free, with no means of making anything.

With no insurance and little money, starting again meant going back to basics. As we worked clearing the mess into waste containers, we could look up and see that the forest of beautiful trees was still there. Although we had very minimal tools, we just needed a few planks of straight-grained oak or ash to do some great work and get back in business.

Inspired by my experience, this section deals with bends and designs you can make in your workshop using a minimum of inexpensive tools. Making beautiful things in a workshop is a joy – the extra space enables you to work on a larger scale and you will be surrounded by the tools and jigs that make everything easier and faster. Jigs and machines for steam bending are almost always homemade. Once you start making your own tools and jigs, you will discover almost anything is possible! As with all the designs in this book, please consider these last three projects as a starting point for your creativity, stepping stones in discovering what is possible using simple, eco-friendly green wood. You could make these exact designs or carry on the design process to develop them in your own way.

We will be using a plastic pipe steam chamber for all these bends in this final section of the book. This is one of the simplest methods of heating wood and perfect if you do not have large volumes of wood to heat, but do have longer lengths.

MAKE A PIPE STEAMER

This pipe steamer is very simple to make and can be used to heat the wood for all the projects in this section. You can use a piece of drainpipe for the pipe, and the steam generator can be a simple wallpaper stripper.

You will need

Images Plastic pipe (for the steam chamber) at least 8′ (2.5m) long × 3 15/16″ (100mm) wide – PVC can get soft when hot, so HDPE or polypropylene are better choices

Images Aluminum tape, and wood, foam, or plastic (optional) to seal the end

Images Insulation for pipe, such as a boiler insulation jacket (optional)

Images Wallpaper stripper/steam generator

MAKE THE PLASTIC PIPE STEAMER

1 Try to use a pipe that can take the heat without softening. Insulate if necessary, especially if your workshop is cold or draughty. Place it on a horizontal surface, slightly sloping downwards so excess water can drain into a bucket.

2 Position the steam-pipe from the wallpaper stripper at one end through a plug of wood, foam, or plastic, or carefully seal it in place with silver aluminium tape.

3 Slide in the wood, then seal the other end with another plug or more aluminium tape, leaving a few small holes/gaps for the steam to escape and water to drain out.

IMPORTANT SAFETY NOTE
Never leave the pipe steamer unattended. Always wear heatproof gloves when working with the pipe steamer and handling hot wood.

MAKE A WEDGED COMPRESSION STRAP

As we have learned, when we bend solid wood, the hollow plant cells on the outside parts of the curve flatten and pull apart a little, and the cells on the inside of the curve are compressed and squash like accordions. If the wood is going to break, it will almost always crack on the outside. However, using a steel band (much stronger under tension than wood) on the outside of the curve will force all the wood into compression, and suddenly tighter bends, and therefore greater things, are possible! For the next two pieces in this book, we use compression straps to make tighter, bigger bends. This is an easy-to-use compression strap: it is tightened using wedges hammered tight from either end. It is very quick to deploy as there are no tricky clamps to deal with. The only tricky thing is the risk of the wood bowing out sideways from the extreme pressure. This problem can be solved by using the N-shaped plywood cutouts (or the H clamps from page). If you see the wood and strap starting to misalign in any way as you bend, push these onto the back of the strap. If you are planning to make a lot of sledges, you can adapt this design to take three pieces at once using steel 6″ (150mm) wide.

You will need

Images 2 × pieces of 11/16″ (18mm) or 15/16″ (24mm) plywood 19 11/16″ × 3″ (500mm × 75mm) (a)

Images 2 × pieces of 15/16″ (24mm) plywood 3″ × 3 11/32″ (75mm × 85mm) (b)

Images 4 × hardwood batons 15/16″ × 15/16″ × 13 ¾″ (24mm × 24mm × 350mm) (c)

Images 4 × hardwood batons 15/16″ × 15/16″ × 19 11/16″ (24mm × 24mm × 500mm) (d)

Images 1 × stainless or galvanized steel 1/32″–1/16″ (1–2mm) thick × 1″ (25mm) wide × 7 ¾′ (2.4m) long (e)

Images 4 × wedges 9 ½″ (240mm) long × 15/16″ (24mm) × 15/16″ (24mm), tapered to a point (f)

Images 2 × wedges 9 ½″ (240mm) long × 13/16″ × 2 ¼″ (20mm × 60mm), tapered to 13/16″ (20mm) (g)

1 Prepare all your parts.

2 For the plywood blocks (b), measure ½″ (1cm) along one of the longest sides and from this mark draw a line to the adjacent corner and cut off along this line so one end of each block is cut at about 86 degrees. Mark a central stripe 1 1/6″ (27mm) on each one from the angled side to its opposite edge, making sure the two blocks are mirror images, and chisel away this wood to a depth of about 1/16″ (2mm).

3 On all four of the batons (d), measuring from one end, mark square lines at 1 15/16″ (50mm) and 3 15/16″ (100mm) and mark the area between these to be removed when you cut a shallow notch. Also mark lines at 9 ¾″ (250mm) and 11 13/16″ (300mm) and mark these similarly. On two of the batons cut the 1 15/16″ (50mm) wide notches 3/16″ (5mm) deep, and on the other two cut them ½″ (12mm) deep.

4 Mark the middle of the steel compression strap (e) and from this point measure 43 5/16″ (1100mm) and mark at each end.

5 Screw 1 block (b) onto the end of plywood (a) with the removed stripe downwards and slide the compression strap underneath. At the 43 5/16″ (1100mm) mark, fold the steel up toward you at 90 degrees and over again so it wraps crisply around the block (you may need to put it in a vice and/or use a hammer to get a good result, especially if the steel is thicker). Drill a hole through the end of the steel, through the plywood block, and through the steel again, and then screw it all together. Repeat this at the other end with the second block (b).

6 Now screw the batons (c) to the plywood on either side at the other end, making sure the edges are reasonably flush with the plywood.

7 Finish assembling the strap by screwing on the long batons (d) with the deeper 12mm notches on the side where block (b) has its shorter side, and 5mm deep notches on the other side. Do this for both ends of your strap and you are ready!

SLEIGH TABLE

If you ask people to name things that have been steam bent, a sleigh is normally there in the top five. Iconic, old-fashioned wooden sleighs look great, and they are fast on icy, compacted snow. This sleigh can have a place in our lives and dreams throughout the year, as it also functions as a beautiful coffee table any time. This is a simple project and just requires knowledge of how to make half lap and mortise and tenon joints. Be sure to use very straight-grained, clean, unseasoned wood for your bends, as this will make it easier.

You will need

Images Half a sheet of 11/16″ (18mm) plywood (or similar)

Images 3 pieces of very straight-grain ash 78 ¾″ × 15/16″ × 15/16″ (2m × 24mm × 24mm), plus spares

Images 10 pieces of oak (or any other hardwood) 13 ¾″ × 1 15/16″ × ⅜″ (350mm × 50mm × 10mm)

Images 40 × 5/16″ × 1 9/16″ (8mm × 40mm) hardwood dowels slightly rounded on one end (you can make your own)

Images Means of cutting plywood (such as router, jigsaw, bandsaw, or CNC)

Images 6 ½′ (2m) compression strap (see page)

Images G-clamps

Images Hammer

Images Saw

Images Marking gauge

Images Cordless drill with a sharp ⅛″ (3mm) and 5/16″ (8mm) drill bit

Images Means of carving/shaping wood (such as spokeshave, chisels, or grinder)

Images Means of sanding from 120 grit to 240 grit (random orbital sander, cabinet scrapers, and/or sanding blocks)

Images Glue (exterior PVA or epoxy)

Images 2 × 1/16″ × 13/16″ (2mm × 20mm) steel/stainless steel runners (from local steel merchant or online) Stainless steel screws 3/16″ × 13/16″ (4mm × 20mm

Images Exterior grade varnish

Images 1 × 350mm × 350mm × approx. 8mm hardened glass or other decorative sheet material

Images Pack of self-adhesive rubber pads

Images Rope

MAKE THE BENDING JIG

Cut a 17 ¾″ (450mm) diameter circle from the plywood. We did this with a router and circle-cutting bit, but you can also use a jigsaw, bandsaw, or CNC. Also add the “rectangular cut-out″ clamping points as shown. You need to build up a thickness of at least 2 ¾″ (72mm). We used 4 pieces of 11/16″ (18mm) ply, but if you have other thicknesses or unused pieces handy, use these. Screw the shapes together and put vertically into a vice. This is a great general-purpose bending jig that can also be used for free-bending and making hoops later on in your steam-bending journey. Prepare your wedged compression strap (see page).

MAKE THE SLEIGH

1 Heat your 15/16″ × 15/16″ × 78 ¾″ (24mm × 24mm x 2m) wood for 1 hour. Put the wood into your compression strap, held in by the two smaller wedges at each end. Hammer the larger wedge in as hard as you can so the strap starts to bow slightly.

2 Move the wood and strap onto your jig with the compression strap on the outside, clamping the center point of the strap onto the center point of your jig, aligning with the back edge of the jig.

Bend the wood 180 degrees, working together with your helper to bend at the same rate and keep it on the jig. If the wood starts to kink or not hug the jig at any point during the bend, immediately put a clamp on at these points. Clamp onto the jig at about 180 degrees.

3 When cool, remove the strap and repeat the bend with the other two pieces of ash, leaving the first bend on the jig – it’s wide enough for all three to sit on it at once. Tie a cord around the ends of the pieces to keep in place. We will be drying the wood on the jig all together to make sure they are exactly the same. It is good idea to clamp the ends together while they dry.

Dry the wood for about 2 days on a radiator or in a drying room.

4 Mark the centers of the bends while on the jig, and then remove and cut the bends in half.

5 Stack four of the pieces together and line them up. Trim at both ends if needed so they’re all exactly the same.

6 Take two pieces and flip one round to make the shape of your sleigh. Mark where the pieces overlap and make a half lap joint, cutting a section out of each so that the pieces slot together. Repeat with another two pieces.

To keep the pieces together while you are working, you can drill a hole through both pieces at the joints and pop a dowel in.

7 Position the middle pieces as shown and use a pencil to mark where you’ll need to cut them to shape so that they slot into place.

8 Remove the dowels so that you can cut a shallow mortise and tenon joint ¼″ (7mm) across × ⅜″ (10mm) deep approximately, using a marking gauge to get them in the right place.

9 Clamp the two halves of your sleigh together to hold them steady and mark a line exactly 15 ¾″ (400mm) from the front – this is where your seat will start. Drill 5/16″ (8mm) holes in your slats, two holes at each end, exactly ½″ (12mm) from each end and edge.

10 Now carve the parts, including the slats if desired, using a spoke shave and sanding block and sand to 120 grit. You can curve the profiles of the slats for aesthetics and to improve the performance of the sleigh. It will cut down on weight and allow the snow to pass through the gaps.

11 Glue together the frame using waterproof PVA or epoxy (you can use PVA if your joints are good, but if in any doubt use epoxy, as this has slight gap-filling properties).

12 Drill the holes into the frame for the slats and glue in dowels to hold them in place. You may need to place a block underneath when hammering the dowels to protect and support the sleigh. Use a large set square when you start, to ensure it is exactly symmetrical. You have a sleigh!

13 If you’re adding runners, get them ready, drilling 3/16″ (5mm) countersunk holes every 6″ (150mm). Mark the positions of your metal runners, drilling ⅛″ (3mm) pilot holes and drill the holes for the rope. Give it a final sanding and varnish with several coats of exterior-grade finish.

Screw on the metal runners (if using), and attach the rope. For “table mode,” put the self-adhesive rubber pads under the runners and under the glass at the front. For “sleigh mode,” remove everything and hit the hills!

CONTINUOUS ARM WINDSOR ROCKER

This is a variation on the classic Windsor chair, which predates my hero Michael Thonet’s ubiquitous Vienna chair (the architect’s favorite no. 209) by several hundred years. I have taken on the most interesting-to-achieve bend for this type of chair, a “continuous arm,” and added some contemporary touches of my own to give you more opportunity to explore the steam-bending process in a variety of creative ways. This is not the fastest of pieces to make in terms of the work you must put into making jigs and getting everything ready, and it is probably the most advanced project in this book, but the processes are simple, and you do not need any unusual skills beyond basic woodwork, use of basic tools and cutting joints, etc. You will, however, need passion, patience, and care – in this chair there is enough woodwork to keep you busy for a few days or even weeks.

You will need

Top-quality, straight-grained, unseasoned hardwood, ideally ash, oak, elm, or walnut. The wood will, ideally, be above 15 percent moisture content except the seat, which will need to be dried for about 5 days in a drying room or above a warm radiator to reach below 10 percent moisture content before you drill your holes. I have designed this to use the same size sections for the back and arms, rockers, and parts of the jigs, and 2″ (55mm) for the rest, the idea being that you could cut everything from a 2″ (55mm) plank of unseasoned wood from a mature tree over 17 ¾″ (450mm) wide × 8′ (2.5m) long, with plenty for spares and extra experiments. Make sure you save the very best, straightest grain parts for your 3D continuous arm bend. Process using machine tools, or as an alternative use traditional “green wood” cleaving and draw-knife processes.

Other materials

Images Materials for Double Compression Strap (see page)

Images Box of 1 12/16″ × 3/16″ (45mm × 4mm) screws Glue (PVA or epoxy)

Images Oil (Osmo Hardwax Oil or Danish oil)

Tools

Images Sturdy workbench with a vice

Images Wedged Compression Strap (see page)

Images Means of cutting plywood (jigsaw, router, CNC, etc.)

Images 2 × 4″ (100mm) G-clamps

Images 1 × 19 11/16″ (500mm) F-clamp or sash clamp

Images Cordless drill/driver

Images Drill bits and drill driver bits

Images Powerful hand drill or pillar drill

Images Means of cutting a round tenon (lathe, rounding plane, or Veritas 1 15/16″ (50mm) tenon cutter)

Images 1 15/16″ (50mm) Forstner bit

Images Set square and sliding bevel

Images Marking knife and marking gauge

Images Means of carving wood (angle grinder, power file, etc., and/or adze, ax, drawknife, spokeshave, carving chisels, etc.)

Images Means of sanding wood (random orbital sander and/or cabinet scrapers, sandpaper)

Images Mallet or hammer

MAKE THE CONTINUOUS ARM BENDING JIG

1 Make 16 wedges 9 ¾″ (250mm) long, about 1 12/16″ (45mm) thick at one end and 9/16″ (15mm) at the other. Cut three in half lengthways and set aside for your compression straps.

2 Trace around the templates (see page) and cut out all your plywood pieces. We cut ours using a router with a ½″ (12mm) cutter and large circle-cutting attachment, which effectively makes the router into a giant compass, or you can draw out the pieces and use a jigsaw. To draw it out, it is easiest to start marking the six center points of the radiuses shown on the illustration, as many of the measurements can be taken from these points. If you are using two layers of ½″ (12mm) ply to get 15/16″ (24mm) thickness, you can either cut out each piece twice (as we did) or cut the sheet in half and glue together to make a 15/16″ (24mm) thick piece to start with. If you have a CNC machine, you can download the files needed from the website (see page).

3 Take the parts you will need for the continuous arm bending jig.

4 Assemble your jig. Screw or glue the largest curved sections in the middle with center holes aligned – and make sure the assembled “left bend” and “right bend” are mirror images of each other. Also make the additional four supports from straight-grained hardwood. Some fine adjustment may be needed as you work to get the pieces slotting together neatly. Screwing into the edges of plywood is not ideal, so extra support is needed at this stage. Add the supports, plus anything extra you want to add to strengthen, so when the square support is clamped in a vice the whole jig feels completely solid. Your jig is ready for action!

BEND A 2D BEND

This is a good chance to test out your wedged compression strap (see page) before you go for the full 3D bend. Keep the results of this exercise, as it will find its way into your chair later on.

5 Heat the 15/16″ × 15/16″ × 78 ¾″ (24mm × 24mm x 2000mm) wood for 1 hour. Insert the square support of your jig into the vice, and lay out everything you will need: the compression strap, wedges, and a hammer. Take the hot wood out of the steamer – you have about 1 minute to bend your wood! Put the wood into the strap and insert all the wedges. Hammer one of the bigger wedges at either end tightly so the wood is compressed.

6 Lift the wood in its strap onto the jig, making sure the center point of the strap is exactly at the center of the middle bend. Hammer your first center wedge. Bend the wood around 90 degrees on each side, adding two more wedges on each side as you go. You are done!

MAKE YOUR “DOUBLE COMPRESSION STRAP”

This is a unique type of compression strap only found on this type of bend – you will find every Windsor chair maker will have their own variation of this. I have tried to keep it simple, designing a strap that can be deployed for both left and right bends in under a minute so you do not need to reheat the wood, which will save you a lot of time.

You will need

Images 2 × stainless or galvanized steel strips 3′ × 1″ × 1/32″-1/16″ (1m × 25mm × 1-2mm) (a)

Images 2 × pieces of 11/16″ (18mm) or 1″ (25mm) plywood, 3″ × 11″ (75mm × 280mm) (b)

Images 8 × batons of hardwood 15/16″ × 15/16″ × 11″ (24mm × 24mm × 280mm) (c)

Images 2 × hardwood blocks 1 1/16″ × 4 ¼″ × approximately 1 9/16″ (27mm × 110mm × approx. 40mm) (d)

Images 1 × hardwood baton 16 ½″ × 1 9/16″ × 13/16″ (420mm × 40mm × 20mm) (e)

Images 2 × wedges 9 ½″ long × 13/16″ × 15/16″ (240mm long × 24mm × 24mm), tapered to a point

Images 2 × wedges 14″ long × 13/16″ × 197′ (350mm long × 20mm × 60m) tapered to a point

Images 2 × solid posts approx. 5′ (1.5m) long

Images 2 × pieces of 5/16″ (8mm) or 1″ (25mm) plywood approx. 11 13/16″ × 11 13/16″ (300 × 300mm)

7 In the center of both pieces of ply (b) cut a rectangular hole 3″ × 1 1/16″ (80mm × 27mm). Take four of the batons (c) and mark lines across the width at 1 3/16″ (30mm) and 2 ¾″ (70mm) from one end, and mark the parts in between to be removed to a depth of ½″ (12mm). Using a saw and sharp chisel, remove this wood to create shallow notches. Cut the end of both blocks (d) at an angle of 46 degrees. If the wood is 1 9/16″ (40mm) deep, you can get the correct angle by measuring one edge at 4 1/16″ (103mm) and drawing a line across to an adjacent corner. Finally, screw the posts onto the 11 13/16″ × 11 13/16″ (300mm × 300mm) plywood bases so the posts stand vertically without falling over. If not already there, put the bending jig with the previously made 2D bend on (see page) into the vice and cut the tops of the posts so they are the same height as the bottom edge of the bent wood.

8 Assemble the strap. Mark a line 2 ⅜″ (60mm) and 29″ (740mm) from one end of the two steel strips and bend these neatly at a 90 degree angle. The 2 ⅜″ (60mm) marks can be folded over the two ends of the baton (e). Drill two small holes in the end of the steel strap and secure with a screw. Hook the steel folded at 29″ (740mm) into the rectangular holes of your plywood (b), then fold over and secure with three or more screws though holes drilled in the steel. Also screw the four uncut batons (c) onto the plywood flush with the edges, and add the angled blocks (d) in between. Finally screw on the remaining batons (c), with the notches downwards and at the same end as the steel strap.

9 It is essential to check everything fits on the 2D bend you have already done. On the now-cold bend on the bending jig, knock out the wedges on the other compression strap and fold back the ends of that strap to get them out of the way. You can now put the double compression strap into place; the 16 ½″ × 1 9/16″ × 13/16″ (420mm × 40mm × 20mm) part will hook under the notches in the plywood jig (the highest part of the jig). If this is too tight, make sure the bend is flush with the jig and saw/chisel away a little wood so it fits easily. If some of the wedges from your 2D bend are in the way, remove them and mark where they must go. Put the strap over the ends of the wood. There should be a 3/16″–1″ (5–25mm) gap between the end of the wood and the block (d) – adjust by taking out the screws and refolding and rescrewing the strap to get it just right. Put the additional wedges around the already-bent part of wood so there are seven wedges supporting it all the way around, and then put the wedges into your strap. Put the posts underneath the double strap so you have something to hammer against, and the wedges can be hammered tight. Practice putting the double strap on a few times until you are confident in making the bend in under 1 minute.

BEND THE CONTINUOUS ARM BEND

This is it – woodwork becomes sport. You have done all the preparation and practiced, and now you get to test your skills. Ideally, get a helper if you can and make sure you have plenty of spare pieces of wood in the steam chamber. Most importantly, remember this process is as much about experiencing a new way of doing things as it is about getting a perfectly finished part – even if it breaks, you will have learned something, and your technique will improve every time.

10 Heat your wood for an hour. Prepare the jig and brief your helper. As before, take the wood out of the steam chamber and immediately put it into the compression strap, hammering the wedges tight. Make sure the bend is positioned exactly center on the jig and hammer in the center wedge. Immediately bend 180 degrees and insert the two wedges to hold the shape. Knock in the double compression strap and then put the rest of the wedges over the bend you just made. Swap the endstops over and hammer the wedges in the double strap tight using the posts underneath to hammer against.

11 Bend the final two left and right bends downwards as shown, putting in the final wedges to keep it at about a 75–80 degree angle – adjust the wedges to ensure both bends are the same angle. You did it! Allow the wood to fully cool before carefully removing the compression straps by knocking the wedges out and then back in. If there are any small cracks, you may be able to fix them now. Dribble superglue into the crack and cover with clear tape before knocking the wedge back in. Dry the wood for at least 2 days.

MAKE THE SPLIT CHAIR LEGS

This is one of the easiest bends in this book, and gives us a very strong and elegant result. Make sure you have enough time to fully dry the wood between bending and shaping the top; this can take up to a week as the wood is so thick. It is important to dry it correctly so it will not shrink and wobble when slotted into the chair seat.

MAKE THE JIGS FOR THE LEGS

12 Cut out the ¼″ × 8 ⅞″ (6mm × 225mm) long curved pieces and the 7 ½″ × 12 ¼″ (190mm × 310mm) backing plate – you will find these illustrated with the other plywood parts for your bending jig on page.

13 Screw/glue together the curved pieces into two piles of three. Fit these onto the backing plate and screw them with two screws at the widest end only, so it is still possible to push the other ends together a little bit. From solid wood, cut two isosceles triangles 3″ (80mm) wide × 4 ¾″ (120mm) and also 12 scraps of solid wood or plywood, about 1 15/16″ × 3 15/16″ (50mm × 100mm). You are ready!

MAKE THE LEGS

14 In each of your 2″ × 2″ × 19 11/16″ (55mm × 55mm × 500mm) batons, cut a 14″ (350mm)-long slit lengthways through the center of the wood. If cutting with a circular saw, don’t worry if the cut looks longer on one side than the other, as this can be part of your design, but do make sure your finished legs are mirror images of each other. Heat the wood for 90 minutes. When the wood comes out, immediately put a clamp across the wood where the slit starts. Put the wood into the “Y″ bending jig and attach another clamp to secure. Put the whole assembly vertically into a vice. Hammer the triangular wedge down into the wood, forcing the wood apart.

15 Keep going until the ends are about 7 ⅞″ (200mm) apart and stop. If you find one side is bending more than the other you can pull/push it while the wood is hot to keep it even. Trace the outline of this bend on the backing plate and remove the wood from the jig, ensuring your original clamp across the end of the split stays on. Repeat this to make the other leg and clamp the pair of legs together to ensure they dry exactly the same size. Put the wood aside to dry for at least five days in a drying room or above a warm radiator – the wood ideally should be below 10 percent moisture content before it moves to the next stage.

16 Measure 3″ (75mm) down from the unsplit end and cut a circular tenon 1 15/16″ (50mm) in diameter down to this mark. There are several ways of doing this, including carving by hand using a rounding plane, or using a router or tenon cutter. Also make two vertical cuts 1 15/16″ (50mm) deep and ⅜″ (10mm) from the edge surface of the wood, and also with a sharp chisel cut a generous chamfer around the top. This is now ready.

MAKE THE JIGS FOR THE ROCKERS

17 These are the simplest jigs in this book. Cut out the two plywood gentle curves (22 7/16″ [570mm] long, outside radius 29 ½″ [750mm]) and screw together.

MAKE THE ROCKERS

It is essential that the wood used for your rockers is straight grain as these are an important structural part of your chair. You will be bending 3′ (1m) sections, which are trimmed to length once on the chair.

18 Heat the wood for 1 hour. Secure the jig in a vice, and get ready with two clamps and two 1 15/16″ (50mm) chucks of wood. Take out both pieces of wood. Clamp both pieces at one end of the jig, overhanging about 6″ (150mm). Bend together as a pair using your body weight to get them down and clamp, placing the chucks of wood between the clamps and the rockers to protect the wood. Dry for 2 days.

MAKE THE SEAT

19 Cut a square slab 17 ¾″ × 17 ¾″ × 1 9/16″–2″ (450mm × 450mm × 40–55mm) from dry wood free of cracks or weaknesses. On the top of your seat, mark a center line on both axes to make a cross. The grain runs front to back. Divide the line going across the seat into thirds and mark these points clearly, as they are the points for the two holes. Drill 2 × 1 13/16″ (50mm) holes at about a 20 degree angle away from the center of the chair. There are several ways of doing this accurately. We used a pillar drill with a 3′ (1-m) long baton of wood screwed to the front of the table to get the correct angle, and used a set square against this to ensure the holes are exact mirror images of each other.

20 Now cut the back of your seat. I like the back portion to be a perfect semicircle. We cut this with a router with a circle-cutting attachment but a jigsaw/bandsaw would also work well.

ASSEMBLE AND FINISH YOUR CHAIR

21 On the underside of your seat, draw two lines marking the angle of your rockers. These will look nice if they gently taper toward each other as they go back. Put two softwood blocks about 2 ¾″ (70mm) apart on a sturdy bench. Position the seat with one of the holes located between the blocks, and clamp down. Fix a long clamp across the whole seat to reinforce the wood across the grain, and another clamp on the leg you will be hammering where the split starts. Dab some PVA glue in the inside of the hole and on the round tenon. Position your split leg over the hole, holding it at the correct angle for the rockers according to your line. Gently tap it in. Check that the angle is perfect and then hammer it home, hitting a piece of wood across the two legs with a mallet. Repeat this for the other leg, making sure they mirror each other exactly.

22 From this point onwards you can start to carve the seat and other surfaces of the chair as they are added. I find it helpful to do this as I go along. You can use traditional tools including an adze, ax, drawknife, carving chisels, and spokeshaves, or different attachments for an angle-grinder, making sure you have extraction and a good dust mask and full-face visor. It is vital to have a plan when you are carving. Make sure you keep marking up your centerlines and other references with pencil as you go. Plan to remove about half of the total volume of the wood from the seat, making sure you only scoop out to a maximum depth of about 9/16″ (15mm), as you need some proper thickness in the middle of the chair for your legs. Underneath the seat a huge amount of wood can be removed, tapering from the legs and arm joints to the edges with a thickness of about 1″ (10mm), so the chair has elegance. The legs can be carved into curved profiles and the rockers and arms unscrewed to make it easier. Gently round the rockers and arms, except the part you lean against – contour this for comfort, but do be careful not to remove too much.

When the top of the seat is roughly shaped, turn the chair over to sit on its legs. Using dry, straight-grained hardwood, make four wedges345mm × 30mm × 3mm3tapered to a point.3Use a chisel to ’open’ the two little slits cut into the round tops of each of the legs. Dip the wedges in glue and hammer them in, ideally about 10mm below the surface of the chair. To get the wedges to exactly fill the angled edges of the slit, carve them with a chisel as they go in.3When the glue is dry, trim the ends with a Japanese saw, and you can then carry on carving and sanding until perfect.

23 Check the chair for height and angle – if you want it to be lower or leaning further forward or back, now is your chance to trim the legs. Clamp the rockers to the side of the legs at their ends and mark the positions of the cutouts using a marking knife, set square, and marking gauge. Cut them out using a saw, scroll saw, and sharp chisel. The rockers should be an easy fit into the legs, not so tight that you risk splitting the leg when you tap it in. Drill a 3/16″ (4mm) hole in the bottom of the rocker and screw it in with a 1 15/16″ × 3/16″ (50mm × 4mm) screw. When you are sure about the lengths, trim the rockers to your preferred length and add any reinforcement or crosspiece you choose.

24 Remove the continuous arm from the bending jig, knocking out the wedges. Position the 3D bend on the chair in a good position and clamp into place. You can now sit on the chair and get just the right height and angle, adjusting for maximum comfort, being sure the final result is symmetrical. Mark up the position on the seat with a marking knife, set square, and marking gauge.

25 Cut out the notch in the seat with a saw, scroll saw, and sharp chisel – the notch could be cut at a slight angle outwards to make the arms more inviting. The back can now be put back in. I suggest only screwing it into place for now with a 3/16″ (4mm) screw, so it can easily be removed during carving. Flush cut the excess wood underneath.

26 Now find the first bend you did when you were making the strap for the continuous arm jig. Cut out the curved part only, cutting with a shallow angle. Drill three 3/16″ (4mm) holes, two centered where your cut starts and another exactly in the center of the curve but only ¼″ (7mm) from the outside of the curve. Screw this into the underside of your backrest, allowing the piece to be slightly offset toward the front of the chair to give you a nice angle to lean against.

27 Finish carving all surfaces of the chair – this is when it really comes alive. You can see in the photo we are midway through this process. Take your time so every line and every angle is beautiful and tactile. Sand by hand, or with a random orbital sander, starting with 120 grit, then 240 grit, finishing with 800 grit or finer for a silky finish. Take apart the two parts of your backrest for sanding. Glue in the rockers, arms, and backrest, replacing the screws with dowels (except on the underside of the rockers – do as little as possible to weaken the wood, so keep the screws). When the glue has dried, flush-cut all dowels and sand further until perfect.

28 Oil the chair. For a long-lasting sheen use hard wax oil, or for a more natural look apply sexveral coats of Danish oil, rubbing down with very fine wire wool between coats.

ESCAPE BOAT

Now you can sail away with your new skills – this is a tiny “Escape Boat” designed for one person to venture onto the water in a vessel they have made themselves. Almost every aspect of this boat is designed with the maker in mind – I hope it will be as much fun to create as it will be to paddle about in. Able to glide sublimely on quiet water, the shape was originally inspired by the traditional Thames rowing boat, but it is a lot shorter at 7′ (2m). It is designed to be rowed, paddled about, or used with a small electric outboard motor, or could be adapted into a dinghy. I feel that good designers should work with the most eco-friendly and low-embodied energy possible material to meet the needs of the project, and here alongside steam-bent ash, imported marine-grade FSC plywood is also used to make this a realistic beginner’s project with minimal wastage – the right material to get results fast.

The real value here is the basic concept and method for making; if you follow it you will end up with a beautiful and fun vessel light enough to put on the roof of your car. The exact shape of your templates will determine whether your boat ends up having a sleeker or more rounded shape or form than our version (although I recommend a fairly flat bottom). You may find it interesting to experiment with different variations if you make more than one. The steam bending here is really simple: we pre-bent the thin ash lengths to create the basic shape, and the lengths are then “un-bent″ into the exact shape as you screw the plywood skin together. It is a good idea to do all the making in one day if possible before the wood dries too much, as this makes it easier to build.

This is a fun weekend project. My first ever job in woodwork was in a boatyard after an adventure sailing across the Atlantic many years ago. This is the polar-opposite end of the boat-building spectrum, but I experienced a similar narrative and journey preparing and making this work, putting in long hours of focused work, with the final destination and reward being something new and undiscovered. And everything changes when you first get on the water. The stress and worry of everyday life evaporate the moment you float away, and you are in a new world.

You will need

Images 15 × lengths of 7 ¾′ × 13/16″ × ⅜″ (2.4m × 20mm × 10mm) clean, ideally unseasoned, ash – it is essential that it has no knots (you could also use elm, oak, or yew)

Images Roll of tracing paper and pencils

Images Long ruler

Images 3 × good quality G-clamps at least 4″ (100mm) Jigsaw or CNC machine

Images 1 sheet of ⅛″ or 3/16″ (3mm or 4mm) marine plywood

Images 1 sheet of 3/16″ (4mm) hardboard (optional for testing shape) Sandpaper (120 grit and 240 grit)

Images 6 × pieces of wood 13/16″ × 13/16″ × 3″ (20mm × 20mm × 75mm) for small blocks

Images 39 ⅜″ × 15 ¾″ × 11/16″ (1000mm × 400mm × 18mm) piece of marine/WDP plywood

Images Stainess steel screws

Images Cordless drill and drill bits

Images Marine epoxy and marine epoxy filler

Images 162gsm twill woven glass fiber (optional)

Images Yacht varnish (optional)

Images Paintbrush

MAKE THE BOAT

1 Make the templates for your boat design on tracing paper. You need three shapes: the “transom” (the back of the boat), the “middle section″ (with the evenly spaced longitudinal ribs marked), and the “skin.” You can get our templates online (see page), or why not make your own? The design for this type of vessel can take in a lot of variation and still work. Experiment with 5″ × 9 ¾″ (125mm × 250mm) paper to make models and scale up when you have the perfect shape. If you are making a paddle/motorboat like ours, I suggest making the middle section a part of the jig that gets removed. If you plan to adapt this into a little sailing dinghy, then this part could stay to support the mast and deck.

2 Mark out the transom and the middle section onto the 11/16″ (18mm) plywood from your tracing paper and cut out with a jigsaw, making sure to cut out ⅜″ × 13/16″ (10mm × 20mm) notches where the longitudinal ribs will go.

3 Mark and cut out the skin onto the ⅛″ or 3/16″ (3mm or 4mm) marine plywood. I found hardboard (a lot cheaper than ply) was good for testing out the shape of your skin if you want to check what sort of shape you will get full-sized. The ⅛″ (3mm) marine ply was quite a lot easier to work with but a little less tough than the 3/16″ (4mm). Sand the edges of the plywood to ensure they are completely smooth.

4 Screw six little blocks onto the middle section next, where the longitudinal ribs go, so you can screw them on from inside the boat and then remove easily.

5 Cut out one piece of 47″ × 15 ¾″ × 11/16″ (120cm × 40cm × 18mm) plywood and the curved “trunk″ bending jig and support, and assemble, screwing together as shown to make your jig.

6 If not already done, prepare your wood for steaming, ⅜″ × 13/16″ × 7 ¾’ (10mm × 20mm × 2.4m) strips. We used straight-grain ash, which is good for performance applications and also looks great in contrast to the darker ply.

7 Heat your wood in the pipe steam chamber (see page) for at least 30 minutes.

When the wood comes out, you need to immediately align it with the back of the boat to ensure the bend starts in the right place (choose the cleanest, straightest grain end to bend), and then bend it over the “trunk″ bending jig as shown. Let it cool for a minute or two clamped or held in place. You are bending the wood over a tighter curve than will be needed for the boat.

8 When the wood has cooled, you can allow it to spring back quite a lot and then screw it directly to the transom and middle section, fitting the wood neatly into the notches. Glue with epoxy and make sure you use stainless steel screws for fitting to the transom, as this will be a permanent fixing. Six pieces are needed and the boat is taking shape! Draw a centerline clearly in pencil down the outside of each bent piece.

9 The skin can now go over the jig. Align the skin carefully so you can see your pencil lines centered as closely as possible to where the cuts in the skin start.

10 Coat the edge of the transom with epoxy and screw down the skin with small stainless steel screws. It is essential the screws go in flush with the surface of the plywood – so the screws must be super sharp, not thicker than ⅜″ (3mm), and the correct top-quality driver bit must be used. The torque setting on your cordless drill may be useful. If not already a cordless drill expert, you will be a drill-Jedi by the end of this! The trick is to ensure the screw is truly in line with the drill. If there is any “bouncing or chattering” of the screw, you must immediately stop and be ready to discard any screws if the heads are damaged. Stainless steel screws are especially prone to being damaged rather than doing what you want them to do! I drew straight lines onto the outside of the boat to show me where the ash was and put in a screw about every 1″ (10cm). Where the curved parts come together it is essential to put the screws in in pairs either side of the cut. I put these in every ⅜″ (10cm), adding more at the end every 3/16″ (5cm) for strength.

Continue until you have a boat. Toward the front of the boat I found the tension built up. If this is a problem, clamping the jig onto a solid bench helps enormously, as does getting some help to pull the pieces of ply together.

11 Put the steamers back on and turn the boat over with the stern (back) of the boat overhanging your bench or table a little, or on the floor. Using a tape measure, mark the positions of the ribs, taking note of where, especially in the bow (front) of the boat, they will need to follow the 3D shape of the boat. At least three are needed before the boat is rigid enough to come off the jig, but you could have many more for extra strength. To put in the ribs, take out the hot wood from the steamer and bend around the stern of the boat. Holding it in shape while it is still warm, force into the boat and screw into place. Trim the excess wood with a saw.

12 Trim all the excess parts of the boat with a saw.

13 Waterproof the boat with marine epoxy. The gap between the curved parts toward the bow (front) of the boat should be impregnated with liquid epoxy resin to glue the surfaces together, and the gap that remains should be filled with an epoxy filler. At this stage the whole boat could also be covered with woven glass fiber (such as 162gsm twill weave). We have not done this and find our boats fairly tough, but if you have some serious adventures planned and/or are using an outboard motor then you should consider this. If you are not adding a fiberglass skin at this stage, the surfaces can be rubbed down and a gorgeous traditional yacht varnish can be applied.

14 Add steam-bent runners to the outside of the boat running all along the bottom and shorter runners covering the other two joints at the bow. These will also need to be varnished. Add seats, oars, a picnic hamper – the Escape Boat is small enough to easily experiment with and make your own.

Everything changes when you first get on the water. The stress and worry of everyday life evaporate the moment you float away, and you are in a new world.

RESOURCES

TEMPLATES AND JIGS

Free downloads for all templates and jigs mentioned in the book are available at www.learnsteambending.com/shop – just enter code “Wood & Steam.”

WHERE TO BUY WOOD

It is almost always easiest to simply type in “sawmill” or “tree surgeon” into your search engine and find someone local to talk to. Find out who cuts planks of fresh wood in your local area.

FOR TOOLS, BITS, AND PIECES

Visit your local hardware store or shop online.

FOR THE BOAT

www.clcboats.com

www.boatdesigns.com

www.boatbuildercentral.com

www.greatlakesskipper.com

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

It seems unfair to have my name upon the cover when this book is a true collaboration– for the result is far beyond anything I could have conceived alone! First up, Judith Hannam for dreaming up the idea and Joanna Copestick for originally publishing it, and editor extraordinaire Tara O’Sullivan, whose wisdom and good judgment can be found on every page. Coming from a position of zero knowledge of publishing, I relied on the original publishing team at Kyle, including Lisa Pinnel, Frances Johnson, and Sarah Kyle, at every step, and made a lot of mistakes along the way which they have been very kind about! Working with photographer Andrew Montgomery has been an inspiring experience. It was a real privilege to share time with someone with such a strong vision and professional attitude. Thanks also to designer Laura Woussen, who has been amazing, and illustrator Esther Combes, who has been incredible at transforming fairly abstract ideas and details into lines that actually make sense. Copyeditor Sian Parkhouse has been another total superstar. Thank you to Dr. Yorick Benjamin and Dr. Lisa Fenton, for your very helpful feedback to my text. And Dominik Grzyb, Quais Khan, Will Peglar (that’s him on page!), and Hannah Walton for help and advice during the photoshoot and preparation. Thanks to Studio Manager, Natalie Ailsa Bowers for your wonderful abilities just to make it all happen. Thanks finally to muses Alison Ireland and Casper Ireland-Whinney, who inspired me.