Transmenu powered by JoomlArt.com - Mambo Joomla Professional Templates Club

bent walnut plank

Since my planks are 3 mm thick and walnut is relatively hard wood, simple candle solution I used before would not work I assumed. Few weeks ago I bought 30 watt soldering iron which you can buy from many model local or on-line shops. It looks as normal soldering iron but is a bit weaker and has this round ending nob.

I place the planks in room temperature water for about 10 minutes to soak a bit. Then I start to fondle it with hot iron’s ending nob. Immediately you will see and hear the steam going from the wood.

There is no way to bend a plank after first attempt! So do not try otherwise you will brake the precious plank!
This is sort of longer process and all forces must be applied with care and very gently, bit by bit. I was trying to capture those stage with the camera. After few minutes of fondling with the plank where the objective was really to warm the plank deeper inside, I start to press harder. I figured out that it is actually easier to position the iron vertically. I press a bit downward and hold the iron in the same position for half a minute or so. Upon releasing of the force, the plank will come back a little bit to its former shape but not fully.

And then of course I keep on pressing and releasing and so on until I am happy with the result.
Aha, I forgot about something. The plank will get dry after few minutes so from to time I soak it with water again only to make it wet on the surface. When the plank is 80% pre-shaped and still a bit wet position it on the hull and clamp it to dry fully out but in correct bent position.

It can happen, due to wood structure or human, mine in this case, mistake that the wood grain will split because of too strong force while wet. Well, bad luck. If the damage is very small and could in time, perhaps CA glue can help, if not…. Well you have to start from the beginning. Sorry.
 

So now I leave my Wodnik’s stem to dry and this time the split is not big and I cought it in time.
After sanding it will not be visible even. I hope this small report from my plank bendinging will be of some help.

Cheers
Jerzy