I use water for soaking my wood pieces and then I use a curling iron to bend the wood to the curve I need it needs to be done slowly as you can snap the piece before you get the curve you want.
Rick

I also use basswood, mahogany, birch, walnut, quarter sawn white oak, though these woods are not what is general in my planking. The keel on several are the oak, bulkheads 1/8”-3/16” ply cut with the scrollsaw.

I generally do not steam, but do thin layers glued up as I learned when building rubber powered airplanes. Guess that is where the use of balsa comes in as it is most readily available in my workshop.

Have recently had some success by soaking the wood in water overnight (usually 1/4" sq basswood) and then working it into a jig or frame using a heat gun.
Guess as the gun evaporates the water into steam and accomplishes much the same.
Quite surprising how, once the wood gets hot, how easily it bends.

Thanks Martin555,
Steaming is so easy once you start doing it, it is not the black art some people seem to think it is.
Cheers,
Stephen.

Hi Stephen,
I like your steamer, simple but effective.

Martin555.

Hi Martin,
I am probably a bit late in my reply and a lot of information has already been put forward but here is my two bob's worth.
An article I read a few years ago said that chemical softening of wood weakens the wood because of what it does to the structure of the wood.
I have done some steaming, first using just a kettle and dipping the plank into the boiling water for a few minutes , then moving on to making a simple jig out of steel down pipe adding a shelf of wire mesh to sit the plank on, see photos.
I have experimented with steaming several different woods, in my opinion hard woods will take a more severe bend probably due to their long grain structure though even soft woods like Huon pine will bend very nicely while still hot the key being while still hot.
You may have minutes to work with large pieces of wood due to it's thermal mass, small planks take seconds to cool.
Personally I would try some Beech I wouldn't be surprised if it worked quite well.
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Stephen.

Ron, I HATE balsa! I only use it in model aircraft when I have to! Leading and trailing edges, maybe the odd spar, but I hate its unreliable grain and imprecise nature.
To me that precariously balance blow torch in the hot pipe method is a no-no! My blow torch is a big devil on a couple of metres of orange hose, not something I can rest up against a pipe. I shall have a play with Spruce and then some ash when I can get it back from my daughter's place.

Martin

Since I am not building indoor flying models any more, the box of light balsa is used to form the hulls of many of my boats. Is really thin and light, I will laminate a couple layers. The hulls are covered with light fibreglass which makes it strong. Balsa can be soaked in water and curved which is what I would do when making propellers.

I have not used the “hot pipe” method Michael Fortune describes. He makes furniture, not model boats, though, I would think if you used a curling iron with thinner wood 1/16 or 1/32 the “hot pipe” method could be used indoors, with care!

Anyone tried this?

I think spruce would be you easiest option if you cannot use a steam tube. You could use ammonia and soak the wood which will certainly do it but does leaks the wood brittle in my experience.

The pictures are of my Wherry, not very good pictures I am afraid but I didn’t really want to take it of the shell. It’s planks are a shade over 1/8 and oak, if I was doing it now I wouldn’t use oak I would probably use pine or like you spruce.

I couldn't use hot pipe, too risky inside a house. White oak (any kind of oak) too coarse a grain, but ash will do. Somebody elsewhere suggested spruce. We can get spruce in hobby sizes and I'm thinking if it dioes bend well, then a 4"wide sheet of spruce 1/8" thick could be the answer as the strange shapes required for a clinker boat would come out of a 4" wide sheet whereas an 1 1/4" wide piece (of ash) wouldn't allow the shape. I must see if SLEC stock spruce.

Martin

I emailed Mícheál Fortune of whom mentioned in my earlier reply today. Here is his reply:

White oak is good. Do you belong to Fine Woodworking online? Search Hot Pipe Bending, that will probably be the best for the scale of the wood you use. Mahogany is not.

Cheers,

Michael

Gents, I had completely forgotten the steaming qualities of ash. And, hanging ion the rafters of my old shed, in my daughter's garden are several lengths of ash that I originally bought to make a new frame for my Austin 7 Special's bodywork, not eventually built as the landlady insisted I get rid of the caravan which was my storage. I kept the ash, so it looks like I'll be dragging the table saw (the big one) out one fine day and ripping the ash into 1/8th" strips. Thanks for all the help, folks.

Martin

Wow! Not a peep then loads at once! Thanks, chaps.
Martin555, I've read of those, but I don't like all the marks left on the wood and that's fairly thin wood. My planks will be around 5/8" wide and always at least 1/8" thick.
Roy, I asked this question in order to start experimenting with different woods. I would not expect Mahogany to bend very well, although the few bends I needed on Vanity were achieved with simple kettle steaming, although I used quite a lot of stealers in that hull, so I could stick to the supply I had of Cuban Mahogany from my Grandad's old dining chairs.
Peewit, I like your idea of finishing with a run of superglue. I've used that for hardening edges of hardboard when making cheap and nasty Vac-form pattern bases. I won't use pine as it's horrible irregular stuff. Beech however, appeals for its closer grain.
Ron, many thanks for all your links. I will go through and see what I can find there.
Newby7, this is for the future, but if I don't get flying again soon I shall go back to boats entirely and may start it sooner than I intended. I like to have more than one project on the go.
I wouldn't use oak because of its coarse grain and I hate oak anyway, having restored a full sized historic wooden canal boat into which my wife and I put 3 oak trees! Steaming a 10"x3"x 34 ft. 6" oak plank is a 5 hour job! But for exactly 7 minutes it's like chewing gum, then it sets solid! Did a whole new swim on our boat. 6 full planks with the last 18 feet in the steam chest, a 50 gallon drum of water for a boiler under which we burned all the old oak I'd removed from the boat.

Martin

I played around with this years ago. Never did oak. Third mahogany but it does not bend well, used cedar instead which bend easily. I m sure that spruce or pine would bend well. Also years ago I tried so a hoping the wood in ammonia and that worked well. Maybe some of the other folks could verify this? I would experiment on scrap first and please list your findings. 🤔

Hi Westquay,
I dont know if this helps.
I use a plank bending tool that crimp's the wood and put's the bend in immediately.

No steaming or soaking.

Martin555.

Hello steaming is not the only way. If it is relatively thin wood then try spraying with window cleaner. This contains ammonia. Ammonia is a bit dodgy to play with but it will make almost any wood extremely supple.

Heating can also help or just soaking in hot water bending to a shape and then drying it with a hair drier works well.
With planking try the hot water treatment, pin the plank in position and dry it out before glueing in place.
Roy

This will be an interesting build I didn't know what the Wherry was or looked looked like so went on line to check it out I do enjoy reading and seeing what others build and this build I look forewords to following .
Rick

Personally I would use beach or pine. If you make up a small proper steam tube and leave the wood in it for a bit you can bend most woods.

As you are thinking of a Wherry hear is a picture of mine. Getting on a bit now and not been in the water for about 8 years but looks good and draws comments as I live in East Anglia.

And the wood....... American oak!!!. Yes you can bend it in these sizes but I soaked it in a concoction that when wet makes the wood very very supple indeed, you can literally tie it in knots.

When it dries out it looses all flexibility and becomes brittle itf you try to bend it but as you are clinker building it doesn’t matter. Flood the joints and seems with thin cheap supper glue from Poundland, everything simply bonds together; which as you have removed all moisture and oils in the bending process the wood just absorbs the glue and it literally sets like rock producing basically a solid composite hull.

But do it outside on a cool in a light breeze, the amount of cyanide coming of the glue just can’t be good for anybody.

https://www.finewoodworking.com/1977/12/01/toxic-woods

https://www.finewoodworking.com/2005/10/25/bending-iron

https://www.finewoodworking.com/2005/09/12/all-about-bending-wood

https://www.finewoodworking.com/2009/04/16/video-demo-hot-pipe-steam-bending-introduction

I had the privilege of visiting Michael Fortune at his shop outside Lakefield, Ontario, CDN. His specialty is bending wood.

In a quick search of Fine Woodworking on line on bending wood these posts came up. I am sure there is an article where someone has done research on the qualities of which wood bends easiest but retains strength.

email Michael he is very approachable.
michael.fortune@sympatico.ca

http://www.michaelfortune.com/home.html