Bending wood with hot water
Russ Filbeck doesn t use a steambox when bending wood for his ladderback chairs. Instead he uses a copper tray made by noted Shaker box maker John Wilson.
Russ Filbeck doesn’t use a steambox when bending wood for his ladderback chairs. Instead he uses a copper tray made by noted Shaker box maker John Wilson. Russ simply fills the copper tray with water and puts it on a hot plate. Steam and boiling water are both 212° at sea level so it doesn’t matter whether the wood is in boiling water or steam. For larger jobs, where he’s steaming multiple legs at a time, Russ does use an 8-in.-diameter plastic pipe as a steambox.