Bending wood ... anything handy I can share.

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You can bend wood a little by soaking it with water ... you can bend it more by applying heat and make the bend permanent and stress free.

The thing is, the fibers of wood are hold together with lignin. You can soften the lignin with heat and reset the fibers. To transport the heat through the wood, the wood needs to be soaked in water.

In the old days modelers were bending sticks of spruce above a steaming kettle. That's one way you can do it, but I think this is more for thin sticks. Thicker sticks won't get soaked that fast. You better pre-soak the sticks and use a household or covering iron to apply the heat.

To soak the sticks in water I have a length of grey pvc pipe, one end closed with the cap of a shampoo bottle. Not much water needed to fill this pipe. I hold the high floating sticks down with heavy-enough clamps.

You can also (partially) soak the sticks by wrapping them in wet kitchen towel and leave it under plastic for fifteen minutes or so.

I position a household iron upside-down with clamps so I have a 'hot table'. I hold the wet stick in my hands, compare it with the drawing, bend it a little more than the desired curve and push all sides over the 'hot table' until dry. When not satisfied: re-soak and bend again.

You can also use a jig and handle your household or covering iron like 'ironing clothes'.

See both methods in this video:

It's quite easy to bend wood this way and you'll be surprised how much you can bend it.

There are also people using Windex to bend wood. The ammonia in Windex also softens the lignin. Allthough there are no bad experiences with this 'chemical' approach, I personally think the old-fashioned way using heat and water is more sound.