Toe rail and wood bending

[Larissa]

Hi
I have been reading about bending wood for a toerail in one of the other discussions. We are replacing our old mahogany toe rail, which didn't last, with an Iroko one. The wood has been cut and routed and we are preparing for the next stage. I have read about steam bending and this looks like the way to go. However, I met some one who suggested you can also greatly increase flexibility of the wood, by using dry heat (i.e. hot air gun). Does anyone have any experience using dry heat for (pre)bending a toe rail (2"x1") made of Iroko?
Thanks
Larissa

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[McNab]

How big is the boat? In my experience 2 x 1 iroko doesn't need steam or other influences to bend and twist it for 18ft boats or upwards.

What makes things easier is this; Try leaving the timber outside for a week whilst introducing a non stressful bend by supporting the centre point and letting gravity and moisture from the dew take it's effect on the timber.



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[bruce]

just a thought, gave up on wood toe rail and went to 'starboard poly' strips cut same as wood but will never rot.

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[LadyInBed]

Re: \'starboard poly\' strips

I don't know this product, can you give some more info.

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[bob26]

We have just replaced the toe rail on a 24 footer in iroko moulding about 1"x1.5".

It did not require any steaming or heating of any kind to achieve the necessary curve.

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[bob26]

We have just replaced the toe rail on a 24 footer in iroko moulding about 1"x1.5".

It did not require any steaming or heating of any kind to achieve the necessary curve.

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[Strathglass]

Depends on the size of your boat but normally you will not require to steam irroko of that profile.
BUT it does depend on the straightness of the grain on the particular strips you have.

What you can do however, is to pre-bend the strips by suporting them in the middle on some form of tresle and hang weights on either end. After a week outside in normal wet British summer weather they will have adapted a permanent twist which will make the fitting task easier.

If you really feel you have to steam then find a long length of 100mm drainpipe seal off one end with rags, put the wood inside and feed the other end with the outlet pipe from a domestic wallpaper stripping machine (again packed with rags).
Keep this going for several hours and don't let the water run dry.
You will need several helpers to handle the VERY hot wooden strips (one at a time) and will not have very much time to fit them in position until they cool down. I find that leather welding gloves protect my hands quite well.

Best of luck

Iain

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[oldharry]

I found no difficulty fastening my new 4x2 Keruin rubbing strake without steaming. The key thing was to start at the bows where the sharpest curve is. The length of the remaining timber was more than enough to give the leverage required to take up the bend without strain. Pre inducing a warp in the timber as suggested in other posts seems a good plan too as long as you can ensure you do not induce a twist as well!

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[rjp]

I'm shortly doing the same thing on a 32ft boat. I've already replaced a 20ft length of carling in 2x2.5 iroko - I did steam bend that in the end although it would just about bend with a lot of muscle power - but I didn't like the amount of stress it was under! However I wouldn't anticipate any problem with the toe rail. If you can fix it at the bow and have both sides overlength you could fit a Spanish windlass across the stern and gradually pull both sides in towards each other (I think I once saw this idea in PBO many years ago).

John

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[jon]

Another alternative I have used myself for my coach roof sides in Iroko is to laminate.
If you require finished thickness of say 1" bandsaw 1.5" in half which will finish 1/2"and glue together using Cascophen or polyurethane adhesive in place on the boat(mask off)or make up a former of roughly the right radius.
Reverse the pieces to balance any warping forces.
It is not as dificult as it sounds and saves stressing the wood.

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[ArgoNot]

Steaming is the way to go. It's the heat that makes the wood pliable so dry heating should work too. The advantage that steaming gives you is that it doesn't dry the wood any which can make it brittle.

If you can afford the time you can also take advantage of 'creep', which is what the material will do if you bend your wood into a mould and leave it awhile. The wood will ease itself towards the shape and will retain some of that bend.

Whatever way you go you will get springback due to the elasticity of the material, so if you want it moulded to an exact shape with no residual stresses you will have to mould it beyond that curve. By how much? Dunno. You'd have to experiment.

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[bruce]

Re: \'starboard poly\' strips

this material is 'plastic' sheeting used here for yacht construction, deck stuff like cutting boards, ladders etc. handles like wood, flexible worked with hand tools, glue won't stick to it or will paint, but proper sealing od screws by countersinking to form 'o' ring seal works, feels like drilling bar of soap, but very much stronger, holds grip on screws. you may have seen this used for cutting boards at home supplies stores. also used in white hand rails on cabin tops. is expensive, but available at surplus marine supplies. you prob have a different name for the stuff there.

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