Bending rims..take your time please

[Joe & Penny Goss]

Hi Jim,
Many moons ago I had a bass viol made for me by a maker of cellos and
basses.
The process that he used to bend the sides of the instrument involved
soaking the wood and then placing the part into a caul press. Then bending
the part that was to become the rounded side just a little. The wood was
allowed to dry for a few days (don't know how long ) and then the wetting
and pressing cycle continued until the piece of wood was the correct shape.
The wood sides of my bass are about 1/4 inch thick.
I would think that this could have been a little faster if steam and heat
were available for him to use.
It is amazing how wood holds its shape after being heated and bent then
cooled. The fibers develope a memory of sorts.
Joe Goss
----- Original Message -----
From: <JIMRPT@AOL.COM>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Monday, June 05, 2000 8:39 AM
Subject: Re: Re: Bending rims... Jim B. (long)


>
> In a message dated 6/05/2000 11:36:16 AM, Brian T. wrote:
>
> <<"wwwaaaaayyyyyy back in
>
> maybe the third thread back or so from this one, who said something about
>
> using thick, maybe 1/4" laminations to make a piano rim.">>
>
> Brian;
>  I think I will have to take the blame for that.. I was discussing the
1/4"
> oak laminations on this Knabe grand that I am working on.
>
>  As for being confused...well that makes you absolutely normal. :-)
>
> As to what a press is......well I suppose it is a matter of semantics...
and
> although I view a "press" as a unitary single object... a case has been
made
> for viewing a collection of diseparate parts as making a press.  Anyway
S&S
> does have a good site that does not get into the technical
> discussions....cause they want to sell pianos, not teach their customers
how
> to build a Steinway? :-)
>
> <<"On the occasions
>
> I've tried to bend wood in curves as tight as a piano rim and that thick,
>
> most of the time, they end up breaking someplace.  So I was thinking about
>
> how one would accomplish using thicker laminations and was thinking about
my
>
> little soundboard project strip of wood thingy">>
>
>  Well this was a part of my original question, i.e.; how did they bend
those
> thick oak veneers? Heat? Steam?   You told us about using heat, so that
will
> work, and I can bend quite thick oak 1" X 1" into walking sticks by using
> steam but a stick is a long way from a piano rim :-)
> Jim Bryant (FL)
>