Steel strap for steam bending

[ian_in_the_midlands]

I want to have a try at steam bending.
Can anyone suggest a source of a steal strap.
Mayby 1 1/2" o 2" wide.
I only want a couple of metres, but can only find them in 1000m rolls.

Thanks.

 

[Chrispy]

Hi Ian, have you got a local metal worker, steel fabricator I'm sure they would oblige. :wink:

 

[ian_in_the_midlands]

What type of steel should I be looking for?
I was trying to find steel banding, but this only seems to come in long lengths.

A search of Ebay shows Mild Steel Flat Strip Bar 50mm x 3mm. Would these be too stiff, and would it have too much memory to be used more than once?

I have seen in a previous post, someone trying to find 2" worn out bandsaw blades for this purpose.
This seemed a good idea, but he couldn't find them.
Are there any other sources of sutable metal strip that people are using and I have not thought about?

 

[Doug B]

Ian.

Old bandsaws are the best, try phoning round a few local saw doctors or saw mills, also a good idea is to line the metal with a strip of leather to stop the steel reacting with the timber.

Cheers.

 

[Chrispy]

I got a piece of zinc plated mild steel I think 14G about 1mm thick anyway, and cut to 50mm wide , just drilled a hole near each end to bolt on a L plate for the work piece to push against. works fine for me......

 

[Spindle]

Hi

Any steel supplier should be able to cut you a slice off an 8' x 4' sheet of your choice - stainless @ about 1.2 mm would be mine.

Regards Mick

 

[yetloh]

Hi

Any steel supplier should be able to cut you a slice off an 8' x 4' sheet of your choice - stainless @ about 1.2 mm would be mine.

Regards Mick

I'm sure this is right, but galvanised mild steel is a lot cheaper and what I have used successfully without any staining of the wood.

The point of the strap is to stop the wood on the outside of the curve from being stretched so that the inner surface is forced to compress instead. That means you will need to bolt some stops to the strap and have a wedge to drive in so the strap is held in tension bfore you start the bend. I have no doubt Youtube has some good videos on the technique.

Jim

 

[No skills]

If your getting a supplier to cut narrow strips off a sheet get them to cut one and check it, if their using a big hydraulic guillotine the strips can be twisted/distorted.