Wood bending is a technique that woodworkers value for being able to save wood. Usually, when you think about making a bend with wood, you will cut it out from a larger stock. The pieces that you cut out, most of them will ultimately end up wasted. Bending wood usually requires you to either boil it in water or apply steam to it. If you are interested to know if you can bend wood using cold water, you have come to the right place. In this article, we will be guiding you on how to bend wood with cold water and whether it is possible at all.
To answer the question on how to bend wood with cold water, you can’t. You can pre-soak wood in cold water prior to applying some form of heat to it. However, you can’t bend it by using cold water alone. This is because wood is actually constituted of fibres and lignins. There is more to wood than that, but these are one of the major components. Lignin is the organic polymer that gives wood the rigidity and hardness it needs. To break down lignin in the wood and soften it, you need to introduce it to high temperatures.
There are many other methods of bending wood without having to resort to the use of water at all. Kerf bending is a perfectly good method for bending wood of thickness. While cold lamination bending is one of the best ways to bend wood that is thin. It does create a bit of mess with the glue, but nothing a little sanding can’t fix. Either way, if you are unsure if you can bend wood with water, trying any of the other methods is equally viable. Though you should always get out of your comfort zone with woodwork and experiment with things a bit differently when possible.
Is it Possible to Bend Wood With Cold Water?
Bending wood with water has been an ancient practice that has been used for a long time now. Wood is made out of all these different organic polymers, with all species having different quantities of them. This is why each species of wood has a different feel, look, and hardness to it. Because wood is made of fibrous organic polymers, it is impossible to bend wood with cold water alone. This is because you need to break down and soften lignin, the thing that makes wood hard, to soften it. Without softening wood, you cannot bend wood without the risk of it breaking apart.
You need to heat up these organic polymers like lignin significantly for wooden fibres to soften. You can use something like a fabric softener in cold water to pre-soak wood and help soften the wooden fibres. However, it will still not bend unless you introduce high heat to the wood. The high heat breaks down the lignin, softening it down. Once that happens, you have time till the lignin cools down again to bend it. As the lignin and the fibres cool down, they will start to harden again.
You can also bend wood by boiling it in water, but it is much more work and risk than steam bending. Boiling wood will require you to get a big enough metal vessel to fit in the wooden piece. After which you will need to heat that vessel with either a fire or induction heating. It will take a considerable amount of time for the water to boil and heat up the piece of wood. Then you need to pull the piece of wood out of the boiling water while it is still hot and bend it. With there being a lot of risk in the method, it does not feel like a better way to bend wood with water.
Does Wood Bend Easier When Wet?
Yes, wood does bend easier when it is wet, which is the reason why people use air-dried wood when using steam bending. Kiln-dried wood hardly has any moisture left in it after being dried through the heat of the kiln. It has a moisture content of 5-7% when it is done drying. Air-dried method leaves the wood with 12-15% moisture content in it, which is almost double that of kiln-dried wood. Wood is not a great conductor of heat, so having all that moisture inside helps with the uniform conductivity of heat through its fibres and organic polymers.
This is why people often advise others to pre-soak air-dried wood overnight when they are about to bend it. This actually helps with the bending process, although it is just an extra step, it improves the odds of wood bending without tearing or splitting the fibres. If your wood is kiln-dried you will need to pre-soak it for at least 3 days if you really want to be successful with your bending endeavours.
FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions
Does wood bend without using any water?
Yes, you can bend wood without water using the kerf bending or cold laminate bending methods. Both of these methods are viable options in case you are not comfortable with building a steam box or boiling wood in water.
What wood is more suitable for bending with steam bending?
Air-dried wood is the best candidate for bending using steam thanks to its moisture content. Though you can bend wood that is kiln-dried, it requires you to soak it for at least 3 days in water before bending it with heat from the steam.
Are there any species of wood that are better for steam bending than others?
Yes, some wood species bend better through the steam bending method than others. Since all woods have different quantities of organic polymers in them, they react differently to steam bending. Oak, Poplar, Beech, Mahogany, and Ash are some of the woods that are most suitable for this method of bending wood.
How long does it take to boil wood in water before it can bend?
Similar to the steam bending method, which requires you to steam wood for an hour per inch of thickness, you need to boil wood for an hour per inch of thickness for it to bend successfully.
Can you bend wood without pre-soaking it?
Yes, if your wood is air-dried it can be bent using the steam bending method without needing to pre-soak it in water. However, if the wood is kiln-dried it requires pre-soaking of at least 3 days before bending it or else it will split, tear, or break while doing so. Even if you don’t need to soak air-dried lumber before bending it, there is no harm in making sure and doing it overnight before the process.
Final Thoughts
If you ever had questioned whether you could bend wood with cold water, hopefully, our article answered your queries. Understanding the science behind wood is important, it can tell you about its limitations and its possibilities. Learning about wood is just as important as learning about the use of tools in woodworking. Although experience is a great teacher, using research as a learning method is also very effective. When you research wood and its species, you will be able to bend wood much more effectively.
