New steamer and Old Steamer Repairs December 14, 2023 – Posted in: Blog

Our volunteers conducting essential repairs to our old steam box

A steam box allows dried & seasoned timber to be bent to a required curve. The process is as follows:
Timber of the appropriate dimensions is selected and placed within the steam box and the end closed to create a sealed chamber. Steam is then introduced to the chamber through a tube from the boiling water source. Over an agreed length of time, dependant upon the timber dimensions, of continued steam exposure, the natural resins and cell structure within the timber heat up and allow the timber to become more pliable.

At the end of the required time within the steam chamber, the timber is removed and immediately bent around a former or in the required place on the boat, it is clamped in place and allowed to cool. The cooling process sees the natural resins within the timber to cool and harden again, thus holding the timber in its new curved form. The new curved form will better maintain the original structural properties of the timber as opposed to trying to bend the timber without the steaming process, which would likely induce unwanted stresses or fracture of the piece.

There are many intricacies to be learned with the steaming process as each wood type behaves differently and each piece of timber will have grown anomalies that require consideration. Even after years of practice we still get pieces that don’t behave quite as planed which keeps us on our toes & reminds us that we never stop learning!