Woodworker's Guide to Bending Wood: Techniques, Projects, and Expert Advice for Fine Woodworking (Fox Chapel Publishing)

I really like this book. It provides a good overview of a variety of wood bending techniques including green wood bending, constructing curved wood laminates, hot water bending, steam bending, heat bending of relatively thin materials, vacuum press bending, etc. The author discusses how to design and build bending forms and illustrates the techniques with a variety of in-depth projects. As an example, he illustrates hot water bending with the project of building a shaker oval box. The instructions for this (and all other projects) are quite complete, so one won't be left scratching one's head in the middle of a project. One could get a pretty good background in wood bending (as well as have a lot of fun!) by carrying out the different projects. One feature I found quite interesting was his discussion of how luthiers use heat (no water or steam involved) to bend the sides of a guitar. Apparently this can be done wither without a form or completely free-hand (with no form at all) using a heated "pipe" to heat and bend the wood sides by hand. I rather imagine doing this might be possible, but that without a lot of practice, it'd be well nigh impossible to get the two sides of the guitar bent so they are symmetrical. All in all, using forms seems easier to me. While some of the material (that on guitars and violins, for example) may be a bit specialized, it is still of interest. Then too, one never knows when a bit of knowledge may come in useful. I got this because I was primarily interested in information about steam bending. The book did a good job of discussing that, but I appreciated reading about other techniques as well. All in all, a very informative and interesting book.

It's the article on steam bending. Was very short. I think it could have gone into more detail.

A plethora of great tips. Put many in place. With good results.

I purchased Jon Benson's Woodworker's Guide to Veneering & Inlay: Techniques, Projects & Expert Advice for Fine Furniture book a few years ago, so I was happy to find his wood bending book when I was looking for a book to use in the classroom. Benson's books are well laid out and easy to follow, making them a great resource for beginners as well as experienced woodworkers looking to broaden their repertoire of techniques. This book has been a useful reference when students come to me wanting to experiment with different bending techniques.

This book should be in every hobby or professional woodworker's library. The information is all "meat" and no wasted pages and pages of useless info. Has some excellent ideas for homemade equipment and even some thought provoking photos of finished wood items as examples of what can be done at home.

First of all this book covers what one needs to know to bend wood which is considerable. I think it is extremely well illustrated and demonstrates the considerable knowledge of the author. There are some practical illustrations of the process for several bending projects. He also covers several types of bending such as green wood, vacuum, steam and lamination. This may not be the only book one would want in order to be able to get into bending but it is one of the books you would want and is well worth the price.

I loved the book, it went over step by step process and explained in details. I can see why other's whom have not read this book are making errors and by all accounts wasting wood....

a good book for someone like me that is just starting out.

cool

Clear and precise guide of different methods to bend wood. Contains good (not too small) step-by step intructions (colour photographs) as well as illustrations to build the necessary forms and fixtures. Also explains, when and why to use which method. Mentions errors/ failures. In the first chapter, the behaviour/ physics of wood(grain) is explained, and an extended table of wood species is listed with their properties to bend (or not to bend). I also appreciate the numerous examples of bent furniture (or parts), and his detailed demonstration projects, carrying you trough the process. This book could not have been better!

great

I really enjoy this book as reference. I have not yet been involved with wood bending, but there is a wealth of information on several different methods. Highly recommended to anyone starting out or wishing to add to their shaping/bending knowledge.

requires a deal of background reading, but it a very good starter, although you really ought to be a reasonable woodworker of have a formidable reason to want to do this type of wood bending, good tips