Louis is switching things up this week and stepping away from the Dory mold to start steam bending the wood for the stem. It’s going to be made out of a nice piece of seasoned white oak that he is going to compression steam bend. He’s using standard 6mil poly and will pull the piece of lumber and metal brace into the bag for steaming. With a couple burners and some water, Lou shows us how to feed steam into the bag with rubber tubing to heat up the stem and melt the Lignin in the wood, that’s the glue that holds the wood together. Once the piece softens up he can crank on the come-along and pull the stem into the proper parabolic shape.
Lou uses an unusual method for steaming and for bending the wood into the desired shape for the stem. There’s always something to learn from Lou and Episode 10 does not disappoint! Catch up on all the episodes in the series – Watch them all now!
