MacGregorSailors.com

I have been rolling over in my head for ages now how to design a decent dish rack for the galley, and I just saw Tom Chapman's new mod - it's *beautiful*. I'm going to steal his idea shamelessly. I'll probably make it a bit longer to hold some spices, salt/pepper and perhaps some bowls, but that overall design is really a treat. Nice woodwork, too! Love the bent-wood - I wonder if he did it with steam or veneer?

MOD:
http://www.macgregorsailors.com/cgi-bin ... record=768

Kevin that is very nice . Now how about the bending?
Could I use a metal pipe with some water to make a steam tube like some boat builders still do? Do you finish shape it before or after the steaming?

If he made it out of white cedar,

This is a dish rack made out of white cedar

it may not be bent at all. He may have just taken a solid piece and cut out what he wanted. Rounded the corners, sanded down all surfaces, and finished it all with a good spar varnish, or oil finish?

I like it

My time is precious, but this may be a project that I actually put some time into


Ray

I don't want to drag you gentlemen from your shops and shavings piles, but the same could be accomplished with almost any substrate, including aluminum, then finished with a teak or exotic wood veneer for a lot less time and expense.

Congrats to the builder for a nice design job.

Well, I suspect he may have done what I did on the corners of the table I made (see pic below)... he use a strip-veneer to cover a rounded cut piece of flat wood. But clearly he has not just "taken a solid piece and cut out what he wanted. Rounded the corners, sanded down all surfaces, and finished it all with a good spar varnish, or oil finish"... because the grain follows around the corner and you'd have end-grain showing if you did that. No, I think he either bent a curved piece using steam or he used veneer and I'm betting on the latter as it's one heck of a lot easier!

Divecoz wrote:Kevin that is very nice . Now how about the bending?
Could I use a metal pipe with some water to make a steam tube like some boat builders still do? Do you finish shape it before or after the steaming?

The easiest way to steam bend long pieces like that is to do them in a long piece of PVC - metal pipe loses heat too quickly. You don't want to actually soak the wood in the water - only in very hot steam. Once it's been fully steamed you pull it out and then slowly begin clamping it around your form (presumably you've made a form of the shape you'll need). The wood will stay pretty pilable for about 15 minutes or so if it's been properly heated.

Here's a Pinwood Derby car that my son and I made where you can see steam-bent pieces... both the curved bits were made that way. Actually, I used this occasion to teach my youngest, Charlie, how to do steam bending! (It was his idea to make the "pinewood race... inside a pinewood race... inside a pinewood race... inside a pinewood race"! )

Brought back some memories....

Kevin,

I think you may be correct. Good observation!


Ray

Kevin,
Very nice work. I have a question about how you attached it to the liner.
Is it hung form the upper liner lip or attached to the lower or both
Thanks
Bill

balloonist wrote:Kevin,
Very nice work. I have a question about how you attached it to the liner.
Is it hung form the upper liner lip or attached to the lower or both
Thanks
Bill

I wish I could say it's mine, but that's Tom Chapman's new mod, not mine! I'm just saying how neat it is and that I want to steal his idea!

the material on the rack looks much thicker (3/8"?) than the pinewood derby vaneer.

i remember bending wood like that years ago by soaking in the pool for several weeks, getting it completely water logged, then bending. the wood we used was probably white cedar as has been suggested.

Cool car Kevin. The real question is: How did Charlie do in the race?

Well, he wasn't really shooting to win the racing portion - there's way too many kids in our Pack and the odds are low. He did OK in the race, though - I think he made it to finals? However, in order to recognise the work that the boys put into the cars we also hold a design competition in which the boys themselves vote using ballots, and he did win that. Here are some other winners from our family (sez proud poppa):

Lobster (by son #2):


Sponge Bob (by son #1):

NICE Job Kevin by the Young Lads!!
Back to bending tubes BTW
We have a friend who had to rebuild some of their boat years ago while in Africa.(Worked for Canada Hydro) They had a steel / metal pipe capped on one end, with some water in it . (their words not mine) It was set with the caped end in a small wood fire till water was boiling then the slid the board to be bent into the tube and set a loose fitting cover over it . After awhile they pulled it out set it to the boat and pegged it in place. Yep they pegged it in place Used ratchet straps to get it to bend . Said you have to work as a team and quickly.BTW that lobster runs in what we think of as reverse just like in real life

I assume you mean they pegged it (as in 'attached' it to the boat with pegs)? That's another of those skills that's fast disappearing!

However, I have often seen pegs used to bend wood strips the way you want it - you have vertical pegs in a table and you pull the wood out of the steam trunk and place it between two close pegs, then you bend it to the next peg, then to the next, etc. The table has lots of holes so that the pegs can be moved to create various shapes.

(As for the Lobster, he does go forward, not backward, and I guess Charlie never thought of that when he built it! The front 'antannae' have a thin metal bar between them to place the car against the drop-bar that starts the race.)