On to bending. These chairs are called Balloon-backs (also Bow-backs). The spindles come up out of the seat, and go through the bow, which is bent into a semi-circular somewhat balloon-like shape.
There's a lot of detail to getting wood to bend, which I won't go into here. It's all in the book if you are interested. You need to heat the wood to a sufficient temperature (the moisture in the steam is incidental, it is the heat which makes the wood bendable), and the wood needs to be prepped well. Your results will be much better if the wood fibers run continuously from one end of the piece to the other. Wood species also matters - red and white oak, ash, and hickory are all woods which work well for bending. Others can be made to work, and there are many different techniques which are used. What I do is perhaps the simplest method.
The piece to be bent is placed into a steambox (more homemade equipment), which is connected to a wallpaper steamer. It is steamed for about an hour at about 200 degrees F. You then simply take it out, with gloves on, place it on the form, and bend it around by hand. It gets held in place with wedges and clamps. Once it cools it will retain this shape.
The bow blank goes into the steambox
The bending form clamped solidly to my workbench
Carolyn made a video of the bending! (This has some LOUD parts)
Dowels and wedges shape the wood to the form
As you can see, the little bit of crookedness has pretty much vanished. This piece bent very well, no delaminations whatsoever. Which is nice, as I've already spent some time on this piece. This will stay on the form for a few days in my shop, then go into the kiln for a few more days at 140 degrees F.
My homemade wood kiln with the bow inside
Two bows. Done for the time being. Tied at the base to keep them "perfect".
