davewyo Posted November 26, 2015 Report Share Posted November 26, 2015 I've been working on making a fishing net, taking inspiration and techniques from some fine examples that Sd_Andy and Nick2cd made.This is one of those projects that is predominantly an exercise in jig building.http://and the steam box equipped with Earlex steamer:http://I did a practice steaming/clamping session today. Next step is to cut some wood, steam it, and put it in the jig...see what happens... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaneymack Posted November 26, 2015 Report Share Posted November 26, 2015 Cool Dave! I will be watching this one! Steambending awesomeness! ! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted November 26, 2015 Report Share Posted November 26, 2015 I'm looking forward to this build as well Dave! Interested to hear your thoughts on the Earlex! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushwacked Posted November 26, 2015 Report Share Posted November 26, 2015 Not sure what's going on but I am in ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post davewyo Posted November 26, 2015 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted November 26, 2015 Thanks guys!BW...What I've been up to so far is to make a form for bending the thin laminations which will make up the hoop of the net. First I traced out my pattern and sawed out the shape on my band saw.http://That gave me the parts for the jig:http://I cleaned up the curves, added some cork and packing tape to the business edges, and set them up on a piece of ply:http://I gave the same treatment to the cauls which will clamp my strips of wood into the jig.http:// 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted November 26, 2015 Report Share Posted November 26, 2015 That is a seriously cool jig. Looks like you're off to a great start. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted November 26, 2015 Report Share Posted November 26, 2015 Very cool jig! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted November 26, 2015 Report Share Posted November 26, 2015 Sweet man. Looks like that jig will do some work. What wood ate you using? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davewyo Posted November 26, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2015 Sweet man. Looks like that jig will do some work. What wood ate you using? I'm thinking I will make a few of them.The first is probably going to be walnut and maple, then I may try something in an exotic wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davewyo Posted November 28, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2015 (edited) I had a nice long day in the shop today.Before lunch I set up and cut my thin strips. I went with 3/32" thin strips but when five of them are put together they look a little beefy. I may have to go down to 1/16" for later nets, or vary the thickness to obtain an interesting pattern. http://After lunch I cranked up the steam box and waited a bit to let things come up to temp. At this elevation (6250') I have a hard time getting the internal temp of the box much over 200 deg. F, so I let the pine box heat up real good, until it's is puffing nicely.From what I've read a good starting point for successful bending is to apply the steam for one hour for each 1" of thickness of the stock. My steamer produces 1.5 hours of steam which gives me plenty of time. My stock is 3/32"x3/4" and 60"+ long so I figured on what I thought would be a long time but hopefully not too long a time; say 10 to 15 minutes.So I put my three maple and two walnut strips in the steam box and gave it some time. I open it up and and fumbled them a bit trying to arrange them for the jig. I had practiced putting a strip of wood in the jig, but 5 strips were more challenging. I hadn't thought about if I should put them in one at a time or stack them together and get them in the jig all at once. It wasn't what you would call a smooth operation. While futzing with one at a time I snapped one of the walnut strips. Oh well, this isn't a glue up; I'm just trying to pre-form the strips. I continued on with the next maple strip. Then I snapped the second walnut strip. Hmmm, there seems to be a trend going on here. So I clamped in the last maple strip and there is lies cooling over night.http://So...what was my problem with the walnut?Did I have a weak spot in my stock?Did I steam it too long? Not long enough?Was I too slow to make the bend or did I not bend it gently enough?I don't know, but tomorrow I try again and the first variable I'm going to check out is steaming time. I feel like the porous nature of the walnut and my long steaming time may be the culprit. Edited November 28, 2015 by davewyo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted November 28, 2015 Report Share Posted November 28, 2015 (edited) I'm going to guess you had a grain switch in your strip. A simple grain change, say a few inches from a knot will still give a significant weak spot in a piece so thin. Bending stock needs to be very straight grained or it will snap just like that. Ive boiled walnut in a stock pot for an hour before bending, I doubt 15 minutes was too much steam.. Edited November 28, 2015 by Brendon_t 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted November 28, 2015 Report Share Posted November 28, 2015 Could be a number of things.. Not enough steam, too thick, too tight radius, not enough steam... Will be amazing when you get it figured out tho! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted November 28, 2015 Report Share Posted November 28, 2015 Chances are in Brendon's favor. Walnut with really straight grain is hard to find outside if a rifle stock. And maybe you need a little more steam ... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davewyo Posted November 28, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2015 Thanks for the input guys. It sounds like all of you feel like I couldn't have over steamed. I'll have to see if I can cut up some straighter grained and defect free stock and give it another go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davewyo Posted November 29, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 29, 2015 I went over to the shop this morning and took the maple strips out of the jig. They sprung back a bit but have a good enough curve for my purposes.http:// I stoked up the steam box and put in a couple of strips of walnut. I left them in for an hour and put them in the form without a problem, so it appears that I hadn't steamed yesterday's attempt enough.Moving on, I cut and shaped a handle and it's ready to glue in tomorrow.http:// 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted November 29, 2015 Report Share Posted November 29, 2015 That jig is paying off big time! Dave, I noticed that you are cutting your strips to the left of the blade. I cut mine between the fence and the blade. What are you doing to get accurate thickness. I'd much rather do it your way than mine to save on chopping up my push sticks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davewyo Posted November 29, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 29, 2015 See that stick I have clamped to the table just in front of the featherboard? That stick is secured so that it acts as a stop block. Regardless of how wide my board is, I can adjust the fence so that the board just touches that stick and then rip off the thin strip.Marc has a video from not too long ago on ripping thin strips (which I recommend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted November 29, 2015 Report Share Posted November 29, 2015 Ok, thanks. You just move the board to the left until it touches your stick, and you get the same deminision each time! Cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davewyo Posted November 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2015 I did the glue up this evening. I'm glad I am using epoxy because I needed the open time to get the glue on, get it positioned, and clamp it in.http:// 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davewyo Posted November 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2015 The piece came out of the jig this morning:http:// 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted November 30, 2015 Report Share Posted November 30, 2015 Great results Dave. You can make tennis racquets next 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davewyo Posted November 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2015 No Kidding Terry! That's just what I was thinking! I could be the only old guy on the court with a zebrawood and wenge racquet. It also occurs to me that a person could make a pretty cool set of badminton racquets.Or, on a related note, custom ping pong paddles wouldn't even need a jig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Staehling Posted November 30, 2015 Report Share Posted November 30, 2015 Very cool project. It seems like a lot of time and materials in the jig building to make one net. If you aren't already planning to I'd suggest building at least a few and selling them on etsy or ebay. That or give them as gifts. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davewyo Posted November 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2015 No question Pete...it's jig intensive.I think I'm making 3, but if this one comes out well I could call it quits and move on to some other project. After all, a person only uses one net at a time... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davewyo Posted November 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2015 Preliminary clean up went very quickly on the belt sander.http:// 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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