Steamed wood for laminations?

[reini]

Hi guys,

i've recently bought some steamed walnut and have cut lamination strips (.012) out of that. Until now i've always used untreated wood for making laminations.

When comparing the flexibility now (manually bending) of my new laminations against those old ones, i think they're weaker now.

Questions are: Has anyone of you used steamed wood for laminations? Is it physically modified in the steaming process in such a way that it's  improper for building bows afterwards? Or are there any other issues with using such lams?

! I'm just talking about industrially steamed wood, not about homemade steaming for bending purposes or such. That process uses temperatures between 170 and 200 degree F and goes over a long time (weeks).

thx reini

[bamboo]

is it dry

[reini]

Yes about 9%.

[KenH]

Why would you steam wood except to bend it?

[reini]

wood ist industrially steamed to get better colours (e.g. beech, walnut), for sterilization, to reduce shrinkage/expansion and some other reasons.

[mikkekeswick]

And steaming dries wood in a controlled manner.
Your lams will be just fine. I wouldn't go any thicker than 0.040, preferaby 0.030

[reini]

Originally posted by mikkekeswick:
And steaming dries wood in a controlled manner.
Your lams will be just fine. I wouldn't go any thicker than 0.040, preferaby 0.030

thx! think i'll give it a try.

i was just feeling uncertain because those lams felt weaker and it's the first time i'm using steamed walnut. there were no other problems with flexibility or such. So, maybe the lams are fine and it's just a weaker wood.

thx reini