[buckaneerbabe]

I want to build a gate with a curved top. I was wondering if it would work if I drilled the holes for the pvc in the wood, say 3/4" into the piece of wood and then drilled screws in to secure in place while making a slight curve to the overall piece of wood. I know I would need help, someone bending while I screwed the pvc in place. I plan on each of the gates to be 5' long using 1x2's for the frame and pvc for poles. I was worried that the wood might break. Will a slight damping of the wood make it more plyable? I saw a frame made with blocks of wood once and wanted to know if there was an easier way to do this?

 

[The_Caretaker]

I would (plan) to build up a curved piece to the thickness i want out of thin plywood cut to the width i need

 

[Dr Morbius]

Have you thought about using bender board? It's the thin flexible boards construction workers use to make forms for concrete slabs, sidewalks, that kind of thing. It comes in plastic and wood.

Apply alot of glue, bend it the shape you want, you need to use layers of the board, 4 will give you about a 1/2" thickness, then tack it with nails or screws, or use stakes in the dirt to put them in between. It will hold it's shape when done, then you can cut it and sand it.
http://images.scrippsweb.com/HGTV/2004/02/24/LDS604D_new_e.jpg

 

[Lilly]

We have a bunch of curved wood on our house ..theysay he soaked the wood in water first then did it...thats all I know.
Doc seems to have the better idea though

 

[Death Master]

Some wood you can bend by soaking in water but steaming is the best way to bend thicker wood, I like the laminated wood and glue technique.

 

[Evil Bob]

I made these gates and fence 11 years ago. I actually cut out the curved top of the gates with a jigsaw rather than bend them.
http://www.hearsefactory.com/restinpetes/bobshalloween/images/mygate14.jpg
Evil Bob

 

[buckaneerbabe]

Thanks for great ideas.

 

[UnderMan]

About the best way to bend wood would be to put it in a steam chamber. You can make it from a 6" PVC pipe, longer than the wood you wish to bend. Cap both ends, but have a spout at the far end for steam to escape. By insertning a couple bolts through the lower portion of the chamber it will suspend the wood instead of letting it rest on the sides of the pipe, allowing the steam to penetrate the wood from all sides. The wood would have to be in there for several hours. Be sure to wear gloves when retrieving the wood, as it will scald unprotected body parts. There is a lot of information on the web on this technique. I'd research many different sources before settling on a single design, making my design from a combination of their ideas.

Here's the google search I did resulting in over 1.7 Million hits: steam bending wood - Google Search

Here's a website I found on the subject:
http://www1.diynet.com/diy/ww_decorative_furnishings/article/0,2049,DIY_14441_2277640,00.html

 

[Darkside]

I did a project with curved wood a few years back. I just used plywood, soaked it in water, then clamped it the shape I wanted until it dried, then applied glue (it was in 3 layers) and clamped it again, and it held the shape fine.

 

[propmastertucson]

Do you have a drawing of what you want to do? If I understand, you want to construct a gate out of wood and connect it to a pvc support.

If that is true? Than you would have to deal with the weight of the gate on the pvc post. I can tell you that the pvc will not support the gate.

How about this. Use wood for the post and build the gate out of pvc. You ask how? PVC can be heated and bent.

Now understand, if you heat pvc to bend it, IT WILL BE HOT! And you will have to protect yourself from being burnt. But it can be done, and I have done it.

You will have to build a jig for the bent section. And you will have to find a way to heat the pvc. A jig is simply a mold to insert the pvc into after it has been heated. To heat the pvc you can use a paint striping gun or the exhaust pipe from you car or truck. How you do it will be up to you.

The truck thing I have seen done by a guy how was fitting 1 1/4 pipe into a Jacuzzi, he had a way to channel the hot exhaust into the pipe, start the engine and come back after a wile and the pipe was just like a spaghetti noodle. I use the paint gun.

It can be done so if you try it be careful, It will be easer that bending wood.