veneers vs. steaming

[HoneySuckleBlue]

I have been told that making curved wood out of layers upon layers of veneers is definately more preferable than steaming the wood and then doing what ever routing needs to be done.

I am looking to make some oval picture frames and am debating which method to use, so I thought I'd go fishing for some opinions.

What ch'all think?

[nirgal]

Depends, It's hard to do a tight radius curve with steamed wood, unless you can find some with the proper grain orientation, because it tends to split down the grain. You need good "quarter sawn" stock, Oak or ash works pretty well, but thats all I've tried. And it also needs to be fairly thin to make a tight turn. Lamination may be preferable, though it takes time to build up any size. How big an oval are you looking at?

[Scholar_Warrior]

oh, excuse me. I thought the bathroom was through here...... didn't mean to intrude. carry on.... ahem. *walks back into the living room scratching head*