May 2021

Steam Bent Wooden Quilt Rack 
from Reclaimed Fir and Red Cedar

Functionality; simple, Design; fluid, Build; complicated

This is my first attempt at a steam bent project. Its a bit of an odd project for me but the initial inspiration came from a posting on FB Market Place for a standard blanket rack. The posting was not too interesting but something about it caught my eye. I did some research and found that quilt racks are quite pricey. Who would of thought!! As I was looking for a project to pass the late days of Winter I thought a quilt rack might be something I could  design and quickly build. Ohhh,,, was I mistaken on this one as my creative side won out over functionality :-))

There are 7 individual steam bent pieces and each has 6 layers of 1/8" Fir and Red Cedar alternating strips. The bottom brace is a 360 degree twist. With 4 coats of Tung Oil and 2 coats of paste wax to finish it off.

As with most of my projects I like to use reclaimed materials as much as possible and and this one is no different. The rack was built from one 7' 2 x 6 board (Fir) and one 6' 2 x 6 board (Red Cedar). Not enough material for a traditional build, but plenty for my design using layered steam bending.
The Fir came from an old work bench which show cases worm holes and the distresses of its previous life and the Red Cedar is from a reno at my Aunt's house. 

Each piece was steamed for 20 minutes at 212 degrees and clamped into their form for 4 days to dry. On the 4th day they were un-clamped, glued and re-clamped in their form for another 24 hours. My shop is small so I could only produce one piece at a time. That's 35 days of drying time.. tick tock, tick tock, tick tock...... 

Due to the design and the construction, this piece is extremely light but very strong. Weighing just over 2lbs and can support three heavy winter quilts.

This piece was on display in the 2021 Virtual "Sooke Fine Arts Show" .  
https://sookefinearts.com/