Hi Dennis, I have a LITTLE experience and can offer advice correspondingly!
#1 - Don't try and bend bits which were originally sawn on a curve. This may sound obvious but sometimes you have to look very closely at the timber to identify confidently which is the case. If Austin did it by sawing don't get fancy.
#2 - I've had limited success bending (and twisting) ash timbers about 1/2" thick & 2" wide. The steaming was accomplished by slipping them inside a long tube made from P.U. mineral water bottles taped end to end; steam came from an aluminium kettle ("whistling" type, sans whistle!) on a butane camping stove. Use leather gloves and provide a hole at the end for steam to escape. I seem to recall the rule of thumb 1 hour steaming per inch of thickness (so I did mine for 30 mins). When sufficiently steamed, the timber was transferred swiftly to a wooden jig and clamped to it tightly with G-clamps. This was much harder than it sounds! And if you try to bend too tight or without enough steaming it will crack and split in two... Leave it overnight to "set". The jig needs about 15% "over-bend" as the piece will spring back a little once released - will need some trial and error.
#3 My results were "not too bad" and (with a bit of fettling) serviceable. I'm not in a rush to try anything more complicated. One thing I can say is that a bit of well seasoned ash is a fine strong bit of timber, and easily tougher than laminated layers.
For what it's worth, my advice would be to use your covetable supply of ash to cut the easier straight sections, and chat with a pro for the harder bits - I know Martin Prior has been doing woodwork for quite a few Nippies so he must be quite good at it by now!
Best of luck and do keep us posted on how you get on please.
#1 - Don't try and bend bits which were originally sawn on a curve. This may sound obvious but sometimes you have to look very closely at the timber to identify confidently which is the case. If Austin did it by sawing don't get fancy.
#2 - I've had limited success bending (and twisting) ash timbers about 1/2" thick & 2" wide. The steaming was accomplished by slipping them inside a long tube made from P.U. mineral water bottles taped end to end; steam came from an aluminium kettle ("whistling" type, sans whistle!) on a butane camping stove. Use leather gloves and provide a hole at the end for steam to escape. I seem to recall the rule of thumb 1 hour steaming per inch of thickness (so I did mine for 30 mins). When sufficiently steamed, the timber was transferred swiftly to a wooden jig and clamped to it tightly with G-clamps. This was much harder than it sounds! And if you try to bend too tight or without enough steaming it will crack and split in two... Leave it overnight to "set". The jig needs about 15% "over-bend" as the piece will spring back a little once released - will need some trial and error.
#3 My results were "not too bad" and (with a bit of fettling) serviceable. I'm not in a rush to try anything more complicated. One thing I can say is that a bit of well seasoned ash is a fine strong bit of timber, and easily tougher than laminated layers.
For what it's worth, my advice would be to use your covetable supply of ash to cut the easier straight sections, and chat with a pro for the harder bits - I know Martin Prior has been doing woodwork for quite a few Nippies so he must be quite good at it by now!
Best of luck and do keep us posted on how you get on please.