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How many times have you gone and purchased a piece of wood and got it home and cursed it because it has a bend it in. Then as you move along into your woodworking hobby, you discover that there are times that; you wish you could bend the wood. Well actually, you can and there are a few methods not all that difficult to do to help you achieve this. There are methods such steam bending or microwave steaming. Then there are Kerf cut bending or laminated wood bending, so you can see there are a few options ahead of you.

Don?t even think about attempting to bend wood without a form. When you have removed the treated wood from the steam box you need to get it clamped into place as quickly as possible and that?s where the form comes into play. You can easily make your own forms with several layers of MDF.

Now let?s look at micro waving wood. Naturally you aren?t going to get a big piece of wood into your microwave so this is just for small pieces. Wrap the piecedin a wet paper towel and nuke it for only a few seconds. It works just like a steam box. You will have to experiment with the time because of the variations in the wood.

The most tried and true method for wood bending is the steam method. You will need to make a steam box so you need a heat source, a container to hold the water, which is going to be heated, and a hose for the steam to pass through. A separate box is needed for the wood that is going to be treated. For your heat source it doesn?t have to be anything elaborate it cane even be a hot plate. Nothing with open flames though. A teakettle makes a great water container but you have to be able to modify it so you can add a hose to it.

For the steam box, you can use any type of pipe or wooden box that you construct yourself. The steam has to be able to escape though or you will end up with an explosion. You must be very careful not to get burnt when doing this the steam is extremely hot and heats up everything. Make sure you wear gloves. Again making sure that you, steam has a way of escaping you can start off with about an hour of this treatment; you may need more again depending on the variation of the wood.

Laminated wood is much easier to bend because of its thickness. You will need the form but not the other equipment. Make sure the piece you are bending is longer than you need and it must be thin. Then you just glue the layers together as you stack them in the form and clamp them. Once dry trim the edges.

Kerf cut bending is just a simple procedure of cutting slots across the wood. These are done on the inside of the bend.

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If you are an advocate of growing organically, you cannot avoid getting asked the question “is organic food better?”. I love to be able to honestly answer “yes” to that one!

Usually though, the inquirer is not satisfied with such short an answer, he or she wants facts! Well, I’m pleased to oblige, let’s look at some good reasons to why “yes” is the right answer indeed!

Nutrients One claim often heard about organic food is that it contains more vitamins and antioxidants than non organic food. This is indeed true, which has been shown in several studies. Organic vegetables grow slowly, compared to conventionally grown; thus making it possible for them to accumulate more of these nutrients before getting harvested.

Less chemicals In conventional farming a lot of chemicals are used to fight pests like bugs, fungi and micro organisms. These chemicals are of course meant to be toxic to these pests, but, unfortunately, they are toxic to many other organisms as well, including humans. And there are so many chemicals going around, creating a not-so-healthy cocktail in our bodies, having effects that no one really knows what they are. There is no way that you can stay totally clear of chemicals, but at least you can avoid some of them by eating organically grown food.

Better taste This is of course a subjective assumption, but most people seem to find that vegetables grown organically do taste better. I believe the reason for this is the same as for the fact that they contain more nutrients; the vegetables have grown more slowly and thus been able to accumulate more of the substances giving them their delicious taste.

The environment The environmental issue is a strong contributive reason that organic food is better. Nevertheless, I will not dig deeper into that issue here in this article, but save that for another article to look forward to!

Conclusion I do hope that by now you are convinced that the answer to “is organic food better?” is a wholehearted YES! For your health, for the environment and for quality of life!