Extreme wood bending with ammonia

[Jon]

Video depicting a heavy-duty wood steamer that uses ammonia instead of steam.

There's an interesting patent linked in the video description: https://www.google.com/patents/US5360631 . Essentially, the patent is for wood treated with ammonia and then sealed. The patent description proposes that the sealed ammonia-treated wood is then provided to the consumer, who breaks the seal, bends the wood, and then lets the ammonia evaporate.

The end user physically removes the outer protective film and bends, twists, or compresses the wood into its desirable, final shape. This can include compressive molding, or embossing, the wood to simulate carving for carved wood panels useful for doors and drawers, carved table aprons, carved rails or styles for doors and cabinets, etc. The wood can also be bent into tight radius bends, e.g., bends with a radius of 0.5 inch, without breaking or splintering, and with very low clamp loads. In most applications, the wood can be bent into the desired shape with hand pressure, and clamps are only used to prevent sagging of the wood until the permanent stiffness is restored.