Steaming and Bending Flooring

This is completed repair of a curved border in an old brownstone in Georgetown, Washington, DC.  This floor was originally steamed and bent to conform to the outer wall of the tower on the corner of the building.  Imagine bending a yardstick the wrong way.  The flooring was square edged like a yardstick and only a quarter inch thick and 3/4 inch wide.   The center part of the floor was glued to burlap and then rolled out like carpeting and then cut to demension.   All the wood was face nailed.  I had to repair some of that too.  Over the years the radiator had leaked or water condensation from the window had turned the flooring under the radiator black.   The General Historical Contracter didn't think I could fix it.  SO.....

What I did is I found an old table and cut the top up on my table saw to the right demensions.    Then using an old gutter, made a lenghty box and saturated the wood with steam at home.  I had made a jig with nails in the shape of the curve I needed.  Once the wood was saturated and pliable I bent the strips into the jig and let them dry.  I took the dry curved pieces and did the repair with the radiator removed.    The repair wood didn't quite match so I stained it with antique brown stain and once dry, sanded much of the stain off and the wood then perfectly matched.    Necessity is indeed the mother of invention.  This job led to anoother job requiring a complete 10 foot circle, but that's another story.