Steamed wood being bent around a mold to form a treble clef
Plywood is first cut into a shape that the wood will ultimately assume. After the wood is soaked in water and cooked in steam, it is clamped into one end of the mold and bent by hand around the shape. The strips of wood are forced into the mold by pressure from the custom made threaded fasteners.
The 2nd half of the treble clef being steambent
Where the curve becomes a straight line, clamps are used instead of the threaded fasteners. At this stage of the process, the laminations cannot be glued together, because they contain too much moisture. After cooling down, they will be separated and air dried before being laminated together on the same mold.
Laminated parts ready for assembly
After being laminated and sanded, joints are cut into the pieces allowing them to attach to each other and to the music stand.
A view of the final assembly
The bars of the music stand have been mortised to accept the assembled treble clef. More photos of the music stand can be seen in the Furniture category.