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O.K. I need help !...bending wood
Pat B:
Manny, For osage and some others I will place the tips in the form, attach the metal band oil up the wood and put the heat to it. I like it with the bow sticking up at about a 45deg angle. When it is hot enough, gravity will start pulling the bow down. I then pull it to the form and tie or clamp it down til tomorrow. I leave the tips slightly thicker and wider so if I do get splinters I can remove them as I shape the final tips. I haven't used steam or boiling for many years since I got my heat gun. Pat
YewArcher:
I do all my recurves with a metal band and a heat gun with no troubles. I also really really get the area hot. 10 minutes at 1000 degrees and any wood will bend like jelly. Elm hickory, yew, osage. Thats the woods I have done so far with this method.
SJM
duffontap:
I'm with Gordon and Bob here. I bought a heat gun because I thought I could save time but once you add up the time of scraping all the oil-stained wood off... :P I know oily woods like Osage bend easily with dry heat but my experiments with Yew were horrific. I did recently correct a bend in the handle of some oceanspray with dry heat. It worked well. Oceanspray is very, very, Very sensitive to moisture so that's why I used the dry heat. I think a lot of it depends on the wood you use.
Steam is a very natural way to bend wood. Wood is more flexable when it has a higher moisture content. Steam rehydrates the surface of the wood (where most of the bending takes place) and heats the wood to the core leaving the stave extremely flexable. This moisture along the surface leaves very rapidly. After an overnight sit the wood acts like it's fully-seasoned.
J. D. Duff
NOMADIC PIRATE:
Thanks for the responses.
What is the process of using the metal band ??
....Do you think I got cracks because I kept the gun at the wood wile I was bending it ?? ...it just occured to me that it could be a mistake ::)
NOMADIC PIRATE:
In my infinite stubborness (hate to give up and move to a different sistem untill I at least figure out how to do it decently).....well I went ahead and tryed dry bending again, this time I coated the wood with olive oil, and used a thin peace of wood under the clamps, looks like it worked (can't tell for sure untill I'll take the clamps of) I can see How a metal band would be even more efficiant being a good heat conductor,...I'm off loking for a metal strip for my next limb ;D
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