Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Hickoryswitch on December 26, 2009, 12:46:19 am
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I can't get a stick of osage to bend with heat at all. Every attempt ends with a crack running all the way across the belly. I've been careful and used plenty of grease to transfer the heat better. I just can't seem to get it to do it. Any suggestions or tricks would be really appreciated. Thanks.
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Try using steam.
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Show us what you are working with. Pics will really help. I have never had trouble bending osage with dry heat(with and without oil) but I am sure it is thin enough, equal thickness in the bend area and that the outside of the bend is supported with a metal strap. I also set my form up so the stave sticks up at a 45 deg(MOL) angle and heat the wood until gravity pulls the stave down. Then i know for sure it is hot enough.
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how dry is the wood? if the osage is still green it could be checking from the heat...ive had problems wit that before when heat tempering and bending with dry heat
-Ky
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Kyler is right about the green osage not bending under dry heat... it just usually checks or cracks. So, if it is still a little green it would be best to steam bend. If it is just being stubborn... it would still be better to steam bend :P
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If you start with green(fresh cut) osage it bends real easy and has little memory to return to. If it is a well aged stick of wood using dry heat can be dangerous. I agree with the other posters, USE STEAM! You can boil the section to be bent also.
I've bent alot of osage over the years and steam/boiling is the most reliable. Take the time to make a good bending form, don't take short cuts on bending wood for that is what starts the trouble. I know how wanting a bow done NOW can make a fella hasty and all, but slow down, be patient and set things up carefully.
Tips:
1. Make a good bending form with a reliable way to clap down the bent wood.
2. Clamp or tie on a strap of some sort that tightens as you bend the wood, it helps hold down fibers that want to seperate from the wood.
3. Thin the wood as much as you can yet still leave extra to remove cracks and problems later.
4. Make some sort of steam tube or boil in a deep bottom pot. I use a boiling pot on the wood burning stove. In the past I used a large pan with boiling water and laid the section to be bent right over the boiling pan witha lid on top of it. A large pan can heat about 6-8 inches of wood good enough to bend. Watch it closely for it boils dry fast and will burn down the house if unattended.
5. Leave it clamped for at least 12 hours.
Good luck.
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I don't think about bending anything until it is floor tillered that way it is thin enough. Green wood should be steamed. With dry wood you can do steam or dry heat. Hickoryswitch, if I had to guess your osage was too thick. Jawge
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I'll have to try to get as pic sometime today. The piece was about 3/8" thick and 1 1/8'' wide or so. It has been cut a year ago or better so it should be pretty dry. To prep it to bend I made sure the belly was flat and close to the same thickness throughout the bend area. My form Is an old fg bow form that I modified a bit. I may be cooking the belly and causing it to get crispy but I dunno. Thanks
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normally osage is one of the easiest woods to heat bend, but I have run into a few staves that just would not bend for some reason, not bend enough anyway. I usually heat til it gets soft and gives under it's own weight. Steve
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I too am having problems with a Stave of Unknown Wood...It will not budge under Heat...I have put so much Heat to it...that you can not even touch it for a Second...and hung twenty pounds from the Limb to no avail....I am at wits end on this Stave!!
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I have found the trunk end of a stave harder to bend than it's upper. Have you tried bending both ends yet? If you can't get it to bend at it's present thickness then perhaps rip saw (edge wise, 1/2 limb thickness) it the distant to be bent and then heat/bend. Then just glue back together.ART
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I too am having problems with a Stave of Unknown Wood...It will not budge under Heat...I have put so much Heat to it...that you can not even touch it for a Second...and hung twenty pounds from the Limb to no avail....I am at wits end on this Stave!!
Unknown.... ??? Some woods just don't bend, so unknown can be a big problem. Osage on the other hand should bend like aluminum arrows. >:D Man I don't miss those things. ;)
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justin
personally i miss aluminum arows these days,it seems like very one shoots those damn carbon contraptions
i used to go collect the aluminaum ones and throw them in with my pop cans for recycyling ;D