Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Granite Mtn on April 10, 2013, 02:17:30 am
-
Hey cut some strawberry guava on Kawai last fall real nice staves slightly snakey no knots 69 inches. The dried great I took them down with band saw then coated them with 3 coats shellac no checking very little twisting. I basically used same technique I use for ocean spray on the drying process. Now I will reduce to rough bow shape and let cure for bows by late summer. My questions are have you used dry heat or steam to correct limb alignment ? And how is guava in compression I seem to remember Nomadic Pirate had some fretting problems with his bows? I know some of you guys got some staves from him and I am interested in your input.
Thanks
Chris
-
What no one with their 2 cents on strawberry guava? I can not believe that!
-
DRY HEAT ON SEASONED WOOD STEAM ON GREEN
-
Granite Mtn, just do a search for Manny's name and write to him directly. He is the king of guava, and still a member of the PA site.
-
I thought maybe you were posting something about a drink to enjoy whilst making bows ;) >:D ;D
-
I have not seen him on for a long time doubt he would get the message. I have a gut feeling guava is going to work like ocean spray which will not correct well with dry heat I was looking for confirmation of that.
-
if you send him a message through here he will get a email in his inbox saying he has a private message. So that should work as long as he still uses the same email.
-
Guava is a surprisingly dense wood (as you know) it dries easy and bends real good with a heat gun.
-
Yep, I remember Manny doing a lot of heat gun work. I don't remember much steam, but that doesn't mean it wasn't used or couldn't work. But I'd keep the curves gentle and use the dry heat.
Gabe
-
Heat gun is the way to go, that's what I use for it.
-
I use steam for any wood I don't care what any one says in my experience steam is so much better then dry heat it makes the wood easier to bend then dry heat
-
I will try both and report back:)
-
@Joec123able
Have you tried steam on a tropical hardwood? I sure can't get Jatoba or Kwila or Ipe to move well with steam or boiling. Different story entirely with our north american woods.
Gabe
-
Try sending Manny a pm. I did about a month ago he got back to me the same day.
-
I have only worked a couple of staves and it reminded me of hickory more than anything else. Responds to dry heat a bit better than hickory. Mine was not near as dense or elastic as ocean spray.
-
Manny is quite literally THE man on the guava subject. I miss his posts. If you send him a private message, tell him we all miss him!
-
thanks for the replies I have quite a correction to make so i thinned the handle down then two coats of shellac will use steam for this bend dry heat to remove twist.
-
sorry posted same pic twice
-
Here is corrected stave more pics to follow!
-
I don't like using shellac on the back with dry heat. I've found that it traps the heat in too well and you can easily get little cracks, from pressure build up of hot air trying to escape from the cells.
I prefer to use wood glue on wet wood, with steam as the glue plasticises.
On dry wood with a hot gun, I use cooking oil. No dry coating of shellac or glue.
Hamish.