I got myself a heat gun today and am ready to flip some tips... So how do I go about that for hickory? Ipe? Is there a how to that I couldn't find somewhere?
Thanks
I tried dry heat with hickory and heard a craaacck! Switched to steam and haven't looked back.
Hickory and Dry heat usually worked well for one limb and then would crack on the second one. Usually pretty shallow though and could be sanded out if I left enough material. I too switched to steam and so far not a single crack (yet...and crossing fingers).
I've bent a couple with out cracks and one cracked bad. Will be trying steam next time.
They will crack almost everytime. The key is to keep the thickness heavy enough to remove them. Use dry heat in my opinion. I have done plenty both ways and I would say dry heat forming sticks a little better than steam. Just my spin.
As for Ipe, the consensus seems to be that it doesn't like heat, and that since it has to have a backing anyway, you should just glue in the reflex when you glue the backing.
Ipe wont bend and stay much with heat. Try a simple kerf cut if you want more reflexed tips on ipe.
i did some glued on flipped tips on a hick/ipe bow- ala 4est style.
i had already glued in some overall reflex when i was adding the backing
I've flipped the tips on hickory several times with dry heat and haven't had a problem yet. This was a mild bend and not a static tip bend. For a bend the degree a static tip needs to be you should really steam/boil and maybe even kerf. If you are just looking at flipping the tips a bit to help string angle, dry heat should work OK. Just heat thoroughly and bend slowly.
Aaron