I'm wondering about after you steam or heat bend osage, how long do you let it sit before you get back to working on it? Does it vary wether it's steam vs. dry heat? Can I let it cool and remove it from the caul and then let it sit? Any help is appreciated. Thanks again fella's.
-Jeremy :coffee:
P.S. I read Dean Torges book and can't seem to find specifically how long before returning to tillering.
J.D. Jones used to have a static recurve build-along where he'd bend Osage with steam. Then, while it was clamped, he'd apply dry heat. He said applying dry heat after bending it would cause it to hold its shape better and not spring back so much when you unclamp it. I don't remember him saying how long to leave it clamped, but I would think it would take longer with steaming or boiling than it would with dry heat, and I imagine in either case, as long as it has reached room temperature, it should be ready to go. I don't know for sure, though.
Thanks for the imput Sam, love your website BTW. Let's see what others say. The more I think about it I believe I read if you steam bend wood and start working on it too soon you damage the fibers and rob performance from your stave. I'm wondering how long does one need to let it "rest".
-Jeremy :coffee:
You can't go wrong with 24 hours.
I wait at least a weak after heating dry wood with dry heat. I only use steam on wet world-famousd so in that case I wait a month to let it continue to dry.
If the section you steamed was shellaced and the wood was seasoned/dry then a week would probably be okay. I have worked on them the next day. Sometimes no issues, sometimes they broke.
As far a keeping it clamped, when it reaches room temp It's safe to clamp.
I always err on the side of caution when heating and bending bow wood. when it feels like it has cooled down to the ambient temperature, I leave it a while longer to be sure. the bigger the bend, the more patient I try to be. :-)
when I do more radical bends, stuff like 60 degree angular bends for statics, I boil to heat and leave clamped for many hours, then I heat it back up again with a heat gun and allow to cool before removing clamps. then I let it dry for a few days in the hotbox before moving forward. I have found, like JD, that dry heating the piece while still clamped after boiling or steaming does help the bend stay truer to the form.
That's what I was looking for. Thanks DVSHUNTER.
-Jeremy :coffee:
You dont have to wait a week or even a day,and can start bending again right after you take it off the form when using dry heat....heres how. Before you heat your stave weigh it,and after you take it off the form,weigh it again(use a scale that weighs to the tenth of an ounce)...if it didnt lose any weight then tiller away. Why wait when it didnt lose any measurable weight? This means the moisture content in the wood hasnt changed enough to make a difference,and you can resume work. I will get scolded for saying this,but i dont care cus it works for me,and its based on a sound technique.
Here is how I approach it. I wait until I cant feel any warmth, then add 15 minutes if I use dry heat. Most often an hour is good for me. Steamed statics get 15-18 hours and I dont use dry heat afterwards and my statics dont move. So far so good for me doing it this way. Like most of this hobby there are two million ways to skin a cat.
Steam on green wood. Dry heat on dry wood. Leave it a couple days to rehydrate. Leave it on the caul to dry and rehydrate to keep its form.
If you been the limbs to soon it is britle and could break. Plus do it to soon if it don't break you'll have unneeded set and string follow.
Dean and most other bowyers recommend steaming GREEN wood... and using dry heat on DRY wood... so after steaming or boiling your green stave, you should STILL need to reduce its moisture which should take days, at least, perhaps weeks, in the drying box. When I steam an entire green stave, since it still has to dry, I'll often leave it clamped to the caul until the next day... minimum... or longer if I don't need the caul. What's the hurry? It's still green.
With dry wood and dry heat, it depends on which part of the bow I made the correction on. For non-working portions of the bow, I wait until it cools to the touch, wait a half hour or so, and get right to it. If it's a working part of the limb, I generally wait several hours, or until the next day, then get right back to tillering. If you don't overheat it, you won't dry it out so that it needs to rehydrate.