wood bending?

[CalebNH00]

for the next bow that i'm making I want to add some recurve bend to the ends, perhaps 5 inches. after soaking the wood for 3 hours it was still very stiff. any thoughts on how to make them bend?

[Roy from Pa]

Get the tips close to final shape, heat with a heat gun and clamp into the recurve shape you want. Let the wood cool and your good.

[CalebNH00]

I've got the bow all roughed out, but sadly don't have a heat gun.

[Pat B]

What kind of wood?

[Roy from Pa]

Heat guns are cheap, 20 or 30 bucks for a decent one. If your going to keep building bows, a heat gun should be on your things to buy list.
Here is how I induce reflex at the tips.
 

[CalebNH00]

pat b: I have no idea what wood it is   :confused: , maybe ash?

roy: what could I do to bend it for now?

the recuves are going to be the siyahs on a hosebow i'm building, don't know if that makes a difference.

[Roy from Pa]

Well your going to need a lot of heat, you could steam it over a pot of hot water on the stove but would take some doing. You would need to support the bow and place the tip over the pot and cover the pot with aluminum foil and your going to have to get Momma out of the house for a while so ya don't get kilt:)

[CalebNH00]

so maybe i can't do any bending?

[Roy from Pa]

Not unless you go buy a heat gun tonight:)

[CalebNH00]

would a blow dryer generate enough heat?

[LittleBen]

I've never used ash but I remember seeing a YouTube video of a guy who put a wicked recurve into an ash board using steam/boiling. I mean like a 90 degree arc. I'd give that a try. Hard to get a reall extreme bend with dry heat but can be done. I've done that with red oak. It's best to get the biw filleted then thin the tips a but more, bend em, then add an underlay to stiffen (maybe 1/8").

[Roy from Pa]

Here is another option without heat. Cut a kerf down the side center of the limb 5 inches long with a band saw, make another thin piece of wood that will slide into the kerf you just cut, glue it and clamp it in a caul to bend the reflex into it.

[vanillabear?]

[Walt Francis]

I haven't seen Brad around here for a while, but he puts a 90% bend on his bows by boiling last 8-10 inches of limb in a pot of water then Clamping it in a caul before it cooled.  I have recurved a couple of bows with less radical tips using the boiling method with good results.

[Pat B]

I hope the back of your stave is sealed with all the moisture you are adding to it. There is a chance it will check on the back as it dries. Shellac is a good sealer, easy to remove when you are ready to and can stand up to the heat and moisture of the steaming or boiling process.

[CalebNH00]

it looks as if steaming/boiling would be the way to go, not sure if I can do that though.

roy: what is a kerf, i've never heard the term.

[Roy from Pa]

It's just the slot that the saw blade makes when you cut a piece of wood. If you were to cut a 5 inch cut down the center of your limb tip, it would bend easier because you now have two thin pieces instead of one thick piece. But you can't leave that slot empty so you get a thin piece that will slide into the cut/kerf it's called and glue it up with it bent/reflexed.

[Walt Francis]

Pat B,
I had the same concerns but Brad said it didn't matter.  Something about the expanding cells preventing absorption of the water......  whatever, he lost me about there, the explanation was way over my head.   To be safe I put a cattle examination glove (the one we use to check if the cow got pregnant) over the limb tip of the first bow I did and it work fine.  Then to test Brad's theory, I boiled a junk piece of osage I had and it worked fine.  The big drawback is you can only do one tip at a time, with heat and a caul you are able to make adjustments over the entire bow in one session.

[CalebNH00]

got it roy, don't have a band saw  :(    so i would have to do it with a hand saw.

[Pat B]

Caleb, I don't know it Roy made himself perfectly clear with his explaination of where to cut a kerf.You want to cut the tips but along a horizontal line with the limbs; between the back and belly. When I read what he wrote I immediately thought of down the center of the limb vertically. Roy knows what her is talking about I just think his explaination on this was just a bit confusing.
 Walt, your brain seems to work like mine. I got into "primitive" archery to get away from all those confusing thoughts. I prefer to get a good stick and remove what doesn't look like a bow. d;^)  You know, the K.I.S.S rule!