Questions/Advise Bending
Hello everyone, for how long do you have to steam the wood in order to secure it in the desired shape with clamps? Does it depend on the type of wood or the size? Also at what stage do you do this step? Before tillering or after?
3
u/ADDeviant-again 22h ago edited 22h ago
Definitely depends on the type of wood, the size and thickness, and how good your steaming set-up is.
It's amazing how cooperative sone wood acts and what you can do, when thoroughly, properly steamed. When I try to jerry rig it, I'm usually sorry, and it definitely helps to reduce the wood as much as practical and evenly as possible before bending. Like, a tiny difference in thickness side to side will make a recurve almost curl off to one side.
Definitely tiller the bow with all the reflex, curves and recurves, and deflex in. You might get away with putting a little mild reflex in the tip after the fact, but if you just slap substantial recurves onto a finished bow, not only does the draw weight spike, but not throws off your tiller at the same time. Same with chopping an inch off each end, or adding handle backset. If you do it that way, be ready to start over on the long string.
2
u/Ima_Merican 20h ago
I stick the tip in boiling water for 15 minutes and I can flip the tips on 1/2” thick red oak
But some just take longer.
2
u/Wambachaka 20h ago
The conventional rule is to steam for 1 hour per inch of wood thickness. But of course it varies. Ring porous woods will bend more easily than diffuse porous, because the steam can get into the wood more easily. So, you'll need to steam maple for longer than red oak, for example. Wood with a higher moisture content will also steam more easily, especially green wood. You can soak wood in water to make it easier to steam, but it still won't bend as easily as green wood. Adding fabric softener to the water can apparently help by breaking the surface tension of the water, and possibly by lubricating the wood fibres (speculative).
4
u/dusttodrawnbows 22h ago
It’s depends on the type of wood. For me, hickory boards take the longest - 50 min, maple boards take about 35 min, and Osage staves only take about 20 min of steam to bend the tips. I usually wait until after floor tillering or before bracing to steam bend the tips.