problems bending wood

[mastin03]

nice work josh...you wouldn't want to share your form dimensions would ya??  I'd just like to compare to the one I free handed to see if they're close to what you've got

you're steamer looks a lot like what I've been using...two more questions.

1) How thick and wide are your tips when you're steaming....DISREGARD...1/2"  Shoulda  read the entire post...duh

2) coat of shellac on both sides before steaming, or just the back? and you do that to prevent moisture loss i assume?

Guess that was three questions

[Pat B]

The shellac is to prevent adding moisture to already dry wood. You want to coat the entire area to be steamed.

[Josh]

Mastin, I free-handed my forms too I just drew one, cut it out, then traced the other one using the first as a stencil.. I dont know the demensions, sorry!  

the tips were around 1/2 inch thick and pretty wide... They are waaay too wide I plan to reduce them later after I glue in the deflex in the handle.

I coated the whole limb with two coats of shellac... Steam actually dries out the wood (or so I have been told) so I shellac-ed the entire limb to hinder that.  

Hope this helps     -josh

[Easternarcher]

TBBII has a very good chapter on bending wood and a good chapter on recurves. If you don't have the TBB series, it is a worthwhile investment for any bow builder.

I'll second that!

[yazoo]

shellac is the bowyers best friend,,at no point during the bow building process should the stave, blank, bow not be coated with shellac,

[Pat B]

I agree with Yazoo. I shellac the back of most bows I am working on It is cheap insurance and easy to remove later. I use spray Bullseye shellac. It costs a bit more but has a longer shelf life than the brush on kind. I don't make enough bows to buy a quart can.

[mastin03]

after a little while thinking this over this past weekend I decided to give it another go.  I had a red oak board that was supposed to be a bow in its former life (my first)...so out from the junk corner it came, and into the caul it went.  Used dry heat and oil and just took my time with it and whaddya know?  bent in recurve with no problems whatsoever...Guess i just had some wood that didn't want to bend.  Now we're cookin though, so progress on the new bow will be forthcoming...thanks for all the help

[yazoo]

I am going to do a osage bending demo in the how to section from start to finish,, will be starting tonite,,

[DanaM]

I am going to do a osage bending demo in the how to section from start to finish,, will be starting tonite,,

Thats cool Mike

[mastin03]

AWESOME!! that will be incredibly helpful