bending and straghting osage

[yazoo]

here are the tools of the trade,, bow form, wedges, c clamps, shims,  spacers, oil

[yazoo]

the bow form the most inportant tool,,this one is made out of two 2x4s and a 2x6,,cut the reflex part out of the 2x4s,,this one produces about 3in of reflex,,you can cut the reflex out several ways,,take your 2x4 6ft long,, mark the center at 36in  take a flexable yard stick,,hold one end at the center with the other end held at the bottom of the tip and trace the arc,,then do the same at the other limb,,or you can measure out from the center and drop 1/4in every 4 to 6in for the reflex,, then saw out on bandsaw or jigsaw,,I use two of these nailed together then nailed to the 2x6,, as I work a lot of very crooked wood and they wont fit on a 11/2 in piece,, so I nail two together for more working room,,   shims are used around knots and very stiff spots,,to insure uniform reflex,  wedges are used to remove twist,,spacers are used to over bend a very crooked spot,   oil to prevend browning and to even out heat,,  and the heat gun for our heat source   also lots of c clamps,    if you have any questions during this how to please ask,

[Pat B]

Thanks for posting this Mike. Lots of folks will pick up some good info.   

[yazoo]

I will be posting some more tonite,,the first bow we will do is real simple it has a slight dog leg, the blank is shaped sorta like a bannana,,then we will work our way up to some more complicated twisted and crooked pieces of osage,,

[rileyconcrete]

Thanks for posting this mike.  I have a hickory to straighten so this will help alot.

Tell

[yazoo]

this is our first blank to straighten ,it is shaped like a bannana,,a gradual crook from the handle out on both limbs,the blank has been taken to the floor tiller stage, and coated with shellac,,slide the blank against the back of the form to use as a straight edge to deterimine where the crooks are,,as you notice this one is a gradual bend from the handle to tip,,once we deterimine where the limb leaves the form this is where we will add spacer,this will allow us to over correct in the oppsite direction of the bend,,since this one starts at the handle we will put out spacer in the center of handle and bend in the opposite direction,,

[yazoo]

any questions,, I will post more tomorrow sun is down and to dark in my shop for photos,,,

[yazoo]

now we have the blank in the form and have our spacer in the center of handle because thats where the bend starts,,if the crook would have started in the center of limb we would have slid the spacer to there,I always set the bow up and start the opposite bending before I start heating,now that everything looks good I will spray with oil and start heating,,I will heat the entire section to be bent till it gets hot the wait 15 min,,this allows the heat to soak in to the center of wood,,depending on how thick the wood ,,then come back and heat it good,,use the back of your fingers, the soft part to see how hot it is,,it needs to be to hot to touch, but not burnt,,very light brown will not hurt and will scape off,,if you dont allow this heat soakin period the wood will feel hot but the center will not be to temp and can cause cracks or very distressed wood,,which will hurt performance,,now we wait to cool about 4hrs if you are not sure overnite,,then check,it will take a couple times or more to get it perfect,,so dont worry if it is not straight the first time,,I always do the final heating when the bow is near finished,,

[yazoo]

now I have removed the clamps and we now have a straight piece of osage,,if you notice that you get the bow straight then the next day its crooked again, the wood is not dry enough,, if not it will revert to its natural shape,,,also this is why I dont use kerfed or sawn wood,, when you clamp them in the form and begain applying pressure in the opposite direction of crook puts a lot of pressure on the longitutal grain,,if you have a big violatiion in grain it will crack while you are straightening it,,

[yazoo]

that one was and easy one, the next one I will start tomorrow will have a 45degree twist  which we will take out first then straighten and  reflex..also If you notice we could not do this work with a caul which i see a lot of people use,,nearly impossible to remove the crook and twist form wood,,but all you need to do is add a back to a caul and you have got a great bow form,,

[osage outlaw]

This will be very helpful to me.  Thanks for doing this.

[yazoo]

this is the one that has more problems,, it has a severe twist,,we will correct the twist with the use of wedges,,simple wood 2inlong  , 3/16 on the thick end tapered to point,,  one limb of this bow has no twist,,clamp it to the form very soild,or when we put the pressure on the other limb it will give,,if the twist in one small area one wedge will be enough, this one has a gradual twist all the way out the limb, so we will use two,,put the thick end of wedge on the low side of the bow limb,,so we can over correct in the opposite direction, now we preheat the entire limb so the heat can soak in,,now we put our clamps on the high side of limb as close to edge and it will stay, this will give us the most overcorrection in the direction we want

[yazoo]

here is the photo of with the clamps on, as the gap closed between the limb and wedge you will notice the limb twist in opposite direction,, clamp er down and spray with oil , preheat , and lay the heat to it,,and let set over nite,then without taking clamps off heat again and let set another day,,, I like to double heat a severe twist before I un clamp,,

[Mark Anderson]

Great "bend along"!!!

[ricktrojanowski]

Thanks for posting these.  Keep 'em coming, they are very helpfull.