Steam Chamber working

[Scrub_buck]

Trial run of my new steam chamber.  I am in the process of steaming that elm blank I posted yesterday.

So far so good ... steam has been rolling out of both ends now for 45 minutes.  I have my form ready and my clamps poised to start her over straight and with ~2 inches of backset.

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[Josh]

Good luck, Sandy... Remember when it comes out it will be hot (duh) and you have to work really fast... The wood looses most of its elasticity in about 30 seconds when removed from the steam..     at least that has been my experience with most white woods. 

[Scrub_buck]

I was a little disappointed with the elm out of the steam.  It wasn't wanting to 'move' too much.  I still got it into the form and clamped it down ... however, I am not feeling good about its result.

I had it about 2 inches wide and the limbs were 5/8 to 3/4" thick.  I guess the question is did I remove enough wood to apply the steam to and expect to get results.  I am betting that I didn't?

Help if you can.

Sandy

[dwardo]

Never tried building one my self but i rekon you could do with some insulation on that pipe

[Del the cat]

Pop in a few hotdogs too  .
I did a spot of steaming last night, putting a bit of recurve into a primitive Yew bow, to match the natural recurve in the other limb, I overdid it slightly too much flip on the tip.
So I popped it back in the steamer for 15minutes to let it relax a bit...came out just right (dunno if that's a handy hint or just common sense...whatever )
Have fun.
Del

[Josh]

If it comes off the form close to where you want it, I would go ahead and floor tiller it and do any minor adjusting later with a heat gun... just heat it slowly with the heat gun until the area you are fixing is too hot to touch. then you can bend it that way.  I would get it to floor tiller stage before I did anything else to it though.  After letting it sit for a few days to let the moisture stabilize  

[Scrub_buck]

After 3 hours in the form, I got impatient and wanted to see if it took any backset.  I got it off the form and it did take some, but not as much as I would have liked. 

I proceeded to lay out the design on the back and reduce the material to almost the lines, leaving the handle blocky.  I have also marked off 1/2 inch thickness from back towards the belly and hope to get that excess material off this evening.  I have never floor tillered elm, but the few osage and hickory bows I have attempted, a thickness of about 0.4 inches got the weight close to where I wanted it.  I figured 0.5 inches would get the limbs bending some (with a little to play with) and I might give the steam chamber another go this weekend at a slightly thicker limb than final dimensions. 

Torges advocated steaming and forming before you tiller the bow.  Whatever happens, I know I can use the heat gun to try and correct any other issues later on. 

If nothing else good came out of the steaming today, at least it sped up the drying process!  HA!

[Pappy]

It dose work better if it is floor tillered when you start,I always have all my clamps and form set up
before I even put the stave in the steamer.I will put it on the form and mark it If need to so I remember top from bottom and any Major pulls it might need I even go so far as to adjust the clamp to where I think it will need to be when clamping.Like Josh said you don't have long,I keep a heat gun handy in case something slows me down and will heat it as I am clamping. One other hint,if you will slant the tube from the outer ends to the middle you won'tuse near as much water,as it sweats it will drop and run right back into your pan.   Not sure on yours,you might be able to bend the pipe in the middle,mine is made of 2 jointed in the middle so it was easy to get the fall in the pipes.
I usuall turn mine on high and steam for 2 hours but I use a hot plate so it is a little slower that the heat source you are using.Looks great.
   Pappy

[Justin Snyder]

Like Pappy said, sometimes it takes 2 hours. I like to make sure it has a little steam escaping on each end. If they are to air tight you aren't getting enough heat flow up at the tips of the bow. Put plenty of water in and make sure you have a good flow of steam running through the pipe. I also put some blocks in the pipe that will hold the bow up in the steam flow. Steam is like smoke and rises to the top so the bottom of the pipes will be cooler than the top.