Glad I came across this topic. I just spoke with halfeye on this subject of bending wood and different methouds. I am currently working on a redoak. longbow with curved tips as a D/R style bow. I havent done any bending as of yet with the heat gun , Only steam bending ,
So I brought up the topic of. What if I didnt make a jig for bending purposes and simply modified a pipe bender a tadbit and used it todo my bending.
As halfeye was right on the money. The groov in the half pully wheel where you lay the pvc inplace would cause grooves in the wood. I fixed that problem by building up the groove with tractor trailer mudflap rubber meterial. and now the groove is nice and flat.
Just a goofy idea I been thinking about. Now granted I still havent used it yet. But probably with in the next day or so. I will put it to use.