Silly experiments

[Badger]

     I was reading a post on another sight and it made me think about some of the silly experiments I have tried. One of them that was somewhat successful was my solar steamer. I wrapped rubber inner tube strips around a stave and a form and shoved it into large  black pvc pipe with a small amount of water in it, came back 7 days later and it had pulled pretty much into shape, tips not lined up as well as I hoped but not too bad. I tried it agan and it had broken a limb while sitting in the sun, maybe I had it wrapped to tight. Steve

[Thwackaddict]

Did you pump steam into the pipe continously or jus let it sit?Any wood sitting in water for 7 days and then in sun cant be good IMO.I maybe misunderstanding your concept but you could be onto something because any wood subjected to pressure and moisture will take the set,so maybe some fine tweaking is in order?got any pics?

[youngbowyer33]

i might have to investigate this.....

[Thwackaddict]

yes For sure,got all kinds of crazy thoughts runnin thru me head!!I had thought of makin a steam tube to put a bow in then strap it to a form while its pliable.Seen an ols modoc bow i think i could replicate like that.What wood steam bends the best yet retains it shape?HMMMMMMMMMMMMM??

[Badger]

Thw, it was supposed to be a thermal device so it just sat in the sun, the water was in the bottom of the tub which was laying on it's side. I should have used a thermometer so I am not sure how hot it got, I would imagine about 160 to 170, it felt very hot to the touch. Steve

[Thwackaddict]

wonder if you could jus reverse brace it and get sufficient results?

[Eric Krewson]

Nutty experiments are what makes bow making interesting, I have a few in the planning stage now. If they turn out to be a disaster no one will know about them but if they work out, people may make better shooting bows in the future.

[Marc St Louis]

Makes me think of the talk we had here a few years back about soaking bows in water for a while to see if it would improve their strength properties.  At the time I was thinking of throwing a stave into a Beaver pond and letting it sit for a year or so and then make a bow out of it, never did do that. 

[Thwackaddict]

Hmmmm,may be something to that marc. May have to give that a shot

[Jesse]

I thought about making a bbi with a hollow center but never tried it. I figure it would most likely get crushed. I did just recently see a really fast bow that had thin bamboo lams  running on edge down the center but on the side all you could see was ipe. The belly was flat boo and the back as well. Super fast, sweet shooting bow

[Marc St Louis]

Hmmmm,may be something to that marc. May have to give that a shot

The reason that thought came to me is that I always found that Poplar with the bark chewed off that we would find along lakes and Beaver ponds always seemed to be quite a bit harder to break for making a fire than wood collected on dry land.

[JW_Halverson]

Beaver whiz, the secret ingredient we've all been seeking?  Here I thought it was buffalo juice?

[Badger]

Mark, I imagine primitive man discovered a lot simply by observing things in nature, little things like you mentioned. Steve

[hedgeapple]

Marc, I think you're on to something about water and moisture creating harder wood.  Just what is the seasoning process of wood?  Is it just time?  I doubt it.  IMHO  It's the natural flow of moisture in and out of the wood that occures over time.  And probably tempeture changes along with it.  Moisture and temp changes caused wood to expand and contract which I think helps tighten the fibers.  What if we controlled the moisture and temp to exelerated this process?  Could we in a year "season" a piece of wood in manner that would take say 10 years during the natural process.

I have no scientific proof of any of this, just my observations and ponderings.
Dave

[Thwackaddict]

Marc i have noticed that too!!My buddys pond jus became a science experiment!!