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Author Topic: flipping tips on whitewood  (Read 2333 times)

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Offline DQ

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flipping tips on whitewood
« on: March 10, 2012, 08:12:53 pm »
What luck have you had flipping the tips on whitewood bows?  In my limited experience, whitewood doesn't respond as well to dry heat bending.  It doesn't seem to hold the reflex as well as Osage.

I'm trying to "rebuild" an elm bow.   I tried heat treating the belly for the first time.  Started out with about 1 1/2 inch of reflex.  By the time I retillered it I had 1/2 inch of deflex, mostly on the last 8 inches of the tips.  Now I'm thinking of flipping the tips. The wood is dry, I figure about 7 1/2 % moisture.

Any suggestions?
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Offline PEARL DRUMS

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Re: flipping tips on whitewood
« Reply #1 on: March 10, 2012, 08:19:44 pm »
You know what my answer will be. Heat her up! I would suggest a distant, long heat. Then a fairly mild flipping so you dont risk tearing that belly at the bend. It wont take much to make a huge difference. Keep in mind the more you flip the tips the more set will occur in the working portion.
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Offline paulsemp

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Re: flipping tips on whitewood
« Reply #2 on: March 10, 2012, 08:41:46 pm »
I like dry on locust and osage, steam/boil on all white woods. After I steam and it cools, I heat up a little with heat gun to help remove moister.
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Offline Gordon

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Re: flipping tips on whitewood
« Reply #3 on: March 10, 2012, 09:12:59 pm »
I use dry heat to reflex the tips of white wood limbs all the time. The trick is to bend the wood slowly. As for adding reflex after a bow has taken a lot of set, I've not had much luck with that. I seen other folks on this site claim it works, but that has not been my experience.
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Gordon

Offline Carson (CMB)

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Re: flipping tips on whitewood
« Reply #4 on: March 10, 2012, 09:13:42 pm »
My experience with flipping the tips on an already tillered whitewood bow has not been so good.  I broke a nice ash paddle style bow by flipping the tips late in the game and moving stresses around on the already tillered limbs. If you do it, I say steam not dry heat.
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Offline bbs383ci

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Re: flipping tips on whitewood
« Reply #5 on: March 10, 2012, 09:38:56 pm »
I'm new to this so correct me if I'm.wrong but I thought you were supposed to flip tips before you filleted the bow completely, like say when you've got it filleted to 12 or so inches. Is this correct?
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Offline Gordon

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Re: flipping tips on whitewood
« Reply #6 on: March 10, 2012, 10:20:50 pm »
I usually reflex the tips when the bow is ready for it's first brace.
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Gordon

Offline Youngboyer2(billyf)

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Re: flipping tips on whitewood
« Reply #7 on: March 11, 2012, 10:05:59 pm »
My uncle taught me to leave some meat on the tips because the belly may crack when putting the reflex in, and you want somthing left to scrape away at
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Offline Dictionary

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Re: flipping tips on whitewood
« Reply #8 on: March 11, 2012, 10:14:14 pm »
I don't want to steal a post but i'm always wanting to learn more.

When using dry heat, on 7 1/2% moisture, wouldn't it lower the moisture even lower to like 3% and thus cause the wood to simply snap?Basically, when using dry heat, doesn't the moisture level drop?
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Offline Gordon

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Re: flipping tips on whitewood
« Reply #9 on: March 11, 2012, 11:07:31 pm »
I apply vegetable oil to the area that I am heating to prevent moisture form escaping. I've used dry heat a lot on white woods and have never had a failure as long as I bend the wood slowly. What I do is attach a light weight to the other end of the bow and let the limb bend on it's own time while I am heating it.
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Gordon

Offline seabass

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Re: flipping tips on whitewood
« Reply #10 on: March 12, 2012, 01:09:08 am »
great thread.i am getting ready to flip some tips on a hackberry.i was in between dry and wet.keep it coming guys.
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