recurve form - for steam AND dryheat bending?

[richardzane]

a question,
just made this form for recurving tips.
I know it's used for steam bending...but what about dry heat bending?
is it too much curve for dry-heat bending an average bow wood? like hackberry, k.coffee tree, tree of heaven ?
appreciate your responses!
-Richard

[richardzane]

here's the recurve form.

[adb]

Here's one I made. 2 pieces of scrap 3/4" plywood glued together. I covered it with copper for dry heat bending.

[richardzane]

ok,  I notice your recurve bend is slight.
so the question is, can you bend with dryheat , to the same degree as steam bending?

[adb]

Depends on the wood.

[PEARL DRUMS]

True static recurves are VERY hard to bend with dry heat. By true statics I mean the tip is almost 80-90 degrees to the limb. I steam all statics and dry heat all "flipped" tips like ADB posted.

[richardzane]

Thanks Pearl,
that's the answer I was needing to hear... and it didn't come to late...i hadn't attempted the drybend yet.
I'm working on a coffee tree stave and this wood has a kind of "brittle" feel about it. was a little worried about stressing it.

[PEARL DRUMS]

I suppose everybody has a different idea of what statics are. I feel statics are turned over to about 70-90 degrees and that at least 3" of string should contact the bows belly at brace. If the string doesnt touch at least that much belly then you wont have the smooth draw a static offers. The sooner the string touchs the belly after release, or the shorter the string between contact points, the faster the bow will be. Dont get me wrong, a heavily flipped tip is a mean bugger as well. A good example would be making a static from two 64" bows. One has 55" of string between contact points as a result of longer, steeper statics and the other has 58" as a result of shorter statics, it will not shoot as strong as the first bow.

[gutpile]

tru statics have nothing to do with angle in degrees..although mine are right at 65 to 70...tru static is simply recurved enough to where string touches limb and does not bend when drawn....gut

[richardzane]

Thanks!
appreciate the responses...this is the kind of discussion that makes sense.
so a good rule of thumb: aprox. 3" of string touching on each limb at brace.
and i guess a WELL reflexed bow might not need as much recurve at the tips to make that happen.

[PEARL DRUMS]

Richard I will be posting a static in a few days after I get it gripped. You can have a look at what my defintion of a static is. To each his own.

[richardzane]

'preciate that,

that's the problem with "terms" , we can use the same dang word to actually describe similar but different things.

[PEARL DRUMS]

By studying more how statics work and what they do for your bow you will find there isnt any grey areas involved. There is purpose behind string contact and angle.